Word from NCSoft (from IGN)
By
Angry_Citizen,
Posted on: 2012-08-31 13:29 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
Long term goals...
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You might know me as FlintEastwood now on Freedom
Their long-term goals of crashing and burning by shutting down their most successful game.
"You don't lose levels. You don't have equipment to wear out, repair, or lose, or that anyone can steal from you. About the only thing lighter than debt they could do is have an NPC walk by, point and laugh before you can go to the hospital or base." -Memphis_Bill
We will honor the past, and fight to the last, it will be a good way to die...
Just....don't......get.....IT.
I mean, why would they brag about the successes of the game since Freedom and create content and future content if they were just going to shut it down?
This caught them by surprise as well, almost guarantee it. Would love to get the inside scoop here. Major bummer though. This game is like a second home for me.
"You don't lose levels. You don't have equipment to wear out, repair, or lose, or that anyone can steal from you. About the only thing lighter than debt they could do is have an NPC walk by, point and laugh before you can go to the hospital or base." -Memphis_Bill
We will honor the past, and fight to the last, it will be a good way to die...
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It hit Paragon Studios by surprise (read the announcement... part of it was dedicated to the employees!). It would appear that NCSoft blew too much money on marketing GW2, and Aion simply sucked financially... so they cut the one far away from them.
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Originally Posted by Thor's Assassin
Just....don't......get.....IT.
I mean, why would they brag about the successes of the game since Freedom and create content and future content if they were just going to shut it down? This caught them by surprise as well, almost guarantee it. Would love to get the inside scoop here. Major bummer though. This game is like a second home for me. |
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Originally Posted by ShadowNate
;_; ?!?! What the heck is wrong with you, my god, I have never been so confused in my life!
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As bad as we feel about losing the game we love, I feel worse for the Paragon Studios staff. Here's to landing on your feet, folks.
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Money and profits.|
Originally Posted by JayboH
Long term goals...
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Unless they are a bunch of sadists, there is no other reason to kill the entire studio before a long holiday weekend other than the fact that today was the last calendar day of the month, in other words: Accounting releated.
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For one: everyone inside Paragon Studios didn't know this was coming.|
Originally Posted by Thor's Assassin
Just....don't......get.....IT.
I mean, why would they brag about the successes of the game since Freedom and create content and future content if they were just going to shut it down? This caught them by surprise as well, almost guarantee it. Would love to get the inside scoop here. Major bummer though. This game is like a second home for me. |
For seconds: even those that knew things were not doing good would still try to paing a positive outlook in the press, as success stories and the like get press and press equates free publicity that may revitalize the game.
The sad thing: biggest barrier of entry for this game has been neglected since launch, the GUI. It's terrible. I got some people to try the game and it's horrendous. There was no way the game would manage to hold on to a significant number of new players with the current horrible GUI even as a free game.
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^ this.|
Originally Posted by Ironik
As bad as we feel about losing the game we love, I feel worse for the Paragon Studios staff. Here's to landing on your feet, folks.
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I'm rather indifferent about the game ending. Sad to see my characters be gone forever, but I don't play the game anymore anyways. However for the development team thats put so much work into the game and then essentially having the carpet ripped right out from under their feet... thats rough.
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Aion is a grindfest typical of all the other grindfest MMOs that do well in Korea and China; I have no expectation that GW2 isn't going to be just another grindfest, with more eye candy, just as Aion was at launch. Given that they're not going to kill the game they just rolled out, which one would they choose to kill -- the one that has the same style as their basic business model and does best in their big markets, or the one that is an outlier and doesn't generate much revenue from their big markets?
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Originally Posted by Kitsune Knight
It hit Paragon Studios by surprise (read the announcement... part of it was dedicated to the employees!). It would appear that NCSoft blew too much money on marketing GW2, and Aion simply sucked financially... so they cut the one far away from them.
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"But in our enthusiasm, we could not resist a radical overhaul of the system, in which all of its major weaknesses have been exposed, analyzed, and replaced with new weaknesses."
-- Bruce Leverett, Register Allocation in Optimizing Compilers
Publisher really dont give a rats hairy butt about the players, or haven't you noticed by now. We the general public of nerds do not matter too the publishers, all they care about is money. Where are the hackers when you need them?
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Even for accounting related - this seems very oddly handled. To go from "we're promoting upcoming new content" to "we're shutting down" at a moment's notice smells of desperation, a key shareholder or bondholder or something similar said "You will make changes and make them now".
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Originally Posted by Starsman
Money and profits.
Unless they are a bunch of sadists, there is no other reason to kill the entire studio before a long holiday weekend other than the fact that today was the last calendar day of the month, in other words: Accounting releated. |
My arcs are constantly shifting, just search for GadgetDon for the latest.
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So my next step is to win the lottery, buy the game, and tell NCsoft to shove it.
Of course, the playerbase may not WANT me in charge, but hey, we all have to make sacrifices.
Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite
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MA Arcs - 3430: Hell Hath No Fury / 3515: Positron Gets Some / 6600: Dyne of the Times / 351572: For All the Wrong Reasons
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If you're going to win the lottery, then don't buy the game, buy NCSoft. Then you can lay the executives off. In very inventive ways.
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Originally Posted by Dark_Respite
So my next step is to win the lottery, buy the game, and tell NCsoft to shove it.
