RIP CoH

[Monochrome]

Looks like NCSoft's difficulties in Korea has caused them to can the whole of Paragon Studios, and this seems to have come as a huge surprise to all the staff.

IGN gives shut off date as Nov 30.

This morning we announced that Paragon Studios will be taking to the skies of City of Heroes for the last time.

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.

The team here at Paragon deserves special praise for all that we have accomplished over the last 5+ years. These developers are some of the most creative and talented people in the gaming industry. By now, we've all been given this news internally, but to anyone who may be reading this message after the fact; know that your hard work and dedication has not gone unappreciated or unnoticed. To any potential studios looking to grow your team; hire these people. You won't regret it.

To our Community,

Thank you. Thank you for your years of support. You've been with us every step of the way, sharing in our challenges, encouraging us to make City of Heroes better, more than everyone else thought it could be. We couldn't have come this far without you. I implore you all, focus on the good things of CoH and Paragon Studios. Don't dwell on the "how" or the "why", but rather join us in celebrating the legacy of an amazing partnership between the players and the development team.

Thank you, and I'll see you in the skies, one last time.

Andy Belford

Community Manager

Paragon Studios.

[Naaman]

 

It's a pisser when it just hits like that

[Swifty]

Kinda of out of the blue when I heard about it. Was looking forward to some of the upcoming content and was thinking of re-subbing for a bit. shame

[Prythos]

Devastated! Cart and I literally started playing again as freebies

[Monochrome]

There is very little clear information coming out at the moment, but things are happening.

There have clearly been some talks between ex Paragon studios people and NCSoft where the answer was not a flat "no chance".

There was a vigil/protest on Saturday night which filled Virtue with hundreds more queueing and 33 full Atlas Parks which got a fair amount of attention in the MMO press.

The author Mercedes Lackey (who has been known to be a long time player) has weighed in and is trying to organise some celebrity support (as well as offering to do some publicity for free for NCSoft).

The Titan network (the mob who've taken over MIDS and Red Tomax's stuff as well as doing the badge tracker) are trying to organise a takeover if the Paragon studios one fails.

It's not dead yet, and that NCSoft haven't announced any further details as to what they're doing about subbed time already paid for etc is probably good news.

[Monochrome]

Some interesting developments last night.

From Mercedes Lackey:

I, too, cannot reveal my source, but it is solid, and I hope you will accept my credibility at this point.  Let's just say I had an interesting afternoon gathering information.

Fansy's source is correct.  The reason that the game "must" be shut down before it can be sold is because of perceived legal problems and liabilities on the part of the NCSoft legal department.  (It's not lawsuits or potential lawsuits with Marvel, but other issues regarding ownership).  Apparently dealing with the Garriott case scared the whey out of them, and they are now jumping at imagined shadows.  They won't even consider selling until it is officially "dead."

The bad news: the game will close Nov 30.
The good news: it can rise from the ashes.

Now to wait and see how much they want for the game and whether it can be resurrected after Dec 1.

In another post she says that 60/80 of the Paragon staff have found other jobs (although not Posi/War Witch), but studio head Brian Clayton suggested they could get the core team back together if they needed to.

Also it seems that the huge reaction to the closure was totally unexpected at NCSoft and has worried them into doing things they've never done before like refunding paid time rather than giving time in their other games.

[Naaman]

So, moderately hopeful  for the future then

[Monochrome]

So, moderately hopeful  for the future then

Absolutely no idea, the fallback is that a number of ex CoH people are trying to write a replacement game in the spirit of CoH but without any of NCSoft's IP. I'm involved but probably more in the non technical areas at this early stage and I guess will get into QA later. I'm quite impressed with how much they've done how quickly. This will be abandoned gladly if CoH is saved.

[Monochrome]

Interesting article http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2012/12/602_126197.html.

Most interesting quote

NCsoft’s Seoul-based spokesman Kim Yo-han said that terminating the service was a “strategic decision,” adding that “nothing had been decided on selling the game or other action afterwards.”