Guild wars is still going, as is Aeon, Guild Wars2, and now Wildstar.But if the Richard Garriot Tabula Rasa fiasco and CoX Shutdown isn't reason enough to boycott them, I don't know what is.
Random amusement: Google search of "inactive mmos" - 2nd option on the list - NCSoft's wikipedia entry - an amusing and telling point in and of itself.
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Guild wars is still going, as is Aeon, Guild Wars2, and now Wildstar. 9 on the active list also, with the oldest active (Lineage) being over 15 years old.
I guess this is equally compelling to not boycott them then?
If I am understanding you correctly, the counter-argument you present is there are still plenty of games they continue to run. The issue isn't just about what games are active or inactive, it's the manner in which NCSoft have chosen to handle those games. Being critical of the company is about questioning NCSoft's reliability and consumer trust with their MMORPG games - especially outside the Korean/Japanese market.
Example, you cite Lineage as being active, but fail to point out that it is was pulled 3 years ago from North America. It's only available in Korea, and players were essentially told that their subscription could only be transferred to another NC game (which at that time was essentially down to Aion, Lineage 2, or COH). The game isn't even advertised on their English website, so I think it hardly counts by your estimation.
Now - going back to the list: Of the 9 cited, one is a casual golf game which uses 'pay for items/tournaments' system - so let's focus on true MMORPG's. 3 are unavailable to North American/Western markets. That leaves 5 games available, of which 2 are essentially Korean 'ports' of existing releases - Lineage 2 and Aion. Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 - which I do find to be well-done - have sold 6 million and 3.5 million copies respectively. Only Wildstar I leave out for now, because frankly it just launched in June and it's too early to tell whether it will be successful.
By comparison, of the 9 games on the closed list, 4 of them were designed by Western studios and initially marketed for a Western audience. With possible exception of City of Heroes, none of them were well-managed and more often than not NCSoft has gotten themselves into legal issues that were tied to running the games (as noted on the same page). Other corporate issues have been cited in this thread as well.
The argument of profitability aside, there's a strong precedent here that NCSoft can't effectively take care of it's gaming properties outside the Asian market. Based on how they have handled their closures, good customer service is also somewhat questionable.
Basically, you cannot trust (as consumer or fan) that the products they sell will be reliable or supported. No matter how good, history shows it could be redacted at their whim. As a consumer, one can certainly refuse to encourage that behavior by not giving them your money.
The litmus test to me is Wildstar. It is being marketed as hard-core MMO with a storyline - essentially it's trying to be an upgraded WOW in space. It also has subscription system to bolster it's revenues with a free to play element as part of that system. If it can keep it's numbers up, then it may succeed. But if it's numbers sag or it never reaches the promised goals that NCSoft has set for the game - no matter how stable or steady the revenue stream, history shows that the game will be folded.
Out of all the MMOs I've tried, I miss the community in CoH/CoV the most which was a far removed from the kind of jerkass-ism you expect from these games.
And I could spend all day playing with the costume creator.
I allowed my son one hour of computer time daily. After I opened a linked account for him on mine & let him play, he would frequently spend that entire hour fiddling with the Costume Creator, and that was just with the 'open to everyone' costume options.
When I purchased about $50 in credit for him for his birthday, we opened the Mastermind Archetype, the Animal Lord powerset & all the animal themed costume pieces. I had to let him have an entire afternoon that day.
It was also one of the only MMO's on the market with actual mechanics in play for genuine 'Player Created' content.
Just as a heads up, I believe there is a stand-alone project that gives you access to the character creation, and makes you able to run around the game zones. Mind, there's no game attached, but if you enjoyed the character creation, that's still somewhat possible to play around with. I believe the project is called Titan Icon, if you google that you should be able to find instructions for how to set it up.
(I have no direct experience with Icon, alas, but thought I'd mention it.)
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Just as a heads up, I believe there is a stand-alone project that gives you access to the character creation, and makes you able to run around the game zones.
You can find the info on ICON here.. I don't have that much experience with it either, but someone's done a good job on it. Also - some info here
Star Trek Online has it in spades with it's "Foundry" feature.
Star Trek Online is one of those games that at first, I think, had a hard time trying to figure out how it wanted to go. It tried being more uber-canonical and have a grand story, but the designers realized they could be more successful sticking to a more episodic approach and left the game world more open to differing types of fans. It is one of those of MMO's that's really grown into a stable platform.
They've also done a great job mining a lot of the Trek show history for details and designs that make the game more expansive. The Foundry is similar to COH's Architect system in that it allows you to use the game's content to make your own stories. I would agree it is well done.
