City Of Heroes, Future RIP

[ARNie]

Another MMO bites the dust...

In 2004, Cryptic Studios introduced "City of Heroes," the first Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game based on superheroes. The game has had several expansions, surviving a buyout from NCsoft and the change of name from Cryptic Studios to Paragon Studios. However, after eight years of support, Paragon Studios announced that it -- and by extension, "City of Heroes" -- will be closing its doors by the end of the year due to a decision by parent company NCsoft.

"In a realignment of company focus and publishing support, NCsoft has made the decision to close Paragon Studios," Paragon Community Manager Andy Belford said in a statement. "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."

"City of Heroes" was the first MMORPG based not only on superheroes, but heavily on comics books, predating Sony Online Entertainment's "DC Universe Online" by nearly 7 years. The free downloadable updates for the game were known as "Issues," with actual titles that added new content to the popular MMO. Paid expansions included "City of Villains" in 2005 and "City of Heroes: Going Rogue" in 2010. The lore and backstory of the game was so popular that there were many tie-in projects in other media, including novels, a collectible card game and -- not surprisingly -- a comic book series from publisher Blue King. "City of Heroes" had over 120,000 subscribers in the US and Europe as of September 2008 and added a free-to-play subscription model in June 2011.

In the early stages of "City of Heroes" in 2004, Marvel Comics filed a lawsuit against Cryptic Studios, alleging the game allowed and actively promoted the creation of characters who infringe Marvel copyright. The suit was eventually settled under undisclosed terms and in 2006, Marvel selected Cryptic Studios to develop the eventually cancelled "Marvel Universe Online" MMO for Windows Vista and Xbox Live.

"City of Heroes" will close before the end of 2012.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page ... e&id=40798" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Nezz]

I wonder what this holds for Cryptic's other major game, Champions Online, since it ws born from the ashes of the cancelled Marvel game.

[DiD Rulez]

From the ashes of City of Heroes, City of Villains and going rogue arises
"the phoenix project" http://missingworldsmedia.com/home" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Heroes and Villains http://www.heroes-and-villains.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I found this out a week ago, this may brighten our mood alittle bit.

[Suichiro]

Groups of unskilled volunteers can barely even get the most simple of games done. I have great doubts that anything good with come of this. I was part of the CoH scene since 2005 and I know how passionate these fans can get. I see this as ending in huge civil wars between the fans over what people what and the implementations of systems, before any work is even done. Fans almost NEVER know what's actually good for a game. All of these people are the same folks who hate on the old devs for introducing nerfs and "ruining" their characters for the sake of better gameplay. Letting them run the show is going to result in a meltdown.

I honestly wish that there will be some kind of rebirth of the genre, but it won't be coming from those guys.

[AH-64D Longbow]

Groups of unskilled volunteers can barely even get the most simple of games done. I have great doubts that anything good with come of this. I was part of the CoH scene since 2005 and I know how passionate these fans can get. I see this as ending in huge civil wars between the fans over what people what and the implementations of systems, before any work is even done. Fans almost NEVER know what's actually good for a game. All of these people are the same folks who hate on the old devs for introducing nerfs and "ruining" their characters for the sake of better gameplay. Letting them run the show is going to result in a meltdown.

I honestly wish that there will be some kind of rebirth of the genre, but it won't be coming from those guys.

Not only that, but the quality of the play itself will be horrendous since the server would be hosted on some second hand workstation as opposed to a proper server machine.

Just time to find a new game and move on. There are plenty of grindfests left.

[DiD Rulez]

Noble words from both of you but sadly we all know NCsoft will not revive the game even though the fans demand it through petition after petition after petition and that didn't get the job done, NCsoft is sticking to there bullshit excuse, making sure that game will never come to light again. I've been a member of CoX since 08 I originally started played that back in 04 a month after it was release but damn dial up couldn't keep up, the point I'm trying to make is we have to keep our hearts and minds open for something new and maybe improved in the MMO superhero world, I know nothing on this planet will ever replace CoX but maybe it's time to move on.

