NCSoft acquires "City of" Franchise!
By
2Negative,
Posted on: 2007-11-06 13:34 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
We are here to field any questions you may have about this wonderful news.
Ex
[ QUOTE ]
Were looking beyond the normal slate of free Issues for City of Heroes. We want to use City of Heroes as a focal point and really build on this franchise. We absolutely value the City of Heroes IP with its unique focus on the superhero genre, were really thrilled at the opportunities that full ownership brings to the table, and we cant wait for the City of community to see all that we have in store for them.
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read:
BEND OVER FOR ADVERTISING AND PAID EXPANSIONS!
=P
If they keep up the momentum of the last few issues and don't stick me with ads this is good news.
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I, for one, welcome our new NCSoft overlords 
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Were looking beyond the normal slate of free Issues for City of Heroes.
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What are the implications of this?
/speculates wildly to self
woot!
Well, the Cat's finally out of the bag. 
This of course makes perfect sense, business and marketing-wise. Cryptic wants to move on and get more deeply involved in their upcoming projects (including of course MU:O) and this frees their resources up to focus more upon the titles in their pot. It also allows those who do want to stay with the current title to move over... so to speak, to the company that is willing to continue its growth and development, unfettered by future constraints. That of course being NCSoft who can leverage the existing Co* title as a competitive force in the marketplace.
The entire current team of COH/COV has signed on with NCsoft and we will be continuing our schedule of 3 free issues per year, as well as some other great goodies as we grow the team and IP.
Ex
Let's hope this means CoX will get a lot more development support. You know all that stuff that they've wanted to implement but just don't have the resources currently? Well, I hope with a dedicated studio they'll be getting the resources.
Also hope this paves the way for a "station pass" type pricing model for NCSoft games. *fingers crossed*
Wait, what?
Cryptic is selling off its independently developed IP? Man...
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<QR>
So they mentioned the new NCSoft NorCal Studio will be supporting City of franchise.
What does "supporting" entail?
EDIT: Nevermind, think it's answered above.
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The entire current team of COH/COV has signed on with NCsoft and we will be continuing our schedule of 3 free issues per year, as well as some other great goodies as we grow the team and IP.
Ex
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Ah, if I'm following this, NCSoft bought the rights to COX from Cryptic and offered to set up the current COX team in Northern California to continue development. And if I'm reading what your saying, the current team did choose to take the offer and move from Cryptic to the new unnamed studio?
I hope we hear more about this, such moves are always a bit nerve wracking for everyone from the staff to the customers.
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I hope this doesn't sound pessimistic (I have no reason to think this will negatively impact the game), but what do the following parties have to gain from this deal?
NC Soft
Cryptic
The Players
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The entire current team of COH/COV has signed on with NCsoft and we will be continuing our schedule of 3 free issues per year, as well as some other great goodies as we grow the team and IP.
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Wooo!!!!!
We keeps our Devs!!!!
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Hopefully nobody suddenly found themselves out of work as a result of this transition.
Beyond that, I am tentatively looking forward to this, since it will almost certainly mean more money and resources will be available for development. Just so long as NCSoft doesn't go crazy with forced direction, this should turn out well.
edit: looks like my main concern was addressed while I was posting. Nice
I knew theyd come crawling back. Maybe this game with get teh subscription numbers it derserves. Ill all fo it!
[ QUOTE ]
The entire current team of COH/COV has signed on with NCsoft and we will be continuing our schedule of 3 free issues per year, as well as some other great goodies as we grow the team and IP.
Ex
[/ QUOTE ]
As long as the people who've knocked out the last few expansions are staying with the team, then I have confidence that this game will continue to escalate in greatness. The past year has given us a lot of great additions to an already fun game.
As far as the hinted-at goodies go, can you throw us a bone on those?
(I hate suspense.)
Arc# 92382 -- "The S.P.I.D.E.R. and the Tyrant" -- Ninjas! Robots! Praetorians! It's totally epic! Play it now!
