JULY 1, 2008 • Flagship Studios, the developer of the recently released Hellgate London, laid off substantial numbers of its Northern California staff. Some reports cited financial difficulties despite sales of more than 1 million units of Hellgate London. Lawyers representing the game’s Korean publisher, HanbitSoft, said the publisher was looking for ways to work with Flagship’s creditors to keep new content for the game.

Impact: The Flagship situation is serious proof that funding, creating and publishing AAA titles is difficult to pull off for independent studios. Even for the former Blizzard staffers at Flagship. Despite a huge success in Hellgate London, these financial realities remained too much to overcome.