The ill-fated franchise Hellgate loses its last active server.
People are already mocking: Hellgate would be a bit like a comic villain. Whenever you think it’s finally dead, it somehow comes back again. The history of the franchise is marked by misfortunes and problems.
Many years ago, in 2007, starting as a real “hype title,” it never really took off. Although some Diablo veterans from Blizzard were on board and the player base fervently hoped that their new title could satisfy the hack’n’loot hunger that Diablo II had opened up – a D3 was still a long way off.
However, the Flagship Studios founded by the Blizzard veterans had to lower their sails shortly after the launch of Hellgate: London due to financial problems. Various versions and plans followed. Different publishers tried to somehow extract money from the license.
The license then landed in Korea. There were some plans in the air, there was another relaunch planned, something was supposed to happen. The hope flickered for years.
As MMOCulture reports, publisher Hanbitsoft states that Hellgate Korea will close on February 26. They once had big plans for a sequel, but meanwhile, Korea is hot on mobile games, the PC market is becoming less attractive, and the existing MMO publishers are shutting down second- and third-tier MMOs left and right in Korea. Particularly difficult when they close shortly after a Western port has been made or shortly after a Western port has even been announced.
On February 26, the last Hellgate server is set to disappear for good. Unless: it somehow continues on. Right now, it doesn’t look like it.
