NCSoft Closing Paragon Studios
By
Abhorrent,
Posted on: 2012-08-31 11:36 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
So I'm guessing I'll never have my Power Armour Gatling Gun Guy or my buff ladies. Well, crap... Does anyone figure another company in the gaming market will have the balls to make something as fundamentally different from the established status quo as City of Heroes was when it came out, or are we doomed to "forest and elves" MMOs until I bleed out the ears?
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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In a professional shop like a game studio, absolutely. It's only in unionized workplaces and certain industries that there's any notice requirements.
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Originally Posted by Arilou
I'm kind of shocked at how quickly this went, can you really fire someone without notice like this in the US?
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The City of Heroes Community is a special one and I will always look fondly on my times arguing, discussing and playing with you all. Thanks and thanks to the developers for a special experience.
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*blink* You mean there are workplaces when people don't belong to unions? (that aren't y'know, short-term stuff?)|
Originally Posted by EvilGeko
In a professional shop like a game studio, absolutely. It's only in unionized workplaces and certain industries that there's any notice requirements.
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That's... kind of creepy.
"Men strunt �r strunt och snus �r snus
om ock i gyllne dosor.
Och rosor i ett sprucket krus
�r st�ndigt alltid rosor."
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Sounds like they're really racing at top speed for their chapter seven bankruptcy. Yay!
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Originally Posted by TerraDraconis
Of course. It makes perfect sense to kill the game that is making you money not the ones you screwed up on.
Someone needs to save face by cutting something and they can't admit their mistake so cut the thing they aren't personally associated with. Makes perfect sense. |
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In the United States, that's called Freedom!|
Originally Posted by Arilou
That's... kind of creepy.
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Or maybe Capitalism. I know they call it something, I just don't know what.
NCSoft is a Korean publisher; of course they aren't going to kill off their tepid korean-developed games even if all signs point to Aion and whatever other rehashed generic grinders they have in development being the significant money drains.
It's like Sqeenix not being able to wrap their heads around Deus Ex being more popular than whatever terribad game they decide to slap the Final Fantasy name on. Or EA trying to force every single game they publish into being a Call of Duty clone despite consistently losing money on mindlessly pursuing some illusory audience.
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I know that the somewhat annual Wizards of the Coast layoffs always happen right before the Christmas holiday.|
Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
I would guess Paragon Studios was only just told about this today. It's not the first time I've seen corporate stooges do a ninja shutdown. There was a company in my hometown a couple years ago that shut down it's offices over the weekend and shipped everything to Mexico. When the employees came back Monday they found an empty office building.
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It sounds to me like everyone at Paragon was just as blindsided by this as we were.
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I think a law was recently passed in California to prevent mass layoffs without a 2 month notice, likely precisely things like this really hurt the economy (big studios shutting down and just sending hundreds to the unemployment lines overnight.)|
Originally Posted by EvilGeko
In a professional shop like a game studio, absolutely. It's only in unionized workplaces and certain industries that there's any notice requirements.
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Not sure if everyone was actually fired, though. If the company had any decency, they likely attempted to accommodate everyone into new positions. I don't think that happened, though.
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Since you will soon be looking for a new game to predict will fail because of population issues, I strongly recommend you go to SWTOR. Not only will it be free to play very shortly, but there your predictions will actually be true.
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Originally Posted by Tutelary
Keep trying since you like to keep failing.
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From the Post it seems they where blindsided. With the comment stating after the fact..|
Originally Posted by Zombieluvr
I know that the somewhat annual Wizards of the Coast layoffs always happen right before the Christmas holiday.
It sounds to me like everyone at Paragon was just as blindsided by this as we were. |
Bah.. back to WoW. This sucks
Unless someone else knows another mmo for Macs. I might have to actually boot camp this thing now..
1. Why Soft Cap is Important : http://dechskaison.blogspot.com/2011...important.html
2. Limits: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Limits
3. Attack Mechanics: http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Attack_Mechanics
4. Rule of Five: http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Rule_o...e_Law_of_Fives
They ought to open source the game and tools. It's not like CoX's codebase is something they can sell off.
That way the community can resurrect the game, and aspiring game devs can learn from their efforts.
---------------------------------
Heartbroken
I lurked a lot but I'll miss you allAlpha Team sg, Pinnacle server
Black Citadel vg
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I never predicted anything. You did with the this game will last for years attitude. LOL|
Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
Since you will soon be looking for a new game to predict will fail because of population issues, I strongly recommend you go to SWTOR. Not only will it be free to play very shortly, but there your predictions will actually be true.