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Star Trek Online has it in spades with it's "Foundry" feature.Star Trek Online is one of those games that at first, I think, had a hard time trying to figure out how it wanted to go. It tried being more uber-canonical and have a grand story, but the designers realized they could be more successful sticking to a more episodic approach and left the game world more open to differing types of fans. It is one of those of MMO's that's really grown into a stable platform.
They've also done a great job mining a lot of the Trek show history for details and designs that make the game more expansive. The Foundry is similar to COH's Architect system in that it allows you to use the game's content to make your own stories. I would agree it is well done.
That's another game that I can spend hours in the character generator, although there's so much to do *in* the game (choosing paths / leveling up your bridge crew, for instance, ugh) that I get overwhelmed soon after entering the game and just want to go back and design more captains and crews (like an all-Redeemed Borg ship, or an all-bald, all-Deltan crew or an all 'choose your own alien' custom crew...).
Like in DCOnline (a game whose gameplay I do not like, at all), the 'familiar' bits and characters and elements just make it awesomely fun, for someone who knows stuff about the setting.
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The gist of the the whole deal is that while someone can run/develop it, NCSoft still retains IP rights. So essentially, they would be still be tied to the company - it doesn't sound like they can buy it outright.
That's not exactly correct; the IP is what is will be sold, with other specifics (such as what code, etc, remains) being discussed. NCSoft will likely retain some interest in the title- being listed in the credits, much the way Cryptic continued to be, long after NCSoft split from Cryptic Studios- but the new company will be the owner.
It's all still very much under discussion, and the deal could potentially still fall through, as others have previously, but it sounds fairly promising. If it does happen, speculation is that the new owners will relaunch the game at the (previously beta-only) Issue 24, and will probably be working on a City of Heroes 2 on some new engine to follow (Unreal has been mentioned as a possibility).
There's a lot more info in the thread itself (including some closer "in the know" speculation on why NCSoft was losing money- CoH was earning enough, but the two other games they were developing were sucking it up).
All in all, it's the most promising news fans of the game have had since the NCSoft Dev team's unsuccessful attempt to buy up the game before it was sunsetted.
That's not exactly correct; the IP is what is will be sold, with other specifics (such as what code, etc, remains) being discussed. NCSoft will likely retain some interest in the title- being listed in the credits, much the way Cryptic continued to be, long after NCSoft split from Cryptic Studios- but the new company will be the owner.
Ah - apologies if I mislead then. I guess I misread that change somewhere (scanning 323 pages can make one gloss over). I am going off Ironwolf's summary, which states: We have been reaching out and putting the proposal together. The concern has been the "Golden Handcuffs" option, being shackled to NCSoft again and having the sword of Damocles once again hanging over our heads but this time knowing it is there.
That sounded like even if they get rights, NCSoft still retains some ownership rights. Hey - if they can have full control - even better.
I did note the idea of restarting the game 'as is' and then working on COH 2, but as for myself I am keeping my optimism low for now. Personally just want to hear they have a contracted sale and startup before any other plans come up.
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Today marks the 4 year anniversary of NCSoft's Day of Infamy.
Man, I still miss City of Heroes. :(
/em holdtorch
Me too.
The worst part is the callous way that NCSoft treated the people of Paragon Studios.
Callous? How so?
That is messed up guys I feel for you they cancelled a game I Had played for over 4 years recently and I was pretty distraught over it too.
Also super sucks for the workers.
Hope you guys find something to replace it in your hearts. I hope the workers find better jobs good luck all!
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/em holdtorch
Remember AP33. We are heroes. This is what we do.
They were all fired in a day, without warning or even a heads up
From what I read on both sides this wasn't true. The studio knew for months they were on the chopping block. This is why they pushed so hard for early release of the still buggy update they were working on and why they tried so hard to sell the project to some other company. Heck they even tried to buy it themselves... but the game was not a money maker and no one would touch it. No MMO can survive without backers.
Hope you guys find something to replace it in your hearts.
Thanks for the well-wishing, but the loss of CoX was more about the loss of community than even the game play. That's irreplaceable.
Heck they even tried to buy it themselves... but the game was not a money maker and no one would touch it. No MMO can survive without backers.
CoX made money, albeit on the low end towards the end. That much is known. NCSoft wasn't ($6m loss, as I recall that year). Several attempts were (and still are being) made for CoX.
.....Seems NCSoft decided they needed to give the knife 1 more twist
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5 years now. Never forgotten.
/em holdtorch
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.....Seems NCSoft decided they needed to give the knife 1 more twist
WTF am I looking at here?
City of Heroes was my first - and would eventually become my last - MMO. Granted, I slowly tuned out a while before it was murdered. I was surprised when I heard.