NCsoft responds to City of Heroes speculation
by Eliot Lefebvre 
Nov 5th 2009 at 4:00PM
Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, Business models, Interviews, MMO industry, Opinion, Rumors
A couple days ago, we had a post detailing some speculation on what City of Heroes: Going Rogue meant for NCsoft West, City of Heroes, and the future of the entire branch of the company. Ryan James, director of corporate communications for NCsoft, took the time to issue a direct response to us regarding that post. We also got an opportunity to ask him a few questions regarding NCsoft's current and future direction, which helps provide some context and some behind-the-scenes information to offset the speculative nature of the aforementioned post.
The official response is as follows:
"We wanted to respond to your post from November 2 on City of Heroes and clarify a few points for you and your readers. In short, the piece offers a rather sensationalist view of NCsoft West and our success thus far.
We're very proud of what we've accomplished here in the West – we have several major MMO franchises, including City of Heroes, Lineage and Guild Wars. And our newest addition to the NCsoft portfolio, Aion, has just seen a very successful launch here in the West. As you point out, we have had to make some tough portfolio decisions, but this is very much par for the course for any major game publisher today. That being said, we remain extremely proud of the Paragon team's accomplishments with the City of Heroes franchise. City of Heroes is still the world's most popular super-powered hero MMO. Even with an increasingly crowded landscape, City of Heroes remains the gold standard for comic book-inspired MMOs – it has stood the test of time and we're excited to be bringing Going Rogue to players next year.
As you note, the author of Vicarious Existence is indeed 'alarmist' in his assessment of NCsoft West and our future. We couldn't agree more. On the contrary, we're optimistic about our future."
Following the statement, Mr. James took the opportunity to answer a few questions about the company's game portfolio and future plans. Take a look at the questions and responses after the break.
Massively.com: Is NCsoft West going to continue in the trend of having a large MMO catalog that may, at times, be pruned for the games that are being most successful? Or has the development mindset shifted to a smaller and more robust catalog?
Ryan James: Every games publisher has to make portfolio management decisions that won't always please everyone. We've focused on striking a balance between maintaining our key franchises, cultivating new ones and also remaining profitable. But it is about quality over quantity. The MMO market is very crowded with many major titles competing for players'
attention, and the MMO player knows when a game is great versus when it's just OK. So it's all about delivering a top-quality product and keeping that customer coming back for more. That's been our focus and will continue to be.
Is there a "minimum" level that NCsoft looks for in terms of the performance of their games? A certain minimum number of subscribers, et cetera?
Guild Wars and Dungeon Runners both used alternatives to the usual subscription model, with Guild Wars being free-to-play once the game was purchased and Dungeon Runners using a now-more-common microtransaction
model. Will NCsoft West be continuing to try alternative subscription methods, or is the monthly fee the preferred plan for the company at this time?
Finally, perhaps most direct: there was a very long gap between City of Villains and Going Rogue, which makes City of Heroes a very long-running game with a very small number of expansion packs. Will that number be increasing, or will the game's current model of large patches and the occasional expansion continue for the foreseeable future?
Thank you for your answers and your time.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
-Drexel- said on 4:26PM 11-05-2009
Given NC soft's recent track record I just don't think i could seriously commit to any of their games...I would hate to settle into a title for along commitment then watch it get axed because the competition got a little heated.
The NC in NC soft stands for "No Commitment" in my world.
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Johnny_Velocity said on 4:39PM 11-05-2009
A good response, and a comforting one to a subscriber, I suppose (even though there is no real information in it). However, I have to wonder about his claim that CoX is the most popular superhero MMO out there. This site recently suggested a 250,000 number for Champions Online, which I realize is an estimate only, but would put the newly launched CO about twice as high as CoX if accurate. NCSoft stopped putting out numbers, and Atari hasn't issued any yet, and might not. I wonder what he bases his statement on? I guess the absence of real numbers from Atari's side might be enough to continue making the claim.
NCSoft's financials are due next week or so, and for the last few quarters either bad news or reorganizational news has accompanied their financial report, give or take a few days. For gamers' sakes, I hope the trend stops this time around.
