... while its current developer, Paragon Studios, is dismantled and the staff laid off. Early yesterday, the following announcement was made:
"In a realignment of company focus and publishing support, NCsoft has made the decision to close Paragon Studios. Effective immediately, all development on City of Heroes will cease and we will begin preparations to sunset the world's first, and best, Super Hero MMORPG before the end of the year. As part of this, all recurring subscription billing and Paragon Market purchasing will be discontinued effective immediately. We will have more information regarding a detailed timeline for the cessation of services and what you can expect in game in the coming weeks."
You can read the rest of the announcement here.
This news makes me furious. "City of Heroes" remains one of the best MMORPGs ever made, the best superhero-themed MMO (if not game, altogether) out there and, in my opinion, the best free-to-play title in this genre available right now.
While I admit a certain fondness for the game, I don't even begin to compare with the reaction of the very large, loyal fanbase. Checking the official forums, the announcement is followed by posts of rage, nostalgia and even tears.
But that's not it. Fondness or not, you can't sustain a product that requires consistent and constant updates if it causes losses to your business. I get that. When "DC Universe Online" was fresh, if it were pulled I'd get it; the game wasn't profitable back then.
This is why NCSoft's announcement makes me furious, because folks, CoH *was* still profitable. For all we knew, the game was doing great, it still had a sizeable player-base and even had tons of content in the making for the future.
This is all conjecture, because NCSoft didn't even have the guts to detail the specifics of this decision, but here's what's believed to have happened; recently the company reported considerable losses in Q2 of this year. Most of those were attributed to the failed launch of a few new titles in South Korea (NCSoft's homeland), followed by the profit fluctuations the free-to-play model causes, a model now followed by the company's biggest titles (City of Heroes, Lineage 2 and especially AION Europe).
It should be noted here that Guild Wars 2, which launched at the end of August, while not technically free-to-play, doesn't require a subscription either, instead being a one-time-purchase product at the standard retail price.
But Guild Wars 2 is a new game. The company was banking a lot on it and was expecting a better turn-out than what they got. They seem to have decided that they can't provide the title with their full support without cutting their losses, which according to most reports, can be blamed on their lack of foresight. Oh and AION.
So, what do they do instead? They pull the plug from one of their longest and most popular games that was still doing well, a tremendous business risk that may never pay off.
This isn't the first time NCSoft screwed up; a number of their MMOs have failed in the past and in most cases, a lot of the blame fell on them for good reason. But the sacrifice of City of Heroes/Villains is nothing short of "hitting rock bottom". A product that was doing well, with constant updates and plans for the future, pulled in an instant, without any warning or justification from the company to its staff or the customers.
What irritates me even more than the above is the fact that Paragon Studios, which was put together to develop the game after its creator Cryptic Studios left, was just sacrificed much like their game, for this risky business move.
The entirety of the studio, 80 people, were laid off; lost their jobs out of the blue, after one lousy meeting and one lousier decision from the publisher, which didn't even have the decency to try and absorb at least SOME of them in its many other developing teams.
I'm sorry NCSoft, but there is no "FUCK YOU" loud enough for what you just did. I intended to get Guild Wars 2 somewhere down the line, but I have to stand on sheer principle here and stay away from anything baring your name. A crumbling economy affects big, multi-national companies a hell of a lot less than it affects the public and I can do without financially supporting your dick-moves.
It's a pity, because the outrage this decision caused has led many in declaring the same thing and this is directly punishing ArenaNet, which is a fine development studio of people that have proved to love games and respect their customers.
It's unfair, but if publishing giants like NCSoft see policies like this working in their favour, they'll get a free reign over every developer that looks for representation in the industry.
It's true that in this business everybody is expendable. Sooner or later, the publishers will have to realize that this includes them as well. So long.
"In a realignment of company focus and publishing support, NCsoft has made the decision to close Paragon Studios. Effective immediately, all development on City of Heroes will cease and we will begin preparations to sunset the world's first, and best, Super Hero MMORPG before the end of the year. As part of this, all recurring subscription billing and Paragon Market purchasing will be discontinued effective immediately. We will have more information regarding a detailed timeline for the cessation of services and what you can expect in game in the coming weeks."
You can read the rest of the announcement here.
This news makes me furious. "City of Heroes" remains one of the best MMORPGs ever made, the best superhero-themed MMO (if not game, altogether) out there and, in my opinion, the best free-to-play title in this genre available right now.
While I admit a certain fondness for the game, I don't even begin to compare with the reaction of the very large, loyal fanbase. Checking the official forums, the announcement is followed by posts of rage, nostalgia and even tears.
But that's not it. Fondness or not, you can't sustain a product that requires consistent and constant updates if it causes losses to your business. I get that. When "DC Universe Online" was fresh, if it were pulled I'd get it; the game wasn't profitable back then.
