Flagship’s Bill Roper Joins Cryptic

Flagship Studios co-founder Bill Roper joined massively multiplayer online game developer Cryptic Studios to work on forthcoming new title Champions Online as design director. Roper’s initial success in the industry was at Blizzard Entertainment, where he worked on the Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo franchises. He eventually rose to become vice president of Blizzard North and a director of Blizzard Entertainment, where he managed all external projects and internal teams. Leaving Blizzard in 2003, Roper co-founded Flagship Studios and Ping0, taking the role of CEO and overseeing the development of the troubled Hellgate: London. The majority of staff at both companies were made redundant in July, with Hellgate now set to close in its existing form in early 2009 and a number of ex-Flagship staff moving to Turbine’s new West Coast studio. Cryptic Studios is headquarted in Los Gatos, California and is currently developing Star Trek Online and Champions Online -- based on the superhero based pen-and-paper role-playing game -- for Take-Two Interactive. Cryptic previously worked on the similarly themed City of Heroes/Villains. "Bill brings a ton of creative energy to the Cryptic office and we’re thrilled to have him join our team," said John Needham, CEO of Cryptic Studios. "His years of gaming and online experience are huge assets to all of our projects, and Bill will assist us in furthering our studio’s vision to create innovative, exciting MMO gameplay." "Cryptic has experienced huge growth over the past year and has exciting opportunities ahead of it," said Roper. "The company knows how to choose compelling IPs that have rich histories such as Champions and Star Trek. I’m looking forward to working with the team."