NCsoft Brighton to Axe Dev Team
By
Aero_,
Posted on: 2008-09-10 13:53 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
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People who bought Auto Assault where offered a game to play... (There are still Auto Assault boxes on sale in shops)
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A company that can't take tough buissiness decisions is a company that isn't going to suvive.
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This isn't Auto Assault.
Cutting off from one of their greatest games, isn't a sign of expandability but a sign of shrinkage.
Instead, there was one more choice: To promote the game better in EU countries.
Of those two options, isn't clear what helps more to business survivability long-term?
By placing us on remote-control, are they so sure that EU market doesn't deserve their attention anymore?
At least you seem to be sure.
Easy on the melodrama, folks.
Kerensky: I really enjoyed your stint on the English boards. Like RJ and Aero you are a class act. Good luck with the future old chap.
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Bridger is long gone, sadly enough
he moved on to another project
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Well yes, but now leaving NCsoft too?
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Coincidence?
Any word about Palladium or they are phasing out French and German servers in the process of cutting down expenses?
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They're hiring a Community Moderator (like Koshej and Niviene), not a Community Coordinator.
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Rockjaw, _Aero, Bridger (and possibly Kerensky) you've done a fantastic job, and deserve much kudos. I'd like to wish you all the best with whatever direction your life takes you.
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I missed episodes, Bridger is leaving too?
[/ QUOTE ]Bridger moved from being the EU English community coordinator to the NCEU development team, and since that was axed...
My sympathy goes to Rockjaw, Aero and all the others that are affected by this unfortunate event 
I also hope for Kerensky that he stays
Pretty unremarkable piece, but it shows that even the top brass at NCsoft are at risk.
Ex-NCsoft employee speaks out (Edge article).
I'm very sorry that so many good and helpful people are being axed
I enjoyed Ks time as our CC added to the fact he kept popping in to see us made him in my mind a top guy 
Not that GR isn't good (before he pulls rank on me) 
Happy to be on Defiant.
Global name @mereman
Member of P.E.R.C. Representing Defiant
Alts http://cit.cohtitan.com/profile/4488
CoH faces http://faces.cohtitan.com/profile/mereman
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Cutting off from one of their greatest games, isn't a sign of expandability but a sign of shrinkage.
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Yes, NCSoft is shrinking. With a string of flops and near flops, it needs to, at least in the short term.
But French and German players will be no more cut off than Spanish or Italian players are now.
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there was one more choice: To promote the game better in EU countries.
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Adversising is good, but it won't sell snow to eskimos. CoX is based on american comic books. It's appeal in europe is going to be somewhat limited however much you advertise, and advertising is expensive. I guess they could sack a few more people in order to pay for it...
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Of those two options, isn't clear what helps more to business survivability long-term?
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No, it isn't. The most common cause of buisiness failure is becoming overextended. Becoming larger increases the chance of very large profits in the long term, but decreases the chance of buisiness survival in the short term.
I really should do something about this signature.
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No, it isn't. The most common cause of buisiness failure is becoming overextended. Becoming larger increases the chance of very large profits in the long term, but decreases the chance of buisiness survival in the short term.
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Wrong. Most common cause of business failure is not getting paid by other business's.
Or under capitalisation, for start up business's.
Sad news, My comiserations to all the devs affected, thanks for your effeorts here and I hope you quickly bounce back.
Technological issues, a'la laggggg, aside - One server has always seemed the right home for any MMO imo.
Indeed it is. I'm guilty of using hyperbolae.
I really should do something about this signature.
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The only thing that might change is that there is a possibility that Kerensky may be leaving us.
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Erm ... and who will become the german CC ?? 
NCSoft seems to have enough money to spend Richard Garriot a flight to ISS station but they cant pay Kerensky's earning ?!
Where is there the relation ? 
PS: Sorry 'bout my awful English ^^
Server ~ Zukunft
TechWar[50], Doomreaper[3x], Brachial[2x]
Stahlgewitter[50], Waffennarr[50], Quintessenz
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Thank you all - over and over - I know now for sure that it this is something worth fighting for.
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Damn straight it's worth fighting for!
K, you're so many kinds of awesome - I don't know how you do it, but managing to remember everyone you meet at the various meets, and greeting them so warmly the next time you see them... it makes us feel special.
It was you who kept me company when I was so mercilessly abandoned at the Omega Sektor - and stood outside with me in the cold whilst I succumbed to the vile habit that is cigarettes; and for that I'll always be grateful.
You're a great guy, and a great friend.
Open Letter of the german community to NCsoft:
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Dear Sir or Madam, valued community,
we are aghast to hear, that our german
City of Heroes Community Coordinator Kerensky,
as well as the majority of the customer support teams may become redundant,
in the course of savings at NCsoft.
