NCSoft and some additional context

Cross-posted to the titan network


So in trying to understand what's been going on with NCSoft and their announcment from yesterday, I've done a bit of digging around with some help. I came across this article from 2009:

http://t-machine.org/index.php/2009/...ness/#more-725

It's interesting reading and helps to explain some of the context of why NCSoft is making the decisions that it's making. The basic gist of it is, NCSoft currently has more money then they can spend. Really, literally, they can't spend all the money they have. So from that standpoint we can see that offering to buy the IP won't really phase them much, because they don't need or want (yes, I know that sounds hard to believe) the money. The risk to them is far greater that at some point in the future, someone else will come in and take money away from them with a better game/property. So it makes sense in that context to hang on to the IP and bury it, to prevent the competition from getting a leg up on them, especially with a possible product they used to own.

But that's also why the SaveCOH movement can't let up with the pressure that we've created. As Mercedes Lackey and others have pointed out, the actual acknowledgement of our efforts from NCSoft is shocking and unusual. It means that people there are actually concerned that future earnings (the only thing they really care about) could be impacted at some point by the negative publicity that they are getting from this event. So we have to keep going. We have to keep threatening their future earnings and make them realize that the potential negative aspects of sitting on the IP and squashing our community will come back to bite them in the future. Because I for one, believe that it will.

So stay strong, stay committed, and keep fighting the good fight. This is far from over and we have to keep going. We WILL win.

Yeah, well, I don't see any reason to keep the fight to save COH positive after reading this:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news...-Cant-Be-Saved


NCSoft has finally publicly addressed the effort to save COH and politely told us no. And, as politely as I can manage, I'm going to wave my middle finger in the air at them as I boycott and slam their products as belonging to the MMO killer.

The can politely pound salt up their collective corporate *****.

The link's from 2009, and NCSoft has had a bad Q2 (and from what they've released so far, looks like it'll be a bad Q3 when they release the numbers). Big loss. So "they've got so much money they don't care" may no longer be true.

Big loss doesn't mean they're hurting for money... it means they're embarrassed and have to answer to their shareholders, so it looks like they're offering COH up as a sacrificial lamb to appease them. They can't do nothing, so they picked what they saw as a weak link --a small, but steady earner that failed to gain popularity in the Asian market-- and cut it loose. It won't fix their reported loss, but now they can claim they've done something and hope for things improve in the next quarter.

They can never sell CoH.

Look, the Paragon market was an epic disaster, right? Totally incompetent. And yet! With that in place, the game was profitable.

If they sold the game to anyone even halfway competent, what do you think would happen? The game would do better. Lots better.

ncsoft can never sell CoH, because if they do, it will succeed and they will look like idiots for selling it, and like idiots for wanting to kill it, and like idiots for not running it competently in the first place.

They care a lot more about not looking like idiots than they do about money. Sadly, they have not considered the radical alternative strategy of just not doing stupid stuff in the first place.

Its done, get real, ppl like that fantacy writer person isnt goin to do nothing. CoH is NCSofts and they said DONE. So, guess what??? No matter what anyone does (all but give them $100,000,000 for their game) isnt going to make a damn bit of good on saving it. ......(((GUESS WHAT? IM RIGHT)))...damn shame huh?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

F uc k man, I want the game around...not going to happen now... done, get over it, this world is the way it is...

Play till you cant, like me, or fu ck off...thats what NCSoft has done....

Or you could just go **** off yourself. Who are you to tell anyone else what they should be doing or feeling right now?

You're do what you want--if that means giving up, then so be it. You're NOT welcome to insult others for doing what they feel is right. Eat a dick, dude.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nethergoat it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!

You told people to "go kill themselves". That makes you the absolute worst kind of person. You are on the same level as NCSoft--heartless and only out for your own interests. Show a little ******* compassion for your fellow humans, you worthless piece of ****.

Trust me, I comprehend everything absolutely fine. I'd wager I understand better than you, from the way you can't seem to string together a coherent thought. I'd further wager that just about everyone on these forums understands what's going on, to the point where your "reality checks" amount to nothing more than profanity-laden ramblings attacking people for the audacity to have so much as a shred of hope.

As for the forums not being modded anymore? I know for a fact they are. I just got modded yesterday. For the most part, they're only modding attacks against NCSoft, but I'm pretty sure a post telling people to kill themselves over a video game won't stick around too long.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nethergoat it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=297865

Corrected info is given in 3rd message posted, due to the NCSoft rep miscalculating the shutdown time. But he did verify that we'll be playing thru Nov 30th.

According to the post listed above, the server shutdown time will be at 30 Nov 2012 11:59:59 PM PST.

For those of us on East Coast time, that is 1 Dec 2012, 2:59:59 AM.