Rethinking Our Approach With NCsoft

Sorry, I don't have access to the Titan Network forums to reply directly but I'm reading along with "VV" this morning that she's going to approach Dr. Yoon at NCsoft one more time and try to distinguish CoH as some form of "ongoing art" but after reading this 2004 Wall Street Journal article I found this morning, I think we need to reconsider our sales pitch...

See attached link profiling Dr. Yoon in 2004 (she's the last entry. #24): http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1...465187,00.html

The article makes it sound like Dr. Yoon is strictly motivated by innovations in science and technology more than anything else (although she appreciates human imagination as the fundamental building block for both science and art). If that's true, then any sales pitch used for the purposes of "saving the game" will be considered worthless if the pitch speaks to artistic value and "maintaining" the status quo unless it incorporates a strategic technological vision for expanding/improving the MMO engine. In other words, any succeeding developer needs to show how they can *innovate* current MMO technology assets via CoH otherwise Dr. Yoon will not be sympathetic to our requests to cut the game loose.

If the right person stepped forward with an techno-innovative business plan, Dr. Yoon *might* agree to allowing a succeeding developer to continue working on CoH so long as NCsoft could co-own all future technology patents. Otherwise it's pretty clear that she isn't all that sentimental about the arts or outdated technology; Dr. Yoon wants to be at the forefront of future game technology and she has no second thoughts about burying an old fossil like CoH if she can repurpose the cashflow orignally tagged for CoH towards *newer* next-gen technology. That's what the market's hungry for and that's where NCsoft needs to focus in order to stay successful.

At this point, we "Westerners" care more about CoH because partly because its a superhero game, and because we've invested so much of our daily lives into it over the course of X months/years - so much so that we're willing to overlook its outdated engine purely because the game makes us happy. That kind of sales pitch is going to be our downfall (especially if that's been our message all along when trying to negotiate with Dr. Yoon/NCsoft).

No, the only way to save CoH now is to:

1) Produce a strategic business plan that introduces innovative, technological improvements to the core engine with minimal expenses. At the risk of Dr. Yoon asking: "Why jury-rig an outdated engine when we can invest in next-gen technology?" Our answer should be: "We can still drive next-gen innovations utilizing current-gen assets -- and here's how..."

2) Offer NCsoft a VERY lucrative buyout offer and remind Dr. Yoon that NCsoft's bottom line could use the significant cash flow bump.

3) If we don't have the cash in hand, ask Dr. Yoon what is NCsoft's "magic number" to let go of the IP completely and then turn to the media/Kickstarter to help fundraise the necessary funds.

There's still time to turn this ship around in our favor but appealing to Dr. Yoon's artistic sensibilities is not going to get us anywhere - she just doesn't appreciate art and sociology like she does science and technology.

An interesting point you make, however I do feel compelled to make a couple of "Hmm, yes, but..." comments.

First off, that article is, as you say, from 2004. That's as long ago as CoH has been in existence, which is to say quite a long time, especailly in the realm of tech/telecoms/MMOs. Many things can change in 8 years. As a 'for instance', at the time of that article, Yoon Song-yee had not yet married Kim Taek-jin, the head of NCSoft (they married in 2007).

Another thing to remember is that Yoon Song-lee herself is something of a celebrity in Korea, being an extremely high profile female executive in a very much male dominated culture. Like that article says, she got her engineering doctorate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology at 24, and is certainly well enough in the public eye in Korea that her marriage to Kim Taek-jin actually took place in secret in part to avoid a media circus.

My point is, it's very difficult (and indeed unwise) to attempt to pigeonhole Dr.Yoon because she actually is an exceptional individual. Not to mention an extremely intelligent one (a lot of articles I've read tend to refer to her as the 'genius girl'). While that WSJ article does sort of make her sound like she is "...strictly motivated by innovations in science and technology more than anything else" that most certainly is not the extent of her personality - the article itself also points out her love of calligraphy and painting.

If anything I'd say our own "VV" is admirably qualified to make her pitch in her own inimitable way, being as she is...shall we say, a not entirely unrecognised woman of intelligence and creativity herself , I'm sure she actually has a lot more in common with Dr.Yoon than any of us has!

Yeah? Still, lit to IT is more than a one letter difference. It's a shame no one can think of any notable women interested in science and technology in our community.

Edit:

Okay, ordinarily I love these kind of games, but this isn't the time. There's actually an angle here.

Arcanaville, have you already sent Dr. Yoon and Mr. Kim your evaluation of the demorecord tool?