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JP said on 4:44PM 11-05-2009
I'm w/ Dex. I agree w/ the PR guy's comment about CoH delivering loads of content over and above just CoV's expansion.
But NCsoft as a whole? (or asshole fits too) I just don't trust them. I don't have the time or patience, but I'm sure someone can pull up the same rhetorical bullshit that they spewed about their "dedication" and "pride" about Destination Games and Tabula Rasa. Then, they pulled the rug out from under everyone. And it was only a month or so before that they proclaimed their dedication to the title. They leave us no reason to believe a word out of their mouths (NCsoft, not Paragon Devs)
So, The NCexecs "clearing up" anything just looks worse IMO. Maybe if BABs, Castle or Posi (not SexyJay, what would be the point? The man makes zero sense) I'd be more willing to hear it. But, they aren't breed (or paid) to tap dance around the negative image of the NCsoft corp. This clown is.
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Coldalarm said on 4:48PM 11-05-2009
I like how they emphasise they're the #1 Super Hero MMO. I can think of one other, and a second that's not been released.
That's CO and DCU. Can't think of any others, actually.
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-Drexel- said on 4:50PM 11-05-2009
Champions 5 years from now will be a far better game than CoH is today. It is a solid title, with solid gameplay and IMO one of the greatest "wow tourist" inspired server designs I have seen outside of EvE. No question that it will overtake CoH in time and when that happens.........look to their track record.
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HouseDecados said on 10:24PM 11-05-2009
Yes.. because Bill Ropers track record is spotless too.
Your idle speculation is nothing but that.. idle speculation. Or in industry terms, a WAG, (Wild Assed Guess)
skyrous said on 10:45PM 11-05-2009
I'm sorry i just don't see CO being a factor in the long term. They've made the same mistake as every game in the last 3 years. They've made the game so solo friendly there's no reason to team, there's no reason to play a support character, everybody's just gonna solo through the game until they hit max level. For most this is gonna happen in the next couple months. When they've done that there isn't enough content to justify playing through the game again, and since you probably already pick the best power combo's there's little reason to start an alt. Put all these issues together and the bottom line is there's nothing to build a community around No reason to talk to anyone and CO's own zone mechanics make this even harder. Cryptic has promised to address these issues and I'm sure they will eventually but the player base is just gonna move on to the next big MMO in a couple of months, probably star trek online.
We've seen this process in repeat in almost every game in the post-WOW period AOC, WAR, vanguard, Pirates of the burning sea... Game has huge over hyped launch, everyone buys it plays through the content, everyone moves on to the next over hyped launch. Only LOTRO has managed to avoid this and maintain a good player base, mostly through their massive amount of both free and paid content they're constantly adding.
COH as well as EQ, EVE, even UO and DAOC have manage to keep going by building small but loyal communities. the common demoninator in these games is that you have to join up with other players to achieve the highest levels of success. Once you make friends you in the game you tend to stick around.
The big demarcation is WOW which can be solo'd right to max level... but then requires you to team in the end game. Every game since has copied the first half of that by allowing you to solo through the game but with no end game content to keep you there, and no community to to encourage you to stay until there is end game content. So we just end up with a solo RPG that we happen to be paying a monthly fee for... Does a game you solo through still actually count as an MMO? Why do we still pay a monthly fee when you play through the game without a network connection?
The only current games I see actively trying to break this paradigm are fallen earth and *maybe* jumpgate. And I think KOTOR is probably going to go off and do something completely different and original.
CO Ignited to the stratosphere from launch day just like AOC and WAR, next quarter the numbers will fall back to earth and we'll all be hyping the next great MMO. These current MMO's are just too disposable.
Utakata said on 11:55PM 11-05-2009
HouseDecados may have given me a new effective acronym to add to my vocabulary. :)
Stark1 said on 5:26AM 11-06-2009
Wow skyrous, you sure you played CoH for 5 years? You don't remember why they changed enhancements? You don't remember Burn tanks? You don't remember controllers with 3 sets of pets out? You don't remember the complaints of Defenders not being needed? Too solo-friendly. What a BS argument. Sure, now you can't get 1-50 solo. Oh wait, you can. Any team-oriented gameply in CoH is optional.