This is why NCSoft's announcement makes me furious, because folks, CoH *was* still profitable. For all we knew, the game was doing great, it still had a sizeable player-base and even had tons of content in the making for the future.
This is all conjecture, because NCSoft didn't even have the guts to detail the specifics of this decision, but here's what's believed to have happened; recently the company reported considerable losses in Q2 of this year. Most of those were attributed to the failed launch of a few new titles in South Korea (NCSoft's homeland), followed by the profit fluctuations the free-to-play model causes, a model now followed by the company's biggest titles (City of Heroes, Lineage 2 and especially AION Europe).
It should be noted here that Guild Wars 2, which launched at the end of August, while not technically free-to-play, doesn't require a subscription either, instead being a one-time-purchase product at the standard retail price.
But Guild Wars 2 is a new game. The company was banking a lot on it and was expecting a better turn-out than what they got. They seem to have decided that they can't provide the title with their full support without cutting their losses, which according to most reports, can be blamed on their lack of foresight. Oh and AION.
So, what do they do instead? They pull the plug from one of their longest and most popular games that was still doing well, a tremendous business risk that may never pay off.
This isn't the first time NCSoft screwed up; a number of their MMOs have failed in the past and in most cases, a lot of the blame fell on them for good reason. But the sacrifice of City of Heroes/Villains is nothing short of "hitting rock bottom". A product that was doing well, with constant updates and plans for the future, pulled in an instant, without any warning or justification from the company to its staff or the customers.
What irritates me even more than the above is the fact that Paragon Studios, which was put together to develop the game after its creator Cryptic Studios left, was just sacrificed much like their game, for this risky business move.
The entirety of the studio, 80 people, were laid off; lost their jobs out of the blue, after one lousy meeting and one lousier decision from the publisher, which didn't even have the decency to try and absorb at least SOME of them in its many other developing teams.
I'm sorry NCSoft, but there is no "FUCK YOU" loud enough for what you just did. I intended to get Guild Wars 2 somewhere down the line, but I have to stand on sheer principle here and stay away from anything baring your name. A crumbling economy affects big, multi-national companies a hell of a lot less than it affects the public and I can do without financially supporting your dick-moves.
It's a pity, because the outrage this decision caused has led many in declaring the same thing and this is directly punishing ArenaNet, which is a fine development studio of people that have proved to love games and respect their customers.
It's unfair, but if publishing giants like NCSoft see policies like this working in their favour, they'll get a free reign over every developer that looks for representation in the industry.
It's true that in this business everybody is expendable. Sooner or later, the publishers will have to realize that this includes them as well. So long.
Every word you said is true. I beta tested this game over 8 and a half years ago and have continued playing this amazing game non-stop since then. The community of people surrounding CoH are the most wonderful gamers I've ever encountered and in my opinion, no game in the world had a more caring, dedicated group of developers.
ReplyDeleteIn a vast sea of 'yet another fantasy-based MMO', CoH is completely unique and now that specialness is being crushed and taken off the playing field. NCSoft doesn't even want to sell it. Even though CoH is a popular game that is making money, they simply want to kill that potential competition. According to their own reports, CoH made 2.5 million for NCSoft in just the 2nd quarter of this year.
This action on the part of NCSoft should cause outrage all across the gaming industry. You don't treat paying customers or dedicated employees in that manner, and if publishers like NCSoft aren't sent a loud and clear message this this is not acceptable, then GuildWars 2 may well find themselves in the same situation down the road. You're right - it is unfair to the good people at ArenaNet, but if they are paying attention to this, as I'm certain they are, then they should be actively seeking another publisher.
Thanks for the numbers, I wasn't sure about them. I could only find that Lineage was their top-grossing games and that AION marked losses. There are a few theories about why they did this, but without further explanation, combined with their apparent refusal to at least make a pitch to another company to buy the game and the studio (Perfect World already owns the engine), I'm sticking to this one.
ReplyDeleteHey Geek I thought you might like to know this:
ReplyDeleteThis story is now being followed on 44 different boards and blogs, Including CNN. The latest information is this:
[Admin] Alpha Wolf:
"Sorry guys but I don't have any new update. I know Paragon management is having discussions with NCSoft and Investors. Continue get people to sign online petitions, post on game forums, and just continue to make noises so NCSoft cannot ignore players."
This is encouraging news.
Please, go hit any boards you know of and talk about what is going on with CoH. The more media coverage and support we have, the more likely that these talks may succeed.
I thought the decision was final. The announcement made it sound final, but if it's not, then this is good new indeed. Guild Wars 2 had an 80% sales drop after the first week in the UK, which may hint NCSoft that their business model is just insanely risky.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads-up.