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R.I.P CoH.. very sad shut down

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  • Harbinger1975Harbinger1975 Member UncommonPosts: 244
    Ok.  I'm reading all of this, trying to understand what NCSoft is doing.  Which, I agree with alot of people.  it doesn't make sense.  CoX was a staple name in the MMO world.  Say Superhero MMO and the first name uttered was CoX.  So, instead of being dips**ts, why not sell it to say...Turbine.  Or (God forbid) PWI?  Sell it to someone to keep all that hard work going.  If you're that damned hungry for money, offer to someone to make some return on it.  At least THEN you might look a bit better than you do now NCSoft.

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  • mrrshann618mrrshann618 Member UncommonPosts: 279

    NCSoft has already shown it's colors with TR. They will close it down and lock it in a vault just to spite someone.

    I feel that this will be the same with CoX

     

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  • DrakynnDrakynn Member Posts: 2,030
    Originally posted by MMOwanderer
    Originally posted by Drakynn
    They are shuttign it down after 8 years of service?The MONSTERS!!!

    There are mmorpgs that are even older and that are still up and running. More skeleton, yes, but not shuting down.

    But the truly "horrible" part is the fact that they gave no clear reason. They drop the news like that out of nowhere, and all they say is that NCSoft is "realining focus".

    To me, that reads like "COH wasn't make enough money for us, so now we're going to shut it down to milk the living hell out of Guild Wars2"

    It's a huge middle finger to the entire community by NC to not give them a clear explanation. We know the company is facing finacial problems and is in the red and are banking on GW2 to save them. Fine. If COH wasn't profitable, then it's understandable to close it.

    But the problem is that they say nothing. I'm not even playing, but just go to the forums. Everyone's angry at the silence and for a good reason.

    There are a few older games still skeleton staff and servers yes suprisingly soem are even bene run by everyones favorites EA and SOE.Whether they have mroe or less players than CoX is unknown as no oen can provide those numbers.

    A explanation would indeed be nicebut NCSoft does not owe you one legally maybe morally but not legally.Legeally they jsut got to give you reasonable due notice.

    My pure specualtion is that CoX is still profitable albiet  only marginally at this stage but due to the world's economy NCSoft is having to downsize and unfortunately Paragon Studios and CoX has been caught int he crossfire.

    Personally I tihnk they are probably better off closing down Aion and amybe Lineage in the west and keepign CoX open but I can see how shutting down a 8 year old Western game looks better in Asia where I assume the majority of their shareholders are.

    At the very least they shoudl shut CoX down and have paragon work on something new as the Paragon team has been fantastic in developing and supporting their game.

    But the game lasted over 8 years that's a fantastic run in the video game market.I ahve serious doubts that Champions Onlien will last that long,DCUO might because Sony will .keep marginal games running jsut to pad out it's Station Access lineup.

  • SandbloxSandblox Member UncommonPosts: 180

    Sad to see the game go, I had a lot of fun with it back when it first launched and played for a number of months, made some good friends there as well I still know to this day. 

    However I think a lot of people here are acting sort of nuts....I mean if the game or any game is not pulling in money and is costing money to keep alive then why would a BUSINESS want to keep that game going?  They did a lot of CoH, many updates, went F2P they pulled out all the stops but in the end it did not matter. 

    To froth at the mouth at companies for pulling something that is not making money or worse costing them money is naive and selfish. That would be like everyone here going insane because Sony does not make VCR's anymore since hardly anyone uses them and to keep them in production and on shelves is costing them more then what they make off them. 

    All of these game publishers are a business, not our mom, dad, best friend or whatever. Their goal is to deliver a good product and to make proffits off us the consumer. If done right the company is happy to be making the money and the consumer is happy to be enjoying a good product they feel is worth that money.  

    ANother example since I can see how people still won't get it....

    Take television. If a show has piss poor ratings then that show will be cancelled. This does not make the network some sort of evil monster out to hurt everyone but rather the network knows the show is not well liked but by a small minority and so the show will not make the revenue needed. 

    Or if you goto Taco Bell and they sell a burnt squid and caramel burrito that hardly anyone buys but a small few, so they discontinue the burrio as it costs them money to keep it in production. Does this make Taco Bell horrible? Again no...they are a business. 

    Sad to see CoH guy like anyone else, but I also get it and Im not going to start screaming like an entitled infant and sounding totally ignorant because of it. 

    At the end of the day we the consumers hold a lot of the power, the consumers did not support CoH, so the game had to go. 

