[QUOTE]Cryptic Studios sells CoH/CoV to NCsoft
razor posted on 6 Nov 2007 3:49 pm
coh, cov, cryptic studios, mmo, ncsoft
This was how the news hit me
This was how the news hit me

This just in:

Cryptic Studios Sells City of Heroes and City of Villains

Cryptic Studios™ announced today that the development house has sold its intellectual and proprietary rights to both the City of Heroes® and City of Villains® franchises to publisher NCsoft. As part of the agreement, NCsoft is licensing Cryptic's engine technologies for use with future games.

"City of Heroes and City of Villains players should be assured that Cryptic Studios will be working closely with NCsoft to ensure a smooth, seamless transition," said Michael Lewis, president and co-founder of Cryptic Studios. "City of Heroes was Cryptic's flagship product and we are proud of this title and the many millions of characters that have entertained over a million people worldwide. The decision to sell the franchise allows us to focus resources on our soon to be announced first-party projects."

Cryptic Studios has set up an FAQ about the sale:

Who will be responsible for future development on City of Heroes and City of Villains?

CoH/CoV has a great live team that has set a high standard for development and updates, and NCsoft would like all of them to continue working on the project. Every member of the team has been offered employment at NCsoft. The future is in the same hands that led the game to where it is today.

Cryptic would not have entered into this agreement without ensuring the well-being of the CoH/CoV team. It will be hard to lose part of the Cryptic family, but with NCsoft's support the team will continue to add loads of new content and features to CoH/CoV.

Yes, the show will go on. And it gets better, according to this posting:

Now back to you, the players. You are the lifeblood of our game. In celebration of our new studio and our exciting plans, and in order to thank you for the fantastic community that you have built, we are pleased to announce the following.

Full Access to City of Heroes and City of Villains®
All players with City of Heroes retail* accounts will now have access to City of Villains, and all City of Villains retail* accounts will now have access to City of Heroes. Players that didn't previously have access to "the other side" will find that they do now. Just log in to check it out!

Overall I think this is a good move on the part of Cryptic. I knew something was up when Cryptic decided to pull all of their Community Service and Management in house rather than use NCsoft. Also, With Marvel Universe Online, I think that many people would wonder how a studio could keep two comic book based MMO's seperate and distinct enough to not step on each other's toes.

Either way, I'm still playing CoH/CoV. And I'll play whatever Cryptic has in store for us later.

More at CoH WarCry.[/QUOTE]

[url]http://razorwire.warcry.com/news/view/78658-Cryptic-Studios-sells-CoH-CoV-to-NCsoft[/url]
=============================

well..the game cant get "worse".......

====================
MODS
EDIT TITLE TO
Cryptic Studios sells CoH/CoV to NCsoft

sorry!