Hellgate: London Servers Shutting Down

The final curtain is set to fall on Hellgate: London, ending hope that the game would continue to operate despite the closure of developer Flagship Studios a few months ago.

In late July, following the demise of Flagship, Zack Karlsson of Namco Bandai said Hellgate would continue to operate, and that the company was trying to "figure it all out and chart a new course" for the game. "In the short term, please do not worry," Karlsson said. "The game is up, the servers are not going away in the short term and any major changes to status will be communicated in advance."

The "short term" appears to be drawing to a close, however, as Namco announced that the Hellgate: London servers will be shut down as of February 1, 2009. "Namco Bandai Games America Inc., today announced that they will continue to support customers of PC game Hellgate: London with online server support and play through January 31, 2009 despite the closure of Flagship Studios," the publisher said in a message posted on the official Hellgate: London website. "In a further gesture of support, Namco Bandai Games will provide this server support free of charge to all fans and players of the game up until the shut down date."

Source: GamesIndustry