Why was COH killed by NCSoft?

From reading the available information (and from my experience working in a different segment of the software industry), my guess is that NCSoft's decision has more to do with "closing Paragon Studios" than with "closing City of Heroes".

From reports, City of Heroes was doing pretty well, with a still sizeable population and still substantial revenues. If the only business concern was to keep milking the cash cow, then NCSoft could have kept the game running.

But, NCSoft also had to be concerned about the viability of Paragon Studios, which included not only running CoH but also developing its "secret projects". After NCSoft suffered huge losses in Q2, they decided to cut something... and probably they chose PS and CoH because sacrificing CoH's relatively small profit was deemed an acceptable loss in order to get rid of the expense of continuing to support PS and the development of its secret projects.

But to also be fair NCSoft, hasn't said why they are closing the game down.

If it wasn't profitable, they never gave the players a chance to recruit. I love our Dev's, but if they need to half the Dev department, have issues come out even slower profitability could have been increased.

I think we would all hate it but we would understand the game closing. With no explanation, NCSoft seems really arbitrary. Their customers have been loyal to the game for over 8 years and there is no real substitute good that we can buy from someone else.

In addition one of the problem with MMO's is that we are really renting intellectual space. We build things in cyberspace and we don't want to lose them. Not to mention we all want to keep on paying what we have been paying for years, so I don't see what has changed.

Older games shouldn't have to die. If they don't want CoH on their books, but want to keep the IP, I would imagine someone would gladly take the revenue to host the game, even if it would only be in a maintenance mode.

But CoH players are not going to stop playing CoH and move to a new game NCSoft makes. We can't trust NCSoft anymore because our MMO investments might be wisked away at the blink of an eye. So if they think its some way to get us to play something newer and pay more than we were paying for CoH, then they are smoking something.

I don't get it even if this game was doing ok why stop the servers? Why go to all this trouble to literally disappear CoH in time for xmas on a seemingly semi-prosperous game. Why not sell the rights to another publisher or dev house? Why stop a game outright like this and basically piss off its fan base at the same time?

NCsoft kills games it has a long line of games that have come and gone. I dont have to remind people of the TR fiasco where they lost near 30 million dollars in a lawsuit. This is a bad business. I'm sad to see this game go. I have 3 toons over 1000 hours of play and subbed to this game back in june 2004. But thats the way the real world of high business is run. We are loyal to this game but the business that runs it is only loyal to what they can earn.

It still baffles me why they aren't selling this property too to keep it going. Maybe these 'secret' projects of theirs are something to behold. Perhaps the game engine is being re-proposed but in the light of these changes I am not going to give a business such as this another red cent.

GG NCsoft for killing a decent fun game that a huge community has enjoyed since 2004. So I'm doing what my granite brute is doing down there flipping you off one last time and saying good bye after i level my WS to 50.

I've been an on off player for, well I don't remember how long now. I haven't always had the money to be a sub but I always did when I could, and who know how many costume pieces I've bought for my toons. Had I know they were going to shut down I wouldn't have bothered even coming back to play for free. It's disheartening. NCsoft has lost my vote, and I don't care how cool a game they may come up with in the future I'm boycotting anything else that comes from them over this.

even if NCSoft did make a CoH2 in the future i would not touch it. dont trust or care for NCSoft now.

today 11/5) i was at bestbuy looking at games, while there i noticed two guys looking at GW2. ?By the time i was done chatting with them they had lost interest in GW2, and hopefully all NCsoft products in the future.
Were we all in our multitudes to reverse evangelize NCs products they would probably fail in North America.
Word of mouth drives game sales or the lack of them, we should use our mouths when ever possible to make NCsoft regret this poorly thought out decision.

Depending on how many people you encounter, a single angry customer can cause an inordinate amount of damage.

If you directly tell 8 people and are sufficient in motivating them, you have roughly a sphere of about 4000 people you can indirectly affect. If even 1% of them follow your lead, that's 40 people who won't do business with that company.

Now multiply that by a few thousand angry customers.

Yeah, there'll be some overlap in there. But the CoH community has the potential to inflict a LOT of financial damage on NCSoft.

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

Well, to focus on your points without any nerdrage at all...

Quote:

They put a bunch of people out of jobs, with no notice.That does suck...

Yes, it does. Despite the fact that the company was legally within their rights
to do so (assuming they follow the various laws surrounding it), the way they
went about it was, in my own personal opinion, low-class and unprofessional <shrug>
This also applies to the way they've treated the game and its subscribers as well
(and not for the first time, either).

Quote:

...but now people want to force them to put other employees out of work in protest form lost profits? Makes no sense. To me the 'true colors' of this 'community' have shown through like a beacon now.

This is your opinion, which in itself is fine - we all have our opinions, but its a bit
of a leap to extend it out as a blanket generalization.

Quote:

I plan to vote with my dollars and NC won't be getting any, anytime soon, simply because they do not sell anything that I currently desire

Now this statement amuses me.

You say you won't give them any money because their products are uninteresting.

For myself, I'm very comfortable saying that NCsoft did not treat me as a customer
in a way I regard as satisfactory. Consequently, I won't do any further business
with them...

Either way, the end result is unchanged -- no money for NCsoft, and if enough
people do that, YOU will have helped contribute to the very effect you deride
others for: "...people want to force them to put other employees out of work..."

So, decry the so-called hostile community any way you like, but the problem
with "high horses" is that they topple easily once the rationalizations are peeled away.

If you think your reason is more laudible than mine, feel free to enjoy your delusions,
just as I'll enjoy mine...

Carry On


Regards,
4

[Caution to the reader: I intend this as humorous/silly]
Why was CoH killed by NCSoft? A tantalizing mystery to us all. I accept NCSoft's statement at face value that they want to "realign" their focus; i.e., that they think they have a better chance to make more money investing their resources differently. And, yes, that's a non-answer since I've no idea exactly why killing CoH would promote NCSoft's financial goals.

On to the fun bit: unsupported speculation!

1. the other NCSoft studios were jealous of Paragon Studios' favorable reviews and awards.

2. CoH wasn't enough of a grindfest and failed to feature Panda warrior player-characters.

3. By killing CoH, NCSoft could divert player activity from game play to the forums, where the real action is. ;-)

4. Certain female NPCs (Swan among others) refused to date NCSoft execs even in cyber space, citing sexual harassmant.

5. Steady income looked too easy and dull compared to exciting, speculative, future ventures made all the more exciting by angering a loyal customer base.

and finally the real reason

5. NCSoft's true name is MOT!!!

Yes this is all tongue in cheek. Hoping I've offended none (or few.)

There could be many Reasons why this game is getting shut down.

I for one think it a Grudge or Something that went on behind the scene, a Conflict between NcSoft and Paragon. I think we have a right to no WTF happen.

There are a Tons of Rumors, lack of Funding and NcSoft need to kill us, I don't believe it's a Business Deal gone wrong.

We no this game was highest profitable game in West for them, The Western do love there Comic Books Heroes.

It still don't make any sense nothing make sense about this, They claim they try to save this game, but I call it bull and they said they try too sell it, which is a lie.

They got to have vendetta against paragon, We get left in Dark on Everything which isn't fare too none of us.

I am Sick and tried of NcSoft, they close us down when we where heading into a Golden Age in Coh History.

Arggggg Mother Tucker, they think we will be muted when this happen, I will never forgive them and never play there any of Crappy games ever again.

Edit: Please refrain from trolling these forums. This is your only warning.