As we would be affected, directly and indirectly, we (cohmpendium.com) decided to write an open letter
together with our colleagues from wartower.de
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http://coh.gamergy.de/files/kerensky...tter/index.php
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NCSoft seems to have enough money to spend Richard Garriot a flight to ISS station
[/ QUOTE ]Isn't he paying for the trip himself? Oh, and it's either the ISS, or the International Space Station 
fact is, he is rich.
he didnt need to earn so much money for sucking TR
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Adversising is good, but it won't sell snow to eskimos. CoX is based on american comic books.
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Ahem, but of course WoW that is inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien, failed to succeed in US, because Tolkien was English writer...
Do you really believe what you say or you just trying to see if someone will react to it?
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Adversising is good, but it won't sell snow to eskimos. CoX is based on american comic books.
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You mean the ones lining my shelves. Damn, should I have been buying some other form of comic book instead of something I like?
In fact, wouldn't anyone interested in a superhero game at least have passing knowledge of the big players in American comic books?
"Idealism is such a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use." - Kerr Avon
Myopic Aardvark on Twitter
If you are here, chances are you like superhero comics. However, in the USA, just about every kid is brought up them (slight exagaration). In the UK kids are as likely to have grown up reading Beano, and an even smaller proportion will have been exposes in other EU countries do to the nead for translation. It all amounts to a smaller market. If you need evidence, look at how small the non-english server populations are. You can't put it all down to a lack of advertising, since there wasn't that much in the US either.
I'm sure you would get some take up for Asterix Online in the USA, but it's going to be a much smaller market than the DC MMO. Would it be worth marketing such a game in the US? Quite possibly, given the large population and wealth, but if your creditors are hammering at your door it is better to stick to the safe bets (unless the jig is up anyway, in which case a more risky stratagy would be called for).
Which is not to say that NCSoft are thinking of axing French and German support, but it is what I would do if I where in charge.
I really should do something about this signature.
I know very little of US comic books, am not a fan of the Genre and I'm only playing this game for a month to see how it goes. That month started a week after the EU servers went live, but when its up I'm gone
"Well, they found my diary today.
They were appropriately appalled
at the discovery of the eight victims
They're now putting it all together.
Women wrapped in silk
with one leg missing
Eight legs, one body, silk,
spider, brilliant!"
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If you are here, chances are you like superhero comics. However, in the USA, just about every kid is brought up them (slight exagaration).
[/ QUOTE ]While superhero comicbooks aren't that common in europe, the characters themselves are still fairly well known, and through them a certain part of the culture is as well.
There's probably more people with a fairly decent stereotype of a superhero than of how elves are generally depicted in modern fantasy.
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I know very little of US comic books, am not a fan of the Genre and I'm only playing this game for a month to see how it goes. That month started a week after the EU servers went live, but when its up I'm gone
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So you'll be gone by 2050 then
Happy to be on Defiant.
Global name @mereman
Member of P.E.R.C. Representing Defiant
Alts http://cit.cohtitan.com/profile/4488
CoH faces http://faces.cohtitan.com/profile/mereman
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If you are here, chances are you like superhero comics. However, in the USA, just about every kid is brought up them (slight exagaration). In the UK kids are as likely to have grown up reading Beano, and an even smaller proportion will have been exposes in other EU countries do to the nead for translation. It all amounts to a smaller market. If you need evidence, look at how small the non-english server populations are. You can't put it all down to a lack of advertising, since there wasn't that much in the US either.
I'm sure you would get some take up for Asterix Online in the USA, but it's going to be a much smaller market than the DC MMO. Would it be worth marketing such a game in the US? Quite possibly, given the large population and wealth, but if your creditors are hammering at your door it is better to stick to the safe bets (unless the jig is up anyway, in which case a more risky stratagy would be called for).
Which is not to say that NCSoft are thinking of axing French and German support, but it is what I would do if I where in charge.
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Sorry buddy but that's just plain wrong. I've been reading Fantastic Four, Spidey and Hulk et al since I was 6. That's almost 40 years. Marvel have always been big in the UK, and are one of the reasons why DC Thompson have struggled in the last few years. Very few people "collect" Beano/Dandy etc. Captain Britain was created in 197something (I was 11 or 12 at the time) and was one of Marvel's hottest properties - it was exclusive to the British market.
Every kid who knows squat about comics also knows about Asterix and Tin Tin too. There's shed-loads of cross fertilisation between genres and Superman/Spidey and the whole Marvel & DC Universes are regularly translated into French and German (not to mention Italian, Spanish, Portuguese etc.)
Yes, it's a specialist market but most towns in France of any size have a comicbook purveyor.
The industry pundits tell us that the comicbook market shrinks year on year but that's actually not true. The quantity of comicbooks sold in the "Golden Age" may have been much higher (because many were given away free and counted in the numbers) but the comicbook market value has never been higher.
The Kids in Europe regularly buy and read comics in significant numbers.
Thelonious Monk
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Rockjaw, _Aero, Bridger (and possibly Kerensky) you've done a fantastic job, and deserve much kudos. I'd like to wish you all the best with whatever direction your life takes you.
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I missed episodes, Bridger is leaving too?
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Bridger is long gone, sadly enough
he moved on to another project