Of course, the playerbase may not WANT me in charge, but hey, we all have to make sacrifices. Michelle aka Samuraiko/Dark_Respite |
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I'd take anyone at this point if they keep the game running.|
Originally Posted by Dark_Respite
So my next step is to win the lottery, buy the game, and tell NCsoft to shove it.
Of course, the playerbase may not WANT me in charge, but hey, we all have to make sacrifices. Michelle aka Samuraiko/Dark_Respite |
Hey, if it was you we'd at least have really awesome cutscenes
I really do hope NCSoft crashes and burns now. This was an enormous, mind boggling mistake.
An interesting theory from another thread that can be found here:
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Originally Posted by Sylph_Knight
I did some digging and I think I found out why the game is being shut down. This is all based on prior public knowledge and some conjecture, so I apologize if this is inaccurate.
Cryptic Studios kept the original rights and engine when they separated from NCSoft and sold a 5-year licence to the company. Those 5 years are now up, and since that time Cryptic Studios has developed Champions Online, been bought out by Atari, which was itself bought out by Perfect World. Seeing how Perfect World is another Korean Developer with a Super Hero MMO of its own, it clearly doesn't want competition. Therefore, they will not sell the renewal licence to NCSoft or have made the licence fees too high for profitability. Now that this is out of the way, I want to thank everyone I have ever had the pleasure of playing with in City of Heroes. I grew up with the game and matured greatly because of your support. You defined much of who I am today. I hope you all find happiness down the road and never stop believing in your Justice. |
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Originally Posted by PapaSlade
Rangle's right....this is fun.
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The speculation going around (SPECULATION, note!) is that this is due to the engine rights.
They were passed to Cryptic, to Atari, then to Perfect World... who wanted to shut down a competing MMO. So, when the five year renewal came around, they refused to renew and thus COH has to shut down despite being reasonably successful.
It makes more sense than having active development going so strong just days before the shutdown. If COH was bleeding money I think we'd have more warning, too. But, again, just speculation.
The game industry is not a beacon of stability.
EDIT: Beaten by 12 seconds by Rangle. Curses! Well, better to quote than to reiterate, so read the above post. 
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Case of lets keep the home market happy and screw the rest|
Originally Posted by Kitsune Knight
It hit Paragon Studios by surprise (read the announcement... part of it was dedicated to the employees!). It would appear that NCSoft blew too much money on marketing GW2, and Aion simply sucked financially... so they cut the one far away from them.
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I kind of doubt that. There are usually renewel license agreements and if Perfect World did that, it leaves them open to RICO charges. |
Originally Posted by <span style="color: GoldenRod; font-weight: bold;">Twoflower</span>
The speculation going around (SPECULATION, note!) is that this is due to the engine rights.
They were passed to Cryptic, to Atari, then to Perfect World... who wanted to shut down a competing MMO. So, when the five year renewal came around, they refused to renew and thus COH has to shut down despite being reasonably successful. It makes more sense than having active development going so strong just days before the shutdown. If COH was bleeding money I think we'd have more warning, too. But, again, just speculation. The game industry is not a beacon of stability. EDIT: Beaten by 12 seconds by Rangle. Curses! Well, better to quote than to reiterate, so read the above post. |
I really think NCSoft is in emergency 'cut wages and costs mode' to stave off hemoraging.
Still here, even after all this time!
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I don't think it does at all. First, no RICO in Korea. Second, I don't see any way in which you'd face RICO charges for refusing to renew an agreement that was bundled with stuff you'd bought from another company who bought it from another company over the previous five years.|
Originally Posted by Futurias
I kind of doubt that. There are usually renewel license agreements and if Perfect World did that, it leaves them open to RICO charges.
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| I really think NCSoft is in emergency 'cut wages and costs mode' to stave off hemoraging. |
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Actually, cutting short term wages can be an effective way to 'make' your company be short term profitable as you reorganize. |
Originally Posted by <span style="color: GoldenRod; font-weight: bold;">seebs</span>
I don't think it does at all. First, no RICO in Korea. Second, I don't see any way in which you'd face RICO charges for refusing to renew an agreement that was bundled with stuff you'd bought from another company who bought it from another company over the previous five years.
Doesn't make sense to cut revenue too, though, if that's the case. |
And since Perfect World does business here in the USA, yes, it would leave them open to racketeering charges. HP just sued the snot out of Oracle for them trying to back out of supporting their servers.
Still here, even after all this time!
They really should make the shut off date December 12th
I've already forgotten about most of you
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I'd take EA, Blizzard or even....ugh....Nexon at this point
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Originally Posted by Mad Grim
I'd take anyone at this point if they keep the game running.
Hey, if it was you we'd at least have really awesome cutscenes I really do hope NCSoft crashes and burns now. This was an enormous, mind boggling mistake. |
I don't think it'd make them open to RICO, but it might make them open to anti-trust lawsuits. But I honestly don't know. Is it legal to purchase other companies just so you can gain a monopoly in an industry?
Doom.
Yep.
This is really doom.
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A birthday present, of sorts. I guess.
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Originally Posted by VoodooCompany
They really should make the shut off date December 12th
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NCsoft has also provided a statement to IGN regarding the shut down:
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.
More specific details on the shutdown process will be made available in the coming weeks. Other MMOs have gone out with a bang via massive server-spanning events. Hopefully City of Heroes will be given an equally epic send-off.
or Copy/Paste
http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/08/...per-shuts-down