  • SandbloxSandblox Member UncommonPosts: 180
    Originally posted by ScorpionOne
    Ok.  I'm reading all of this, trying to understand what NCSoft is doing.  Which, I agree with alot of people.  it doesn't make sense.  CoX was a staple name in the MMO world.  Say Superhero MMO and the first name uttered was CoX.  So, instead of being dips**ts, why not sell it to say...Turbine.  Or (God forbid) PWI?  Sell it to someone to keep all that hard work going.  If you're that damned hungry for money, offer to someone to make some return on it.  At least THEN you might look a bit better than you do now NCSoft.

    You know they may have tried to do so but if the game is not making money and is 8 years old....other companies may simply not want to buy it....Or maybe they want to keep the license to make a new City of Heroes game in the future. 

    Again just so much ignorance on these forums. People spouting off stuff they have no knowledge of or allowing their emotions to blind them from common sense. 

     

    NCsoft and other publishers are not the devil out to get you, they are just a business that has to make money like any other in the world. 

    Are some more seedy then others? Of course, though NCsoft I really would not lump into being one of the more horrible ones. Honestly Funcom takes the cake there I think even if I did enjoy TSW in many ways that company has been always dishonest and never seems able to keep with their promises to the consumer. 

    If people are so  angry then why didnt you and all your friends support CoH? It is a two way street after all :)

  • SirBalinSirBalin Member UncommonPosts: 1,300
    Originally posted by Vesavius

    '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...'

     

    http://na.cityofheroes.com/en/news/news_archive/thank_you.php

     

    Cya :(

    That does suck...was a great game.  Only thing that kept me away ffrom it longterm was the lack of pvp.  This game is the perfect game for a pvp server...good and evil vs each other at its finest...was always shocked they failed with pvp.  Still, game was cool

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  • SnarlingWolfSnarlingWolf Member Posts: 2,697
    Originally posted by Robsolf

    Definitely, definitely sad.  I can't say much, as I haven't played since around the time they first went F2P, but I was under the impression it was at least doing better than Champions Online. 

    Then again, maybe it was.  NCSoft would be a Company that would close down even a good, marginally profitable game.  Hell... Dungeon Runners was probably being developed by interns to run on old pentium II laptops for servers, and they still killed that.  20 players probably could've supported it.

    DCUO lacks content, CO's a klunkfest, but CoX was, while a bit slow moving, a game with solid customization and a ton of content.  Just seems a shame to hit the DEL button on all that work.

     I think people tend to highly underestimate the cost of keeping an MMO running. Even with a skeleton crew maintaining the servers, running customer service, etc. Once you factor in that crew for a year, the servers, the bandwidth, taxes, you are talking absolute minimum of probably 1 million a year if you trim down to the truly bare essentials to keep the lights on. That is the equivalent of ~6000 monthly subs continuously for the whole year. I realize your Dungeon Runners comment was sarcastic, but still don't think you know how many players it would really take to keep a game alive.

    Now this was a game that I believe the announcement said 80 people. That alone was at least 5-6 million a year when you factor in pay, health care costs, building/computer costs. And you haven't even factored in servers and bandwidth. That means you're up to bringing in the equivalent of at least 40,000 monthly subs for every single month of the year and most likely actually more than that. Do you think their current cash shop was really bringing in $600,000 to 1 million every single month? I certainly don't think so.

     

    It is always sad to see an MMO close. But I think players are too quick to jump to the conclusion that it was done for a nefarious purpose rather than simply it was no longer profitable.

     

     

  • WeretigarWeretigar Member UncommonPosts: 600
    Sad to see it go had the best flight system of any MMO to date.
  • ArglebargleArglebargle Member EpicPosts: 3,367

    NCSoft has shown a tendancy to kill their games, more so than most other publishers. 

     

    Part of it is probably the cost saving measure of cutting out the studio.  City of Heroes is probably still supporting itself.  However,  stopping development, and leaving it running in an 'as is' mode would be a loss of face for them, I guess.   Easier to kill it. 

     

    IT did have the disadvantage (in today's gaming world) of being an Open GL game, requiring a bit of different expertise.

     

    Sad to hear this indeed.  Our house was not the culprit, we had four subscriptions.   Quite a shame, the game had developed nicely, had had lots of ongoing innovation.   I regular hear things being praised in GW2 that were pioneered by CoH, some of them from the era of the launch, ie pre WoW.  

     

    You could really feel super in City of Heroes.  But now I guess it is time for the villains to win....

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  • adam_noxadam_nox Member UncommonPosts: 2,148

    The games customizability, pace of combat, ability to face multiple foes at once and still remain fun, and travel systems should be envied and studied by ANYONE developing an mmo today.  Had this not been a comic book niche, I believe it could have had WoW subscriber numbers.