Arc # 316340 -- "Husk" -- Azuria loses something, a young woman harbors a dark secret, and the fate of the world is in your hands.
[ QUOTE ]
I hope this doesn't sound pessimistic (I have no reason to think this will negatively impact the game), but what do the following parties have to gain from this deal?
NC Soft
Cryptic
The Players
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Well, for Cryptic, they don't have to work on supporting two different games in the same genre that will be direct competitors.
Also, I suppose this puts us closer to some sort of PlayNC Monthly Pass deal to get access to TR, CoH, Lineage, etc.
Heroes
Dysmal
Lumynous
Sam Steele
Pluck
Wile
Slagheap
Pressure Wave
Rhiannon Bel
Verified
Stellaric
Syd Mallorn
Villains
Jotunheim Skald
Saer Maen
Jen Corbae
Illuminance
Venator Arawn
Taiga Dryad
Tarranos
[ QUOTE ]
I hope this doesn't sound pessimistic (I have no reason to think this will negatively impact the game), but what do the following parties have to gain from this deal?
NC Soft
Cryptic
The Players
[/ QUOTE ]
The parties gain the following.
NCsoft acquires two award winning titles to add to their list of supported games. Also NCsoft is poised to open a new studio in Northern California in a very strategic location where recruitment of experienced talent is located.
Cryptic Studios is able to fully focus on their current project.
The players should be seeing more resources and development for the title they love and support.
does this mean future issues will get better attention and not the "whatever is easiest" to push out?
or maybe some money to spend on those exspansions that we cant address or fit into issues?
OK Folks the mantra of the day.. ."DON'T PANIC!"
Actually this is going to be FRAKIN AWESOME!
w00t Radio
[ QUOTE ]
I hope this doesn't sound pessimistic (I have no reason to think this will negatively impact the game), but what do the following parties have to gain from this deal?
NC Soft
Cryptic
The Players
[/ QUOTE ]
Just guessing here:
NCSoft -- full rights to an established franchise. This means they keep all the profits and can license things out as they see fit.
Cryptic - $$. Plus they won't have to be caught in a conflict of interest between NCSoft with COH/V and Microsoft with MUO.
The players -- a sharp stick in the eye! (Kidding) ExLibris promised goodies. I await my goodies. Also, this would allow NCSoft to roll all of their games into one payment umbrella the way Sony does with theirs (if they should choose to do so, and it's been rumored that they might).
Arc# 92382 -- "The S.P.I.D.E.R. and the Tyrant" -- Ninjas! Robots! Praetorians! It's totally epic! Play it now!
Arc # 316340 -- "Husk" -- Azuria loses something, a young woman harbors a dark secret, and the fate of the world is in your hands.
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does this mean future issues will get better attention and not the "whatever is easiest" to push out?
[/ QUOTE ]
If I have to guess, they'll still get the easy stuff out first. However, with more production money, we will see the hard-to-do stuff coming faster and more frequently. If the gigantic amount of "never gonna happen" stuff in Issue 11 was taken care of before this deal was finalized, that is a really good sign for what they can do with the next few issues with even MORE at their disposal.
I also think that by allowing one company to concentrate on this franchise, we the players will get more content faster.
Now that's a wild and unsupported theory there, but I like it.
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[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I hope this doesn't sound pessimistic (I have no reason to think this will negatively impact the game), but what do the following parties have to gain from this deal?
NC Soft
Cryptic
The Players
[/ QUOTE ]
The parties gain the following.
NCsoft acquires two award winning titles to add to their list of supported games. Also NCsoft is poised to open a new studio in Northern California in a very strategic location where recruitment of experienced talent is located.
Cryptic Studios is able to fully focus on their current project.
The players should be seeing more resources and development for the title they love and support.
[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the response. I wait optimistically for what this may bring.
omg!
http://www.plaync.com/us/news/2007/1...cquires_1.html