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Hellgate to return to US and Europe

Cult Flagship MMORPG to return as Hellgate: Resurrection; HanbitSoft acquires worldwide publishing rights

HanbitSoft has acquired the worldwide publishing rights to Flagship Studios' and Namco Bandai's cult RPG Hellgate: London and plans to bring the game back to Europe and the US this year.

The servers for the game were closed down in the West in January last year, after developer Flagship Studios went bust. Legal issues had prevented the game from being published outside of Korea until now.

"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.

The newly named Hellgate: Resurrection has been in development with T3 Entertainment since July 2008, with new features added and a free-to-play business model.

"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," added Kim.

"We are pleased to participate in the revitalisation 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," added Zack Karlsson, senior director of business development at Namco Bandai Games America.

The original game was heavily criticised by players, and internally developer Flagship was said to suffer morale issues, causing part of the team to leave the acclaimed studio.

The game will release in China, Taiwan and South East Asia first, with North America, Europe and Japan to follow.

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Matt Martin

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Matt Martin joined GamesIndustry in 2006 and was made editor of the site in 2008. With over ten years experience in journalism, he has written for multiple trade, consumer, contract and business-to-business publications in the games, retail and technology sectors.

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