This actually makes a lot of sense.
Someone posted a more detailed explanation in the Justice forums.
I am persuaded that this makes sense.
NCsoft Announces New Studio in North California; Takes Full Ownership of Successful City of Heroes Property
AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 6, 2007NCsoft® Corp, the worlds leading developer and publisher of online computer games, today announced the formation of a new development studio in Mountain View, California. The announcement comes as the company begins a renewed push to further develop the City of Heroes® property, which is now 100 percent owned by NCsoft. Previous to today, ownership of the intellectual property (IP) was split between NCsoft and Cryptic Studios, the original developer of the project.
The new studio will be built around key members of the City of Heroes team from NCsoft and Cryptic Studios including the art, programming and design team leads.
Were happy to announce that NCsoft has acquired full ownership of the City of Heroes IP, said Brian Clayton, NCsoft executive producer and manager of the new studio. Our plans are clear. We are now in a position to make a major reinvestment in the City of Heroes product line. With our existing Cryptic and NCsoft team as the core, we will be able to run our current service without any interruption to our players, expand our studio to deliver triple-A content, and take City of Heroes to new heights.
NCsoft will soon be announcing formal plans for the City of Heroes IP, which will include expansions and sequels to the popular comic-book inspired massively multiplayer online (MMO) game.
Matt Miller, Lead Designer on the City of Heroes project and formerly with Cryptic Studios said, Were thrilled to be bringing the CoH franchise to the next level. And we couldnt be more pleased to be working completely under the NCsoft banner. We feel that City of Heroes best days are in front of it.
For more information about City of Heroes, go to http://www.cityofheroes.com.
About NCsoft Corporation
NCsoft North America is headquartered in Austin, Texas and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Korea-based NCsoft Corporation. NCsoft, with its own development and publishing offices in Texas and California, also works with other NCsoft subsidiaries and third party developers throughout North America to develop and publish innovative online entertainment software products. The company has successfully launched multiple online titles in the last three years and continues to support its franchises, which include Lineage®/Lineage II, City of Heroes/City of Villains®, Guild Wars®/Guild Wars Factions®/Guild Wars Nightfall®/Guild Wars: Eye of the North, Richard Garriotts Tabula Rasa® and Dungeon Runners. More information about NCsoft can be found at http://www.plaync.com.
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NCsoft, the interlocking NC logo, PlayNC, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Lineage, Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions, Guild Wars Nightfall, Guild Wars: Eye of the North, Richard Garriotts Tabula Rasa, Dungeon Runners and all associated logos and designs are trademarks or registered trademarks of NCsoft Corporation. Cryptic Studios is a trademark of Cryptic Studios, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Cryptic Studios Sells City of Heroes and City of Villains E-mail
Cryptic Studios announced today that the development house has sold its intellectual and proprietary rights to both the City of Heroes® and City of Villains® franchises to publisher NCsoft. As part of the agreement, NCsoft is licensing Cryptic's engine technologies for use with future games.
"City of Heroes and City of Villains players should be assured that Cryptic Studios will be working closely with NCsoft to ensure a smooth, seamless transition," said Michael Lewis, president and co-founder of Cryptic Studios. "City of Heroes was Cryptic's flagship product and we are proud of this title and the many millions of characters that have entertained over a million people worldwide. The decision to sell the franchise allows us to focus resources on our soon to be announced first-party projects."
About Cryptic Studios:
Established in July 2000, Cryptic Studios, Inc. is an independent, employee-owned developer of massively-multiplayer online games for the PC and next generation consoles. In April 2004 Cryptic launched its first MMO title, City of Heroes®, which received top accolades in the industry, including E3's "Best of Show" and multiple "Game of the Year" awards. In the City of Heroes visually stunning, 3-D graphical world, thousands of players create unique super-powered heroes and embark on immersive adventures, battling villains and executing special missions as they build a dynamic online community. City of Villains®, the stand-alone sequel, launched in October 2005.
I found this, it looks from this that it was not an expiring license, unless this is wrong, I am reading this legalese wrong, or something else going on...
Not only is this a sensible thought, it would also explain the rather clinical announcement. On the one hand it would suggest a lack of vision by NCSoft who didn't think the game would still be profitable five years after the making and thus look bad, on the other hand it would admit that they made themselves the one direct competitor's ******* by licensing from them. The latter seems like a really bad business move, but may not have been while Cryptic and NCSoft were still loosely related.
While I don't want to get my hopes up, it would also keep the door open for a CoH2. But with the current market climate I'd also worry that CoH2 would be WoW with superheroes. So maybe it's best it dies as it lived; the little MMO that dared and proved that you can have a successful game without copy-pasting the big dog's formula. A lesson many big publishers seem to overlook, seeing the long list of relative failures following the EQ/WoW formula.
"If you're going through hell, keep going."
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Tic-Toc/BABs/Christopher Bruce posted in that thread and said that, to the best of his knowledge, there was no 5-year limitation, but that he'd ask Jack Emmert about it next time he saw him. So take this with a grain of salt for the time being.
Positron: "There are no bugs [in City of Heroes], just varying degrees of features."
Well, the thing is, do note: They bought the IP. They licensed the engine.
It is not unthinkable for a licensing deal to have a term that allows it to be terminated by one party, or to need renewal, or something.
Or heck, maybe they could renew it, but it would be Cash Now to renew for five more years, and that's not a good deal, while the game was profitable as long as they still had an already-paid-for license.
yaknow Seebs. I really don't care. My game just died. Understanding it is not gonna fix it. GL to you and everyone.
So, given that November 30th is 5 years after the end of the month in which ncsoft bought the IP rights to CoH/CoV, and licensed the engine technology...
Is that it?