Lemmo said on 4:54PM 11-05-2009
Likening the issues to patches is pretty bunk. Issues have gone so far as to release entire content areas and villain groups, raise the level cap, add powersets and classes, and pretty much expand the game in every playable manner. In fact, even the lesser sung holiday events and seasonal content slips in like a patch, which is well more than some games bother to offer.
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Dan said on 5:26PM 11-05-2009
I've played CoX off and on for the entire five years, and I can definitely say that the issues qualify as expansions in my book. The last issue gave you the ability to customize your powers...and it was free. CoV was released as a standalone game which could ACT as an expansion if you so desired. Now, with the various issues, you have access to pretty much all of the powers CoV added on heroes side...once again, for free. Of all the gripes I've had with the game, they've never failed to push out regular new content. Now if we could just get a new graphics engine :P
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arthurh3535 said on 9:03PM 11-05-2009
As for the comment on 'new graphics engine' CoH is actually adding a new high end graphics mode which frankly looks amazing.
Real-time shadows and an amazing reflection system that actually adds to your metal costume parts.
I'm currently evaluating what video card I'm buying specifically to get the most out of City of Heroes: Going Rogue.
Amasov said on 5:17PM 11-05-2009
UnSub seems to have struck a nerve there.
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Tom316 said on 5:35PM 11-05-2009
I like how he tries to play 16 updates as some huge thing or something.
Over 5 years thats less then 4 updates a year over that 5 year span. Now thats not counting patch's that where released for bug fixs and such.
But when you compare it to other games that are reaching that 5 year mark. World of Warcraft has released 2 major expansions, and I don't think anyone can argue that them 2 expansions has added more to WoW then all 16 of CoX's updates put togeather. You have games like Everquest 2 that has released (what 5-6 expansions now?) and thats about 5-10x the content addition that CoX has put into the game.
Now granted I do give NC Soft the ball for releasing these 16 updates for free instead of charging people for them. But I also look at it from the business side of things. The extra money that could have been made from selling them as expansions and bundling them togeather as such. Would have more then helped the game in the long run. Truth is the Paragon Team is a small team compared to the big players like EQ2's Live Team or Free Realms live team or heck even WoW's Live team.
I don't for see CoX surviving if Going Rouge flops and players don't pick it up. NC Soft is just too famous for saying one thing and then turning around a month or two later and doing the exact opposite.
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arthurh3535 said on 9:03PM 11-05-2009
You forgot City of Villains in there. It was an Expansionalone too, that added basically an entire game's worth of content.
Wjowski said on 9:42PM 11-05-2009
That's five years of almost completely free content. No other MMO can boast anything like that save for maybe Asheron's Call.
Fred said on 4:01AM 11-06-2009
err...to be pedantic EvE online can certainly boast of something exactly like that.
Stark1 said on 3:31PM 11-06-2009
I agree Tom. Anytime I mentioned something about CoH to a friend of mine, he would bring up something new he was doing in WoW. And more often than not he is still bringing up events, such as their recent Halloween one, that makes me want to go back and play. I even have to admit the stuff he does sounds more fun than Champions too. People here also conveniently forget what WoW adds in patches. Yes, they even call them patches. Just go look at the list of free updates and many of them are comparable to some CoH Issues. With expansions you got even more.
I don't think CoH will go under if GR does not do well. I think at the very least it will paint over the old coat and make it seem newer so any fence-sitters will be willing to give it a try. I think the article is pretty dead on and agree the Issues were not huge releases comparable to other MMOs. Anyway you look at it, the game needs a paid expansion.
Henry said on 6:03PM 11-05-2009
Are you shitting me? NCsoft has shut down three MMOs in almost as many years when most studios don't even shut down one. I'd love to hear what they have to say after Guild Wars 2 dies down.
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Ganesh said on 11:33AM 11-10-2009
Aion is dying so fast from boring content that it will be next. That's a shame though: Gameplay can be fun when you get past the horrible grind.