It appears that the fallen MMO Hellgate: London has been resurrected. Publisher HanbitSoft has acquired rights to the game and reportedly plans on introducing a free MMO under the title Hellgate: Resurrection (a title which was also used for the game in Korea). HanbitSoft already operates the game in Korea to much success, and therefore plans on introducing the game to the rest of the world. Hellgate: London was a critical and commercial disaster, and servers for the game were shut down last year.

Despite the fall of Flagship Studios, a new expansion pack for Hellgate: London is in development at Korean publisher HanbitSoft, who confirmed that it now holds rights to the action-RPG franchise.

The company noted that development is being done in its US studio and that it will be distributed through their own website. The update is meant to “surpass the Abyss Chronicles” content that was released earlier this year.

It should be pointed out that the game’s online servers will be closed in February 2009 by Namco Bandai, but HanbitSoft noted that it hopes to deliver “good news shortly” and reaffirmed its intention to keep supporting the game.

It’s the end of the line for Hellgate: London, the only major output of the now-defunct Flagship Studios, as publisher Namco Bandai has announced that it will support the game’s servers through January 31, 2009, after which they will be shut down.

Online multiplayer for the action-RPG will continue to be free as a “further gesture of support”, noted the publisher, who saved the game’s servers back in July after the collapse of Flagship.

Flagship Studios was composed of mostly Blizzard veterans who had worked on the Diablo series. Thus, Hellgate: London was billed as a “spiritual successor to Diablo”, though it failed to live up to expectations.