One of the luxuries of being a reporter is that I can always fall back on the ability to say “well it is a press release, so we have to give the benefit of the doubt.” The same way in which we automatically trust what comes out of a developer’s financial statements on the grounds that just because ENRON lied, doesn’t make all companies suspicious. But with NCSoft, even a simple notice on the Main page is suspect, thanks to the precedent set just a couple years back with the forging of Richard Garriot’s resignation. Sorry, fool me once shame on you.
So when NCSoft published the notice that all options had been exhausted when selling City of Heroes, the game’s fans were understandably suspicious. In a report over at Addicting Info, it appears that NCSoft may have been toying with what constitutes “all options.”
Within short order, two different investment groups (speaking while protected by anonymity) claimed that NCSoft had refused to even discuss a sale, and ignored any and all offers. A company which engages in this kind of behavior is not a good steward of its shareholders’ investment.
Only Addicting Info knows who these developers are, but if NCSoft did ignore even the idea of a sale, this news is just fuel on the growing fire that is NCSoft’s community relations following the surprise closure announcement. For now, however, the SaveCOH movement is not giving up hope.
(Source: Addicting Info)
MMO Fallout 
Ever hear of the three monkeys, see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil? NCSoft demonstrates a twist on that… they see no evil in what they do, hear no one that doesn’t say what they want to hear, and speak nothing but lies and half truths.
The community had word from a couple of groups who were in negotiations. The press release that came out would have seemed to end those negotiations, right? None of the people the community had heard from have said, “We are no longer talking to them.” The people doing the negotiating know the community wants news very much and would be able to say that much. In this case, no news is good news… and it’s a press release of questionable value.
… One of the luxuries of being a reporter is *researching adequately before posting a report*. Thank you for updating, at least.
Thank you for taking the time to do a little due diligence… as opposed to a certain other article that I won’t mention directly.
When a company pulls the rug out from under a successful gaming franchise with no warning and little more than a “we’re changing” for explanation, sending an entire development company to the unemployment line, it’s good to look a little closer — rather than simply taking their word that they’re above-board.
It’s ridiculous. Any MMO requires you to spend TIME if not MONEY in large quantities over several months, in an effort to build up characters and experience worlds. That requires some degree of trust. PAST experience with MMOs there is always some signs of failure — Low player counts, lack of or long delays in updates, server consolidations, lack of revenue generated. NONE of that appears to be the case with City.
With NCSoft doing a surprise game termination apparently induced by non-City specific corporate actions, they’ve sabotaged the trust they HAVE to have to do business. Sadly I don’t expect them to do anything. And I expect the outrage to spread to their other games. I expect any future MMOs by them to FLOP in America ridiculously. They’ve shown that any investment of time or money could be rendered lost simply because of a boardroom decision. I wouldn’t be surprised if they drop the American market on future releases.
What’s the saying? “Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me…” Blade & Soul and Wildstar are probably DOOMED as far as the American market is concerned…
Mark,
I was under the impression that NCSoft is pretty much pulling up stakes altogether in America to focus solely on their core audience. Is there anything in their lineup now that’s not “WOW-lite”? “Blade and Soul” go it one step further by even making the characters look anime-ish..
The WORST part of all this is that all NCSoft would have to do is restructure so Paragon Studios is a wholly owned subsidiary, let them go on their merry way, and just cash the checks when they come in. Since City of Heroes/Villains was still quite profitable, no one at NCSoft HQ in Korea would have had to ANYTHING with the possible exception of practicing their “Gangnam Style” dance moves for when they went out clubbing to spend the extra money we (the subscribers) were giving them.