Hellgate: London Will Return to North America, Europe This Year

HanbitSoft has finally made good on their promise. They’ve acquired the rights to Hellgate: London in North America and Europe, and intend to start up service in both territories later this year.

Two weeks from today, it will have been exactly one year since Namco Bandai shut down the servers, presumably for good, with only Korean service continuing on under HanbitSoft’s direct supervision. But according to a press release today, HanbitSoft has finally acquired the necessary licensing rights from Namco Bandai to make good Hellgate’s revival.

Fittingly dubbed “Hellgate: Resurrection”, the updated 2007 action-RPG will first spread to China, Taiwan and southeast Asia before launching in North America, Europe and Japan, according to the release.

There was no word on whether a western release of Hellgate would be free-to-play, or include the ongoing updates HanbitSoft and RedBana US have provided its Korean counterpart, though both seem likely considering the age of the original game.

Hellgate: London, along with fellow action-RPG Mythos, were originally developed by Flagship Studios. Following a legal skirmish that resulted in the dissolution of Flagship, HanbitSoft acquired the intellectual property of both, and is currently working to bring Mythos back to North America as well.

Obligatory executive quotes follow:

“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.

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  • HaloisOverrated

    The first was one of the most disappointing games I've ever played. Ugh.

  • http://www.ripten.com Chad Lakkis

    Was it really that bad? I remember us covering it back when it was released and some technical issues the game had with data getting erased (if I remember correctly) but outside that I don't recall hearing much else.

  • HaloisOverrated

    HUGE letdown! I mean, these were the guys who made Diablo 2. The game was buggy, ugly, and just beat up. The levels were all the same. The party LFG and chat system was garbage. Man, epic let down on the scale of T4!

  • godscence

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