[AH-64D Longbow]

Noble words from both of you but sadly we all know NCsoft will not revive the game even though the fans demand it through petition after petition after petition and that didn't get the job done, NCsoft is sticking to there bullshit excuse, making sure that game will never come to light again. I've been a member of CoX since 08 I originally started played that back in 04 a month after it was release but damn dial up couldn't keep up, the point I'm trying to make is we have to keep our hearts and minds open for something new and maybe improved in the MMO superhero world, I know nothing on this planet will ever replace CoX but maybe it's time to move on.

It's a game, you should move on. An MMO at that, they're a dime a dozen and most are free to play. They're also exercises in tedium and repetition, but apparently that's enjoyable.

And how come it's a "bullshit excuse?" If it wasn't profitable, then that's that. Oddly enough, there's a distinct lack of altruism in the marketplace.

[DiD Rulez]

I've meet people in and out of CoX, DCUO and CO some of them finds the excuse is bull and some find it that companies don't want to listen too where the money is coming from and other have moved on, I have moved on to Champions Online, some followed me and some did not but we all made friends in CoX then other but we still kept in contact with each other.

[Suichiro]

And how come it's a "bullshit excuse?" If it wasn't profitable, then that's that. Oddly enough, there's a distinct lack of altruism in the marketplace.

It was actually profitable. It was making NCSoft money. That's really what people were mad about. Really, the issue came more with the company having a large investment in Paragon Studios, when they weren't seeing *enough* return for their money. It's a complicated issue because NCSoft essentially funded a whole new brick and mortar US development studio, when NCSoft is a primarily Korean company. They needed their capital more for new projects than they needed the revenue from City of Heroes, so they canned it. Most people look to the development of Blade and Soul and Guild Wars 2 as the reasons CoH got canned.

I can understand why the fans are mad. There's literally nothing like CoH out there. Nothing comes close at all. I did literally everything there was do to in that game and spent years playing with social groups, roleplayers, PvPers, power gamers and my friends. The community was incredible. But really, it was a successful game that had it's time and while unfortunate, people need to accept it's demise and move on. It would be much more wise to try and get the game devs into new jobs where *they* can try to make a spiritual sequel. But trying to flail uselessly at a subject they have NO idea how to get done is really only going to hurt things.

[AH-64D Longbow]

And how come it's a "bullshit excuse?" If it wasn't profitable, then that's that. Oddly enough, there's a distinct lack of altruism in the marketplace.

It was actually profitable. It was making NCSoft money. That's really what people were mad about. Really, the issue came more with the company having a large investment in Paragon Studios, when they weren't seeing *enough* return for their money. It's a complicated issue because NCSoft essentially funded a whole new brick and mortar US development studio, when NCSoft is a primarily Korean company. They needed their capital more for new projects than they needed the revenue from City of Heroes, so they canned it. Most people look to the development of Blade and Soul and Guild Wars 2 as the reasons CoH got canned.

I can understand why the fans are mad. There's literally nothing like CoH out there. Nothing comes close at all. I did literally everything there was do to in that game and spent years playing with social groups, roleplayers, PvPers, power gamers and my friends. The community was incredible. But really, it was a successful game that had it's time and while unfortunate, people need to accept it's demise and move on. It would be much more wise to try and get the game devs into new jobs where *they* can try to make a spiritual sequel. But trying to flail uselessly at a subject they have NO idea how to get done is really only going to hurt things.

I should change the wording of my statement in such case. "Not profitable enough" would be a more suitable term. Especially a company like NCSoft with so many IPs under its belt. It could very well be turning a profit it, but if it's marginal then they'll cut and run. Usually, slowing profit margins is an indicator of lost interest. They'll announce the game is closing and do some silly events to try and stretch out a last minute cash grab. And, in NCSoft's case, use it as a means to interest you in other products they have "Oh, well that's done with, why not try this?"