     

    I was hoping they'd make a CoH 2.  Maybe it's still in the works, but it looks bad with the closing of the entire studio.

  • XiaokiXiaoki Member EpicPosts: 3,809

    Architect is was killed CoH for me.


    As a 4 year vet of CoH I permanently quit because I couldnt stand the meaningless 1 day grind CoH had been transformed into because the players abused and exploited a great feature.


    However, with Paragon Studios closing as well this is a major blow to the comic book MMO because all that is left now is Champions and DC Universe.


    So, not only is this good bye to a beloved MMO but a beloved type of MMO.

  • EcocesEcoces Member UncommonPosts: 879

    *pours some out for CoH*

     

    RIP CoH i had a blast a long time ago in your world.

  • KenzeKenze Member UncommonPosts: 1,217
    dcu and co are way worse than CoH...they should be the ones closing! image

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  • AdiarisAdiaris Member CommonPosts: 381

    How very sad, and quite unexpected. From the issues etc. released I would have never said. To think I was going to make a thread on lines of "small details and features you'd like to see more often in more MMOs" and as I made my list, 3 were from CoX. 

    RIP CoH. I don't play you often anymore, but when I do I still have a good time. I hope you will have a worthy successor. 

  • ThillianThillian Member UncommonPosts: 3,156
    Originally posted by ScorpionOne
    Ok.  I'm reading all of this, trying to understand what NCSoft is doing.  Which, I agree with alot of people.  it doesn't make sense.  CoX was a staple name in the MMO world.  Say Superhero MMO and the first name uttered was CoX.  So, instead of being dips**ts, why not sell it to say...Turbine.  Or (God forbid) PWI?  Sell it to someone to keep all that hard work going.  If you're that damned hungry for money, offer to someone to make some return on it.  At least THEN you might look a bit better than you do now NCSoft.

    Not sure if Turbine would be the best company to "save" a game. It was Turbine that shut down a game 3 months after releasing a PAID EXPANSION for it. Remember Asheron's Call 2?

    REALITY CHECK

  • IcewhiteIcewhite Member Posts: 6,403

    Poor CoX.  A game before its time.

    Really, it's the shutdown of SWG in favor of a new cash cow, all over again.

    Except NCSoft didn't boot the PR.

    Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.

  • NildenNilden Member EpicPosts: 3,916

    Well I guess City of Heroes was no spring chicken but it seems wrong to bring it to the chopping block. Travel powers, flying, teleporting, superspeed and superjump. How about the best character creation in any MMO. Sidekicks and Mentoring, 8 person groups, scaling missions, awesome powers, Archvillians. Regular udpates. Player created content. This game saw some of the most innovation in the genre.

    This isn't Old Yeller who bit someone it's more like taking Lassie out back. Sad day indeed.

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  • Four0SixFour0Six Member UncommonPosts: 1,175

    *Crumples foil into a hat and places on head*

     

    Seems NC is throwing all the chips down on GW2.

  • WicoaWicoa Member UncommonPosts: 1,637
    Goodbye my friend :(.
  • CastillleCastillle Member UncommonPosts: 2,679
    Originally posted by Four0Six

    *Crumples foil into a hat and places on head*

     

    Seems NC is throwing all the chips down on GW2.

    *Steals tin foil hat and sells on ebay for $50*

    LETS ALL PUT UP A KICKSTARTER AND GIVE SOMEONE (me) MAJORITY SHARES SO WE CAN END THIS NONSENSE!

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  • lifeordinarylifeordinary Member Posts: 646
    Originally posted by Icewhite

    Poor CoX.  A game before its time.

    Really, it's the shutdown of SWG in favor of a new cash cow, all over again.

    Except NCSoft didn't boot the PR.

    That is how it looks like. If you look at the list of  MMOS shut down by Ncsoft, it is getting longer.

  • LydonLydon Member UncommonPosts: 2,938
    It makes me so sad to hear this :( It truly was iconic.
  • MackehMackeh Member Posts: 164

    Was a Beta tester, then subbed for the first year.  It was an amazing game but after Season 3 the writing was on the wall, they nerfed the hell out of all the fun aspects of the game like the giant squid.

    Am suprised it even lasted this long.

  • VirusDancerVirusDancer Member UncommonPosts: 3,649
    Since the beta, CoX had always been a part of my MMO rotation.  I had just finished reinstalling yesterday...this kind of hit like a punch to the gut.  MMOs have been my game of choice since '97... I guess I should take up knitting.

    I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?

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  • WickedjellyWickedjelly Member Posts: 4,990
    Wow really? That sucks. I don't play it anymore but it was a fun game. Sad to hear for those still enjoying it :(

    1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.

    2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.

    3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.

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