Flagship CVO David Brevik dismissed the rumors as exaggerated and inaccurate, noting that the company currently employs over 100 workers at its two studios, and has seen less than 10% turn-over in its workforce.

"As is typical in the industry, after a game is released some people naturally want to work on something else and they leave the company to do so," Brevik said in a statement posted on the Hellgate forums.

Reports of a staff exodus stemmed from a blog post written by Flagship programmer Guy Somberg, who claimed that members of the staff were leaving "in droves" after the poor reception of Hellgate: London. Brevik acknowledged the game's ... Read more

According to the company, the Korean multiplayer beta had over one million accounts within two weeks of its January 15 debut. That helped the title to become the ninth most played online game and most popular online beta in PC Cafes.

Leading up to the game's February 22 arrival at Korean retailers, it "achieved record sales in its first week of presales." Curiously, further details on the game's retail performance were not provided.

Released in North America last Halloween, the online and offline action-RPG was praised for its Diablo-esque gameplay but lambasted for its many server issues and bugs. The game's stability and overall level of polish are said to have... Read more

Comerica Bank stated that it is using an independent film financing model as the basis for a multi-million dollar financing package, which is backed by the sale and distribution rights for Hellgate: London.

"By following a model similar to independent film financing, we are able to directly finance ongoing content for our online games without relying upon a publisher's investment," said Flagship business development director Steve Goldstein.

He added, "As the PC game business makes the transition from the boxed retail model to the online model, alternative financing will become a cornerstone of expanding the industry."

The content update adds the central hub of Stonehenge, along with several dungeons and other upgrades for paying subscribers to the action-MMO.

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"We've contacted every single one of [the affected users] to work out the problem," said Flagship's Ivan Sulic to Shacknews. "We should be sailing a lot smoother from here on out."

Hellgate senior community manager Kaiser Hwang issued a statement on the official forums further explaining the situation.

"After burning several drums of midnight oil, we have resolved all current billing issues with our payment processing partners," wrote Hwang. "We've completed our payment reconciliation process and players that were incorrectly billed will see... Read more

Most alarming among the issues, many users claim they have been charged the monthly $9.99 subscription fee multiple times within the span of a few days.

"I could sum this up as the worst online gaming experience I have ever had," Shacknews reader Tyro described to us. "I applied for a monthly subscription. I then noticed I was charged two times on 11/03 $9.99, one time on 11/04 $9.99, and one time on 11/05 $9.99."

Other users have only been billed once, but find themselves unable to use the service they've paid for.

"I checked the account pages on both web sites," wrote Mayella_EU in the support thread. "It doesn't show I have a subscription. Yet my credit card was... Read more

Gamers will need a credit card to purchase a $9.95 per month membership, as the specifics of PayPal payments are still being worked out. The post on the Hellgate website warns beta users not to make a new account when subscribing, as their pre-order and bonus content will be tied to their beta account.

Hellgate's subscription membership grants purchasers access to a "Hardcore" mode, "elite" items, extra character slots and item storage, and the ability to form guilds among other perks. According to a separate post on the Hellgate website by Flagship CEO Bill Roper, the window for buying the $149.99 founder's offer extended to pre-orderers of the game will be lengthened in light of the game's payment issues.

For more on what to expect as a subscriber of Hellgate: London, check out Shacknews editor-in-chief Chris Remo's fireside chat with Roper.

Luckily for Flagship, when it comes to persistent online games--which Hellgate qualifies as, despite also containing a separate offline mode--"patch" isn't always a dirty word. Bug fixes, interface overhauls, system tweaks, and content expansions could be the shot to the heart it needs in order to live up to its potential. Down the road, the company's first major effort could very well turn into the flagship title it was meant to be. But it will be one rocky road in the meantime. Read more...

"Subscriptions are temporarily unavailable due to technical issues," reads a post to the official Hellgate website. "You are still able to create accounts and all players will be able to subscribe as soon as this is resolved. For users who have had difficulties subscribing, we are investigating these issues and will attempt to resolve them as soon as possible."

Most subscription bonuses are long-term perks, but the game's "Hardcore" mode, "elite" items, guild-creation ability, and extra character slots will be unavailable for would-be subscribers in the meantime.

"Grouping is indeed receiving special attention," said Flagship's Ivan Sulic to Shacknews. "We've recently added a tighter buddy system, chat system, and guild system. We're also working on ladders, more guild options, and more grouping options for our first major patch."

The game will be launching with a "Patch 0" which Flagship hopes will lift the current build of the game further up to fans' expectations.

"The goal is to focus very heavily on our multiplayer systems... Read more

Update: Flagship community manager Kaiser has chimed in on the matter, explaining EA Store's listing of an early launch as an error.

"This is actually an error and not true in any way," Kaiser wrote on the Hellgate beta forums. "Sorry!"

However, those looking to level up early are still in luck, as beta participants will be able to access the retail servers a few days before the game officially releases.

Original Story: Reports are coming in claiming that those who preorder Flagship Studio's Hellgate: London from the official Electronic Arts store will be able to start playing the online RPG a full week early, beginning tomorrow.

EA's Hellgate store page currently lists the game as pre-releasing for digital download on Wednesday Oct 24, at 12:00:00 CDT.

All Hellgate beta testers--which includes all preorder customers from... Read more

Additionally, a demo for the single-player portion of the title will be released Thursday, giving players an offline taste of Hellgate's action. Two classes will be available for play in the demo: the sword-slinging Blademaster and gun-toting Marksman.

Though the offline demo won't reveal the plethora of bugs apparent in the game's online-enabled beta, Flagship has said it expects the retail version to play virtually bug-free at launch with the help of a release-day patch.

With Flagship Studios' highly-anticipated online RPG only 16 days from release, many otherwise-glowing previews, including Shacknews' own, have included a caveat explaining the game's current instability and, in some areas, a disturbing lack of key functionality.

However, watching closely from behind the scenes, Flagship staffers aren't especially worried.

"We are aware of the issues some people are experiencing, but there's nothing we've seen that's any real concern to us," said Flagship's Ivan Sulic to Shacknews. "We're not flipping out, anyway."

Throughout the testing phase, Flagship community managers have continuously stated that the various beta builds are outdated in comparison to internal versions of the game.

"[The] changes we've been working on have not been integrated into... Read more

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