NCSoft Acquires City of Heroes/Villains Franchise

[Cantatus]

NCsoft Announces New Studio in North California; Takes Full Ownership of Successful City of Heroes Property

AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 6, 2007—NCsoft® Corp, the world’s leading developer and publisher of online computer games, today announced the formation of a new development studio in Mountain View, California. The announcement comes as the company begins a renewed push to further develop the City of Heroes® property, which is now 100 percent owned by NCsoft. Previous to today, ownership of the intellectual property (IP) was split between NCsoft and Cryptic Studios, the original developer of the project.

The new studio will be built around key members of the City of Heroes team from NCsoft and Cryptic Studios including the art, programming and design team leads.

“We’re happy to announce that NCsoft has acquired full ownership of the City of Heroes IP,” said Brian Clayton, NCsoft executive producer and manager of the new studio. “Our plans are clear. We are now in a position to make a major reinvestment in the City of Heroes product line. With our existing Cryptic and NCsoft team as the core, we will be able to run our current service without any interruption to our players, expand our studio to deliver triple-A content, and take City of Heroes to new heights.”

NCsoft will soon be announcing formal plans for the City of Heroes IP, which will include expansions and sequels to the popular comic-book inspired massively multiplayer online (MMO) game.

Matt Miller, Lead Designer on the City of Heroes project and formerly with Cryptic Studios said, “We’re thrilled to be bringing the CoH franchise to the next level. And we couldn’t be more pleased to be working completely under the NCsoft banner. We feel that City of Heroes’ best days are in front of it.”

I'm optimistic, but I can't help but think back a few years ago to when another company took full control over a game they were publishing, which leaves me a little weary.

[Lyrical]

Originally Posted by Cantatus

NCsoft Announces New Studio in North California; Takes Full Ownership of Successful City of Heroes Property



I'm optimistic, but I can't help but think back a few years ago to when another company took full control over a game they were publishing, which leaves me a little weary.

I have always thought it was odd that Cryptic regularly looks for investment capital from other companies, even though they are loosely contracted with NCsoft. If anything, this just frees up the joint venture that Cryptic has with Marvel for that MMO. If one were to read between the lines, the smaller company may think it has more of a future with Marvel than with its own IP. It looks like the smaller company is washing its hands of the older game, which could be obsolete once the Marvel and DC MMO's get a full launch.

Of course, I am reading into the article where is says the one dev was formerly of Cryptic Studios. If anything, this is good for the fans, because theoretically the Marvel MMO and COH MMO won't be under the same banner. Competition is good for us.

[spentmotiff]

Originally Posted by Lyrical

Of course, I am reading into the article where is says the one dev was formerly of Cryptic Studios. If anything, this is good for the fans, because theoretically the Marvel MMO and COH MMO won't be under the same banner. Competition is good for us.

I also wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft/Marvel didn't have a hand in forcing the formal split between the Marvel MMO and CoH. I mean, if I were Marvel I would be bit nervous about a conflict of interest in Cryptic between developing the Marvel MMO and their existing CoX license.

Also, if I were Marvel, I would formally apologize for the Daredevil movie but than again, that's just me.

[Lyrical]

Originally Posted by spentmotiff

I also wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft/Marvel didn't have a hand in forcing the formal split between the Marvel MMO and CoH.

I was thinking the same, but unfortunately in business, you have to read between the lines and look at the interests on both sides. These guys aren't going to tell us what really happened.

[Cantatus]

One thing I'm wondering about is the fact that, up until now, everything Cryptic was developing was housed in one building. This means someone like Positron likely knew what innovative things they're trying to come up with for the Marvel game. Now that they're in direct competition, I have to wonder what kind of guidelines they came up with in the deal to ensure that Cryptic doesn't steal all of that stuff to use more than a year before MUO hits the market.

[meStevo]

Originally Posted by spentmotiff

Also, if I were Marvel, I would formally apologize for the Daredevil movie but than again, that's just me.

And the Captain America movie please.

[tjac]

I just received an email stating:



To all current and former City of Heroes players,

Today we announced the acquisition of City of Heroes from Cryptic Studios™ and the formation of our new Northern California studio which we are informally calling NCsoft® NorCal (click here to read the press release). Nearly the entire City of Heroes team from Cryptic Studios has joined the NCsoft team and together we have formed the core of our new studio.

The City of Heroes franchise has been a tremendous success for both NCsoft and Cryptic. More than three years after the City of Heroes launch, our community is strong and thriving. There are so many great ideas and plans, both from our development team and from the players, and we can’t wait to make them a reality. Our team is 100% dedicated to City of Heroes and we are extremely excited about the present and the future!

