Word From Ivan About MMO Concerns

[Scapes]

We have a short interview with Ivan Sulic, Flagship Studios' community manager of Hellgate: London concerning the recent hubbub that's been going around the gaming media concerning the online subscription fees for the game.

Scaper-X
You folks are the talk of the internet.

Ivan
Lots of hubbub over some Bill quote or misquote. I haven't even been able to follow up on just what he said yet. The directors still have not finalized what exactly our online component will be. So Moses didn't have the good lord blast a $500 a month price tag into stone or whatever.

Scaper-X
The phrase being quoted most of all is, "I think that just as Diablo and Diablo II started this religious argument over whether they're RPGs or not, I think that Hellgate willspark that same debate over whether it's an MMO or not."

Ivan
Well, that quote is more about the content. Since we're instance based and revolve predominantly on party gameplay and we're not technically a persistent state game. EA contacted Shack news? What'd they say?

Scaper-X
"Update: Since posting our original news item on the matter, Shacknews has been contacted by Electronic Arts, which is co-publishing the game along with Namco Bandai. EA noted that there has not in fact been any final decision made as to Hellgate: London's online pricing model, be it subscription-based or otherwise. We respect this situation, while maintaining that have reported fairly on statements we received. A full interview is forthcoming."

Ivan
Yeah, we haven't made a final decision. Seriously, the directors debate about this quite a bit. Basically, we want to do ongoing content. We don't want it to be like Diablo where we had a patch and an expansion and that's that. We really want to do ongoing content. So the directors have to just figure out how the hell we're going to pay for that. Could be anything. Really.

Scaper-X
Are continuing expansion packs still on the table in lieu of monthly fees?

Ivan
Could be the bonus dvd does it or subscription or real money transactions or auctions or micro purchases or lots of smaller expansions. Could seriously be anything. Which is why they still debate some. So... Until the reach a decision, whatever that is, and then print it across the web in a release, it's all going to be speculation and misunderstandings and odd quotes

Scaper-X
How's HG:L being received at the event, out of curiosity?

Ivan
People love it. But, its Consumer Electronics...so everyone wants to know about the machines first. Then they're like, oh yeah, the game looks good, too

Scaper-X
Heh. Ooh, that reminds me, you can snuff a rumor that rose out of the ashes of an old interview: will the game play properly on a dual core system? Supposedly someone found an interview from March 06 that said it would not.

Ivan
It will for sure. We're showing at intel right now on Core 2 Duo, Quad and Extreme around the show floor. We have specific optimizations going in, too

Scaper-X
Perfect. And is the game capable of utilizing hyperthreading?

Ivan
Yes. Yes it is

Scaper-X
Fantastic.

So there you have it. Monthly fees are not confirmed.
-- Scaper-X

Update: Flagship's Max Schaefer discusses some of Flagship's plans in this thread.

[Paek]

reserved for future use

[Sulfuric]

Hussar.

Erm...

Huzzah.

[Sol Invictus]

Wow. The amount of attention Hellgate received when the 'subscription' stuff went up was damn near mindblowing.

[Azurewrath]

Oh GOD, some tissues please cause my nose is bleeding !

[Silver]

Well atleast we won't be getting any new whiney threads about this... For a while.

[Scapes]

Heh, amen to that, Sil.

I'm pleased that I thought to ask him to dust those two pesky hardware rumors. They were gaining credence over on the Flagship Forums.
-- Scaper-X

[Zeremi]

Ah, that just...
Thanks!

[Sol Invictus]

Your lucky day, Zeremi. Your wish came true.

[AngelicFaces]

Kinda hoped Ivan would tell us a bit more, now we're going to have this discussion again. Whatever is going to happen, we will be paying for more than the box after launch so they can finance ongoing content. Assuming you want to get everything the game will offer when it comes to content and such.