Hellgate: London Subscription Details Released

Flagship Studios' optional monthly subscription plan for Hellgate: London has been revealed in Games for Windows: The Official Magazine, claims fansite Hellgate Guru. The game's multiplayer model has remained clouded in a degree of mystery, though statements from Flagship personnel have indicated that some kind of paid service was in the works. According to the details reprinted by Hellgate Guru, Hellgate: London online players will have the option of paying a $9.95 monthly fee for an Elite subscription, which confers a number of advantages over the standard free online membership. For their payment, Elite subscribers will receive 12 character slots rather than three, access to a Diablo II-esque Hardcore mode, the freedom to bypass server queues, account-wide storage for 40 items (as opposed to 20 items for non-Elites), permission to create guilds and attain officer status, distinguishing Elite features and Elite-only equipment, in-game VIP shuttles, and 24-hour customer support. Elite and non-Elite players may interact fully within the game world, and non-Elite players may join guilds. Flagship plans to support Hellgate: London with regularly released additional content, potentially as frequently as twice a month. Studio CEO Bill Roper has noted that Flagship has always planned to add content to the game on a regular basis, but would need an appropriate financial model to do so. "What you're getting with that service is you're getting 24/7 customer service, secure servers, databases, and the biggest thing is that you're getting continuing content," Roper explained to Shacknews in January, prior to the pricing finalization. "We'll have a full dev team that's on the project from day one. Actually, right when you buy the game, when it launches there will already be content available that you can't get in the single-player--additional monsters, areas, all the community and economy things, you'll be able to form guilds, auction houses, all those things you expect from MMOs." Shacknews has contacted Flagship Studios and co-publisher Electronic Arts for confirmation of these details.