Hellgate: London Interview

Jörg Spielt has conjured up a new Hellgate: London interview they did with Flagship Studios CEO Bill Roper at this year’s Game Developers Conference.

Q: If Hellgate will be the success you hope it will be, you will make a second part, a third, add-ons, and so on, so you will be in the same scheme again.

A: Yes, that’s right, and that’s our hope, too: that you get a game good enough that people want to have more. One of the challenges is that, at Blizzard, everything we did was a giant AAA game, a huge product. That’s great, and that’s what we’re trying to achieve with Hellgate, but we’re also looking on other projects, like casual games, to do things a little smaller. These products can be really great for gamers, you’re reaching out to a broader base with different game ideas. And these products usually take between 12 to 18 months to finish. It will be really nice ­ if everything works out when, even as we will serve Hellgate for years and years and years, people can break off from the team to work on something completely different for six months. To recharge their batteries. Because, when you’re working on a game for 3 or 4 years, that’s a long time before you actually see a result. And before you are able to share it with people. Of course, internally we see a lot. The challenge comes to me when I’m talking to my friends and they say: (Well, we want to see your game.) And I have to say: I’m doing something, it’s just gonna take a while.