Seoul, Korea – January 18, 2009 – HanbitSoft Inc., announced today that the company has obtained the publishing rights for Hellgate in North America, Europe and Japan from NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc.. HanbitSoft and NAMCO BANDAI Games America, the formal owner of the publishing rights in these regions, have entered into an agreement for the game to be distributed by HanbitSoft in the future.

Since October 2007, the sensational popularity of Hellgate: London has attracted many RPG gamers. When Flagship Studios closed its doors, the online portion of the game was suspended indefinitely in the relevant regions. Through this agreement, HanbitSoft now owns the worldwide publishing rights for the Hellgate franchise. HanbitSoft will roll out the launch of Hellgate overseas in 2010, starting with China, Taiwan, and South East Asia followed by North America, Europe, and Japan.

"We would like to thank NAMCO BANDAI Games America for allowing us to acquire the Hellgate publishing rights and are thrilled to have eager gamers worldwide return and enjoy the franchise," said Kee-Young Kim, CEO of HanbitSoft, and added "Hellgate: Resurrection is heading towards success in Korea such that we decided to push ahead with launching the game overseas next year. We will do our best to get the game to the fans as soon as possible."

"We are pleased to participate in the revitalization of Hellgate through this agreement and are deeply gratified to allow Hanbitsoft to take the lead on this franchise and bring this game to the people who seek it," said Zack Karlsson, senior director of business development at NAMCO BANDAI Games America.

In July 2008, T3 Entertainment acquired HanbitSoft which held Hellgates IP and publishing rights in Asia. In collaboration with Hanbitsoft, T3 Entertainment utilized its team of excellent developers to continuously improve Hellgate. For over a year, the development team consistently provided a game with strong online features and user convenience systems. Recently, HanbitSoft launched a new, upgraded version of Hellgate called Hellgate: Resurrection in Korea which includes a free-to-play model. HanbitSoft also announced that the Korean gamers are welcoming the return of the new Hellgate, and the rapidly increasing number of users shows that Hellgate is in good hands.

This sentence makes we question the accuracy and veracity of the entire press release.
"...sensational popularity..."? Really?

The game is fun. Graphics are more than decent and gameplay isn't too bad. Its the just the maps that killed it.

err...did you play online? cause if you did then you would not be saying it was just the maps...and yeah...i have to agree with peter on this one...wont believe it til i see it >.>

If this was true, then you would think that Janelle
http://hanbitgame-espresso.blogspot.com/
would mention this in her blog.

she is always the last one to update here blog lol

Bob Ross on gamersunity said its directly from press release and normally hes a good source for me

So the german forum is totally aroused and here is more or less adequate silence bout it, hehe, not so many cheers for the Koreans, aye?

Prometheus my wife and me hafing a party tonight
so dont worry about it

well, have to admit,Bob Ross IS a reliable source...hmhmmhmmhmmm..HOPE !

But nevertheless,the revival should take place,wether the rumour is true or false.

Always redundant sources *g* and you will be safe.

Greets

The very same news have been popping up on other websites as well (Gamasutra for instance), so as of right now, this is looking legit to me.

Edit: Link: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/26857/HanbitSoft_Bringing_Hellgate_Back_To_North_America_Europe.php

Well, Revival WILL take place, wether the Koreans go online or not, we dont give a rats tail about that anymore...

HG:L and HG:R have become 2 different stories. No Action of em will influence us in any way (except they have files we need hehehe)

It's good to know that. I'm sure it's a question that will come up frequently if Ressurrection in The West ever looks like genuinely making the transition from vaporware to a viable commercial reality.

I'm curious about the re-branded Hellgate but I sorely wish for a LAN option so that I can play the game at home with friends and family. Revival remains a crucial part of the future of this game for its loyal long suffering fans outside of Asia. It represents our only chance of ever playing the game together again as we remember it.

Please don't give up guys.

Our secret...its being exposed >.>

Oh Noes!!!! Runz for teh hillz evryonez!!!!

Well it only took em a couple years. Revival WILL move forward. I am curious as to whether or not the new version will be purely online, or if it will contain SP/LAN. I'm also curious as to whether or not I'm going to have to pay in full for the new version, since I'm technically a founder and all. I probably will, since they have no way of keeping track of who was a founder and such.

Here we go again.

So, does this mean that hanbit can travel through time?

Yep. I'll believe it when it's out, not before.

To me this sounds more like wishful thinking than actual fact.
Sinking money into a project indicates an intention to make good money from it.
But FSS had the same ambition and we know how the reality turned out.
The thirst for a quick buck is leading many companies to make slick looking games with no replay value and I hope the low value for $ is slowly turning customers away.
It will take more than words to convince me Hanbit gives a damn and has a clue.

t341
Janelle updated the blog
finaly

http://hanbitgame-espresso.blogspot.com/

i am not going to comment it much besides:
i am going to try it out
i am not going to like it
i am waiting for you guys no matter what
oh and gtfo korean overlords >:O

edit
one more thing: they don't have roper so they might even NOT end up belly up all of a sudden..

Problem is this:

Hellgates original dev's had a way of starting the project fully and outsource everything to other people in regards to MP and such.
So this means, Flagship, while was looking 'on' the MP side, another bunch of guys would be in charge of servers, same story for SP, Optimization, DVD's distribution, etc...

They were left out to dry without any help, as almost everyone backed off suddenly. Some conflict with mister you know 'who' and some other people meaning Flagship only had themselves to care for and deal with everything. None of them had ideas to run servers and created update files with this.

So um...yeah...HGR2 is coming to EU/US, whoopity freaking doe! Let us see some examples, and even if the game does come, guess what?

-Install game
-Start game
-Create character with perfect animu hairs
-Start
-Load
-Start in Lousy day-time map
-Person generic quests
-After X Hours - Special Quest
-Defeat boss
-Find out you can go to Tokyo
-End up in Tokyo
-No London, no US, no Germany, no Italy, no Australia, no Egypt, no Brazil, only Tokyo.
-Tokyo, only place where demons seem to like outburst from

Im only afraid of Itemshop and Power Rangers look

Ewww.
You are right. Both of those would be icky.

Flagship fumbled the ball.
Under these conditions, the Revival team's efforts are anticipated.
Can the Koreans do as well.
Know anyone willing to bet?
Fans of the game hope to play MP in nearly any form.
So, who is going to play the Korean version if/when available?
Something tells me it might not be to our taste.

On an unrelated note....does anyone take offense at subliminal messages?

i hate subluminal messages,predictive programming and MKUltra inc -.-

But hey,i am no zombie,i am aware and awake,so let them come...for the living !

I will try to play it >.>
though im sure the red squeaky hammer will make me quit within a day