This Has just Been Posted In-Game

If CoH survives, I promise to grind up an AR/fire blaster and not power level it once.. .

I'm more than cautiously optimistic, and that's simply based on facts. We know NCSoft was willing to cut the game to save costs. We also know that Paragon Studios is committed and passionate about the game. Thirdly, we know that we the playerbase are loyal to not only this game but the studio generally.

These three things suggest a studio confident enough to go independent, have an almost guaranteed audience to go with them, and ideally, an IP that they could own outright and not be told what to do with. Cryptic rolled the dice on that with Champions and although they got sold off, they got sold to a company that was willing to support them. But most importantly, they got to keep their game. PWE doesn't own, they do.

Presuming in the best case that Paragon earns the right to take the CoH IP with them (and from all accounts, I think NCSoft/Nexon would be happy to cut itself loose somewhat from the North American market and a game that doesn't really fit their current profile), then the challenge becomes getting a new backer. I've already heard some better than average talk that such backers do exist should this transpire. I'm not going to say anything until these things are stated as facts by people more in the know than I, but safe to say I don't think these are pipe dreams.

An Australian saying about people who are spiteful is 'they'd cut their nose off to spite their face,' and I don't think NCSoft are necessarily being spiteful, and in the right negotiating conditions, they may well give over the rights. Clearly they parted company with Cryptic on very affable terms, and if a strong enough case in terms of player interest, profit for NCSoft and good relations with NCSoft can be presented, I can see this going very well.

In the event that NCSoft is going to be intractable on the point of the IP, we may well still get an independent Paragon Studios that then has total freedom to create what they want and shop it around. This is not a bad thing. The studio already has a track record for consistently maintaining a profitable MMO in a profit downturn environment. If I were investing in a developer studio, that would be enormously comforting to know these people can perform and over a consistently long period of time.

And that's just thinking it through logically, folks.




S.

I know if we avert disaster, I'll definitely be making a new character in celebration.

This thread just goes to show that the line I play at the end of my shows from Animal house is correct... "Nothing is over until we decide it is." Between this, the CoH vet and alumni sites and facebook groups starting up, the petitions, we have hope. Just a fools hope, but hope, and that is the important thing right now.

A spec of hope that was badly needed thanks for the update Golden Girl. I'll try to rouse those I can in my SG and beyond. To the depth of even Telnet itself shall I go!

Goddamnit. What is that I'm feeling. Is it....is it...HOPE? Now I must be crazy.

I could never pledge a thousand at one time, and this comes at an especially tight time. But I'd definitely be in for something (three month's subscription fee, minimum) if a kickstarter is set up to assist Paragon Studios.

If there are over ten thousand of us willing to do whatever we can (as the petition at this time suggests), and potentially incentivised further by in-game rewards, even the smaller contributions would add up to a lot.

Also, just to et you know, as part of the player rescue effort, and building on the spread of our story on gaming and mainstream news sites, we're planning to issue a press release tomorrow that outlines the situation and our goals, which should help to continue coverage of the story.

Meanwhile, we're continuing the letter writing campaign to the head of NCSoft, as well as the online petition - and any Twitter users are encouraged to use the hashtag #SaveCoH in an attempt to get it trending.

If Paragon managed to spin off and become an independent studio, I would buy everything on the Paragon Market. EVERYTHING. Even stuff I will never use.

And we've just hit CNN:

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-8373...feeds%2Flatest

We suggest people register and recommend the report as something CNN should take further.

Indeed. I would happily lend my expertise in marketing and communications to make the press release the best possible.