The fine (but oddly sooty) folks at Hellforge have reported that Hellgate: London might be resuscitated by Taiwanese MMO company Redbana. Namco-Bandai previously announced that it would be shutting the gates to...er...Hellgate on January 31, 2009. The Hell Forgers have discovered a curious announcement on the game's Korean web site that talks about a "re-opening of the Hellgate".
Adding more juice to the rumor is the fact that Redbana is ramping up its San Francisco operations. The game's developer, the recently dissolved Flagship Studios, was based in San Francisco. It's entirely possible that Redbana is looking to hire some old Flagship hands...or maybe the company just gets a kick out of a liberal city with two excellent bridges and loads of unemployed game developers.
The saga of Hellgate: London and Flagship Studios has been long and messy. Both the game and the company were announced with tons of fanfare. The amount of hype was surpassed by the number of delays. When it was finally released, the game was a disappointment. However, Hellgate had its fans and they were disheartened by the January shut-down date. If this rumor pans out then there's a chance that loyal players of the game might be rewarded by having their characters transfer to the potential relaunch.
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