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I'm sad the game is closing but I'm not sad you are wrong.
Hmmm so can the just keep the forums up?
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Some people already mentioned this would be unlikely due to what NCSoft owns and the game engine belonging to Cryptic. I would definitely participate in a Kickstarter if it were possible.
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Originally Posted by Alexis_NA
They ought to open source the game and tools. It's not like CoX's codebase is something they can sell off.
That way the community can resurrect the game, and aspiring game devs can learn from their efforts. |
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very few places are union anymore. may be going to a job that is soon, but in general, most places are not union.
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Originally Posted by Arilou
*blink* You mean there are workplaces when people don't belong to unions? (that aren't y'know, short-term stuff?)
That's... kind of creepy. |
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Sure no one turned them off. And at a guess no moderators are currently assigned to it since they just laid them all off. This should be interesting. I wonder how long the boards will last once NCSoft realizes the boards are here.|
Originally Posted by Leo_G
Hmmm so can the just keep the forums up?
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Remember they generally don't have forums for their other games. At least not forums hosted by the game company its self.
But it's MY sadistic mechanical monster and I'm here to make sure it knows it. - Girl Genius
List of Invention Guides
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Getting the IP, story bible and maybe the game assets (3d models) might just be possible.
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Originally Posted by Tutelary
Some people already mentioned this would be unlikely due to what NCSoft owns and the game engine belonging to Cryptic. I would definitely participate in a Kickstarter if it were possible.
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Always remember, we were Heroes.
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Originally Posted by Tutelary
I never predicted anything. You did with the this game will last for years attitude. LOL
I'm sad the game is closing but I'm not sad you are wrong. |
News Flash, at the time it shuts down the game will have lasted 8 1/2 years. That by definition proves the accuracy of any prediction that the game will last for years.
So once again you are wrong.
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In the U.S.A? It's like 80%-90% of our workforce. Unions are the exception here. And in a place like Paragon Studios, being unionized would be unheard of.
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Originally Posted by Arilou
*blink* You mean there are workplaces when people don't belong to unions? (that aren't y'know, short-term stuff?)
That's... kind of creepy. |
The City of Heroes Community is a special one and I will always look fondly on my times arguing, discussing and playing with you all. Thanks and thanks to the developers for a special experience.
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Yes. It happens that way sometimes when businesses close.|
Originally Posted by Arilou
I'm kind of shocked at how quickly this went, can you really fire someone without notice like this in the US?
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With luck, the employees of the studio will receive either a severance package or offers of employment elsewhere within NCSoft. You never know, though.
A local restaurant near where I live closed one day, without warning. One day, they were open. The next there was a sign on the door thanking customers for their business. They were part of a chain and the corporate office had decided to close several of the down to cut costs.
The employees were given two week's notice of the closing, and no sort of severance that I heard about.
I hope that the employees of the studio are being treated better than that. It sounds right now as if it could be a situation where they came to work, someone called Matt from Corporate and said "Send everyone home, NOW." and that was that.
Thanks for the great game.
Sermon
@sermon
One of Six, Cannibal 6
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Try The Secret World from Funcom.
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Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
So I'm guessing I'll never have my Power Armour Gatling Gun Guy or my buff ladies. Well, crap... Does anyone figure another company in the gaming market will have the balls to make something as fundamentally different from the established status quo as City of Heroes was when it came out, or are we doomed to "forest and elves" MMOs until I bleed out the ears?
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We don't even have until the end of the year.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/08/...per-shuts-down
From NCSoft to IGN
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I'm uninstalling the beta as soon as I get home. I should uninstall the main client and all NCsoft products on my machine, but I want to see if we're allowed to go out with a bang instead of a whimper.
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Both NCsoft and Paragon Studios are incredibly proud of the success of City of Heroes, but unfortunately, the continued support of the franchise no longer fits within our long term goals for the company. All employees at Paragon Studios are affected by this decision, including the management team. We will begin the City of Heroes sun setting process immediately with the goal to officially stop our service offerings for the franchise on November 30, 2012. This was a very tough decision to make and wish the best for all Paragon Studio employees in their next ventures. |
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Originally Posted by Arilou
I'm kind of shocked at how quickly this went, can you really fire someone without notice like this in the US?
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Are you kidding me? Most people get 5 minutes to clean their desks and one last escort out of the building by security.
@Quantum Evil Rad/Rad Corruptor
Making the world safe for maleficent particles since 2004.
To say I am floored is just.. its hard to find the words.