Click here to read the Dev Corner chat with General Manager Brian Clayton and learn more details.



Now back to you, the players. You are the lifeblood of our game. In celebration of our new studio and our exciting plans, and in order to thank you for the fantastic community that you have built, we are pleased to announce the following.

Full Access to City of Heroes and City of Villains®
All players with City of Heroes retail* accounts will now have access to City of Villains, and all City of Villains retail* accounts will now have access to City of Heroes. Players that didn't previously have access to "the other side" will find that they do now. Just log in to check it out!

Debt Wipe
After the launch of Issue 11: A Stitch in Time this Fall, we are removing Debt from all characters and giving you a fresh start. Actual date will be announced shortly. Have fun in the mean time.

20,000 Prestige
Also after the launch of Issue 11, all Supergroups will receive an additional 20,000 Prestige per Supergroup member, meaning SGs could acquire up to 3 million Prestige based upon their Supergroup membership roster! Actual date will be announced shortly.

In the near future we will begin to share more information about our development plans. With this major reinvestment and effort ahead of us, we will take City of Heroes to new heights!

Sincerely,

The City of Heroes Team

[tjac]

It would be interesting if they could graft full equipment and 'end game' onto CoH. I remember the game having a lot of unrealized potential.

[Sneaky]

hmm, wish they'd reactivate all accounts for a week or two, so I could check out CoV :P

[Lyrical]

Originally Posted by tjac

It would be interesting if they could graft full equipment and 'end game' onto CoH. I remember the game having a lot of unrealized potential.

At this point, its a lost cause IMO. They've had three plus years to do so. While they are adding in rare powersets now and the invention system, it seems to little too late. Also, the dev cycle for these guys makes Blizz look like they are moving at lightspeed. I will just wait for the Marvel and DC MMO's. The COH devs will either be forced out of complacency or have to deal with much lower sub numbers. It doesn't help that this game caters to the casual player to the point that they are vocal about having to work towards anything. They've carved out a niche group of MMO players that feel that an hour's playing time a day is long enough. After all, this game was voted the "MMO That You Can Get the Most Done in An Hour." Too bad there's not much to do in hour two.

[AladainAF]

Also, the dev cycle for these guys makes Blizz look like they are moving at lightspeed.

?

They've had 10 content updates. They don't patch stuff in all the time because.. well, the game really doesn't need it given its intended audience.

[Cantatus]

Originally Posted by Sneaky

hmm, wish they'd reactivate all accounts for a week or two, so I could check out CoV :P

If you'd like a 10-day buddy pass to give CoV a try, PM me your email address.

Otherwise, I'm betting they'll reactivate accounts shortly after the next Issue launches, probably around the time of the Holiday Event. They've been doing that a lot lately.

[Kodylan]

Originally Posted by AladainAF

?

They've had 10 content updates. They don't patch stuff in all the time because.. well, the game really doesn't need it given its intended audience.

The game has also been out longer than WoW. I mean, I'm not one to brag about glaciers or anything, but Blizzard seems to be patching at about twice the rate.

It really makes me wonder how many people were working on the game - it had to be a skeleton crew to be that slow at patching when the game's systems were so basic for an MMO.

[Cantatus]

Originally Posted by Kodylan

The game has also been out longer than WoW. I mean, I'm not one to brag about glaciers or anything, but Blizzard seems to be patching at about twice the rate.

Blizzard may patch twice as often, but how substantial are the patches? Unless there are major bugs/exploits that need fixing or something from the previous Issue that still needs tweaking after it goes live, Cryptic tends to leave everything for the major Issue patches.

Not that I'm saying Cryptic is by any means fast, but I think they're faster than you give them credit for. They've also gotten noticeably faster as of late. The time between I9 and I10 was the fastest turnaround they've had between Issues and the time between I10 and I11 doesn't look like it'll be much longer.

I do wish things would move alittle faster or that the Issues would be a little larger. Really, I'm hoping that NCSoft taking over means we'll get some actual real expansions in addition to the Issues.

[Genjiro]

The big difference between WoW and Cryptic was the devs in WoW would at least acknowledge a major problem if it existed and fix obvious bugs. There are still huge bugs, horribly awful powers nobody takes that have been in for years, the huge discrepancies between epic and patron powers they haven't even once acknowledged and so forth. This is the kind of stuff that has royally pissed me off when trying to justify keeping a sub to CoX. Part of it is bad customer service, part of it is not having designers understand the problems from a players perspective, and finally even when they do understand a problem exists (like fixing rage in pvp), they dont seem to have coders competent enough to fix many of the issues.