Flagship Studios

This article is about the American company. For the Japanese company, see Flagship (company).
Flagship Studios
Company typePrivate
IndustryVideo games
Founded2003
DefunctAugust 2008
FateDissolved
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California, United States
Key people
  • Bill Roper (CEO and co-founder)
  • Max Schaefer (COO and co-founder)
  • Kenneth Williams (CFO and co-founder)
Products

Flagship Studios was an American video game developer founded by Bill Roper along with Max Schaefer [it], Erich Schaefer [it], and David Brevik, former high level Blizzard North executives.[1] The core personnel of Flagship Studios had been collaborating as a team since 1993 when they founded Condor Studios (later bought out and renamed Blizzard North) and in addition to creating the Diablo franchise many were key high level executives in the development of Warcraft, StarCraft and World of Warcraft games. Flagship Studios was formed following the resignation en masse of Blizzard North management following a dispute with Blizzard Entertainment parent company Vivendi regarding the potential fate of the company, development team, and titles, which were in doubt at that time.[2] Flagship Studio's primary target platform for their games was the PC.

Flagship Studios had a partnership with Namco Hometek and HanbitSoft to cover an international market for game marketing and distribution. The company dissolved[3] in August 2008 because of financial troubles. Max Schaefer and Erich Schaefer moved on to help form Runic Games.

  1. ^ "Flagship Studios Opens with a Splash". Flagship Studios. 2003-11-22. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
  2. ^ Robert Howarth (2003-10-27). "Flagship Studios Interview". IGN. Archived from the original on August 30, 2007. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
  3. ^ Green, Jeff. "Bill Roper speaks out at last". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on 2011-05-22.