In a news post on the City of Heroes website today, Andy Belford has announced that Paragon Studios will be shutting down, and City of Heroes will be closing by the end of the year. The reason given in the article is “realignment of company focus” at NCSoft. Effective immediately, all subscription services and paragon purchases will be halted.
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.
More information will be coming within a few weeks. It appears NCSoft hasn’t picked up any (or much) of the Paragon Studios team, because Belford pitched this:
To any potential studios looking to grow your team; hire these people. You won’t regret it.
City of Heroes launched in 2004 as the first, and in many minds the best, super hero MMO. Since then it has gone on to release 22 issues (major updates), and three expansion packs. In June of last year, City of Heroes adopted a free to play model.
(Source: Paragon Studios)
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