Why go thermonuclear and shut the game down?
By
Aisynia,
Posted on: 2012-08-31 16:02 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
Agreed. On the surface, it appears to be a poor business decision. This is why the rumor of a Cryptic/Perfect World engine licensing debacle actually makes some sense. Keeping CoX running in maintenance mode would still be financially viable, and would at least make up some of the revenue they lost over Aion.
Cryptic/perfect world just put themselves on my never play again list.
I just quit STO because of this.
Anyone who even touched this mess is never seeing a dime of my money again.
Boycott Ncsoft if they close down Coh.
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At present, that's speculation/guesswork.|
Originally Posted by Shubbie
Cryptic/perfect world just put themselves on my never play again list.
I just quit STO because of this. Anyone who even touched this mess is never seeing a dime of my money again. |
And frankly, it's not one that rings true to me. Companies license engines to others, and for PW to do such a thing would mark them as an unreliable partner forever. Plus, this is the sort of date that everyone would have circled on their calendar for a long time, so it wouldn't go from "Hey see what we're gonna launch soon" to "shutting down bye"
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The coming storm arrived?
| Why go thermonuclear and shut the game down? |
The Bacon Compels You.
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Kind of like companies forgetting to renew their domain name ... |
Originally Posted by GadgetDon
this is the sort of date that everyone would have circled on their calendar for a long time, so it wouldn't go from "Hey see what we're gonna launch soon" to "shutting down bye"
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Not that I disagree with your post. But silly things do happen. Or maybe negotiations on a new lease fell apart and this is the result. All speculation ...
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On the other side it makes no sense to shut down paragon studios, COH makes a proft and they just started the beta of a major release, plus that secret project they were working on.|
Originally Posted by GadgetDon
At present, that's speculation/guesswork.
And frankly, it's not one that rings true to me. Companies license engines to others, and for PW to do such a thing would mark them as an unreliable partner forever. Plus, this is the sort of date that everyone would have circled on their calendar for a long time, so it wouldn't go from "Hey see what we're gonna launch soon" to "shutting down bye" |
NCsoft just flushed a ton of investment down the drain.
And if you go to us.ncsoft.com - they still have "Issue 24: Resurgence - coming soon!"
You'd think they'd mention that announcement, especially *hours* later, and remove that banner from rotation.
Honestly, I'm really, really curious as to what happened now, as this looks more and more like a rushed decision.
(Then again, global.ncsoft.com still mentions Aion going to open beta.)
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Which is why I don't buy it. An intriguing theory, but without proof, it doesn't seem realistic. It would be a terrible long-term business decision on the part of PWI, and greatly sabotage any present or future partnerships they might have with other companies, severely eroding confidence in their brand.|
Originally Posted by GadgetDon
At present, that's speculation/guesswork.
And frankly, it's not one that rings true to me. Companies license engines to others, and for PW to do such a thing would mark them as an unreliable partner forever. Plus, this is the sort of date that everyone would have circled on their calendar for a long time, so it wouldn't go from "Hey see what we're gonna launch soon" to "shutting down bye" |
Unlike NC, PWI doesn't seem to make a habit of bad business decisions, just ruthless ones. Would it be ruthless? Yes, but it crosses a confidence line I don't think they can afford, especially in Western markets, where they are focusing a lot of attention on developing.
I think what is actually most telling, as you mentioned, is how fast this was dropped in the laps of dev and fan alike. I think if this was a day people knew was coming, things would have been different around here. No this seems like another one of NC's many boneheaded decisions passed down from the boardroom.
I'm only ladylike when compared to my sister.
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Yeah, my hunch is that someone important (really big shareholder, holder of large debt) lowered the hammer and said "You make significant changes and you make them by the end of the week or else".|
Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
And if you go to us.ncsoft.com - they still have "Issue 24: Resurgence - coming soon!"
You'd think they'd mention that announcement, especially *hours* later, and remove that banner from rotation. Honestly, I'm really, really curious as to what happened now, as this looks more and more like a rushed decision. |
People have talked about Tabula Rasa as a similar case - but everyone knew TR was in trouble.
My arcs are constantly shifting, just search for GadgetDon for the latest.
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Quote:
... would love to know who. |
Originally Posted by GadgetDon
Yeah, my hunch is that someone important (really big shareholder, holder of large debt) lowered the hammer and said "You make significant changes and you make them by the end of the week or else".
People have talked about Tabula Rasa as a similar case - but everyone knew TR was in trouble. |
One of the things pointed out on... think it was the escapist, is that since freedom's launch (less than a year ago!) COH's income has been fairly steady (increasing slightly.) They paint it as a so-so thing - but I mean, really, I'd think "Hey, we can kind of rely on this stream being at here" would, to me, sound like a *good* thing.
And yeah, TR's a wholly different case. WAY overhyped, way over budget, and the subscribers did the spike - drop to nothing REALLY fast. There was no way it would be anything BUT a drain on resources. COH? 8 years. They reinvested a few years ago - I can't see them being in the red.
Someone mentioned a potential licensing issue... maybe. I could see that being a reason to put the game on maintenance... but not dissolve the whole studio. Especially not with the "secret project" which was going "secretly awesome."
I half wonder if it's someone with power and a personal beef... who didn't get the non-Korean MMO (COH certainly isn't the same mould - after all, City of Hero crashed fairly fast. There's no giant raid - grind theme.)
I really, *really* have to wonder what's up.
I never understood why NCsoft is so gung-ho with their games. Several other F2P MMO's I can think of run on barebones infrastructure (~2 servers) with some tech support and the occasional tech patch.
This game has what, 11 servers with lots of staff for content patches? Do their definition of pruning to chop the entire tree down?
I mean this economy isn't doing anyone any favors, but this attitude from NCsoft sure isn't making me want to go to any of their other games if they all will get the axe sooner or later.