by John Hoskin on Nov 08, 2007
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Daily Column
12 new MMOG articles today! 67 so far in November!
Not so long ago a little company that we'll call Cryptic Studios created a MMOG that was unlike any other. There were no Elves, Dwarves or Orcs. There were superheroes! The game was called City of Heroes and back in 2005 I wrote about its launch.
It wasn't long before the little game that could had an expansion called City of Villains. The Cryptic team was doing a tremendous job and though CoH/CoV would never reach the numbers of subscribers of the top game in the genre it did very well for itself. The publisher, NCSoft was delighted.
Game developers cannot live on one success. Cryptic wisely leveraged their "superhero" prowess into a gig creating Marvel Universe Online. MUO was not published by NCSoft. The juggernaut behind this title would be Microsoft. Microsoft was also delighted to become the stable for such a talented team. For the first time that I can remember a developer was working on MMOGs that were published by different companies. Could this be? Was there any conflict of interest?
Eventually the face of Cryptic, Jack "Statesman" Emmert removed himself from the day to day operations of CoH/CoV to work exclusively on Marvel Universe Online. The figurehead of the franchise was gone, both in person and in the virtual world. You see, Statesman was more than the lead designer, he was the lead hero in the game and the leader of the most famous supergroup (guild), the Freedom Phalanx. His departure left a hole in the backstory that could be filled by an "imposter" Statesman, but it would never be the same.
On November 6th I received this:
"To all current and former City of Heroes players,Today we announced the acquisition of City of Heroes from Cryptic Studios⢠and the formation of our new Northern California studio which we are informally calling NCsoft® NorCal (click here to read the press release). Nearly the entire City of Heroes team from Cryptic Studios has joined the NCsoft team and together we have formed the core of our new studio.
The City of Heroes franchise has been a tremendous success for both NCsoft and Cryptic. More than three years after the City of Heroes launch, our community is strong and thriving. There are so many great ideas and plans, both from our development team and from the players, and we canât wait to make them a reality. Our team is 100% dedicated to City of Heroes and we are extremely excited about the present and the future!
Click here to read the Dev Corner chat with General Manager Brian Clayton and learn more details.
Special Thanks To Our Players
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!Debt Wipe
After the launch of Issue 11: A Stitch in Time this Fall, we are removing Debt from all characters and giving you a fresh start. Actual date will be announced shortly. Have fun in the mean time.20,000 Prestige
Also after the launch of Issue 11, all Supergroups will receive an additional 20,000 Prestige per Supergroup member, meaning SGs could acquire up to 3 million Prestige based upon their Supergroup membership roster! Actual date will be announced shortly.In the near future we will begin to share more information about our development plans. With this major reinvestment and effort ahead of us, we will take City of Heroes to new heights!
Sincerely,
The City of Heroes Team"
What I, and many of you had expected had come to pass.
Brian Clayton, the Executive Producer was kind enough to answer my questions about the change of venue. Here is what he had to divulge.
"TTH: How long had discussions been going on regarding the purchase?
Brian: Weâve been working on this deal with Cryptic for several months.
TTH: Was the purchase of CoH/CoV made more imminent with the focus of the Cryptic team on Marvel Universe Online? To my knowledge there hasn't previously been a MMOG developer with games running concurrently under two different publishers.
Brian: You canât pin the reasoning on just one thing. Cryptic Studios has done a great job with City of Heroes and City of Villains. However, as an independent developer they need to carefully balance their resources across all of their projects. We felt that by bringing the âCity ofâ property wholly under NCsoft ownership, weâll be able to take it to the next level, do right by the IP and exceed our communityâs expectations.
TTH: With most of the development team now part of NCsoft NorthCal can current players and prospective new players expect the game to continue to be supported as it has been in the past?
Brian: Absolutely, our current community can expect to see a significant increase the amount of new content and its quality. One of the reasons we did this is so we could put more of our development muscle behind the âCity ofâ IP. The response from our current customer base has been extremely supportive. I welcome their overwhelming excitement and high expectations.
TTH: How does NCsoft hope to introduce or reintroduce players into a game that is 3.5 years old?
Brian: Thatâs a great question and one that has a very long response. Let me take a rain check on it for now and weâll plan on dedicating an entire interview to this subject at a later date. The short form is that the growth potential is virtually limitless for this franchise, especially because itâs rooted in the superhero genre. The only other insight I can provide at this time is we have extensive plans (many already underway) that will lead us to a long-term successful future for the franchise and our fans.
TTH: Is there any concern that the current CoH/CoV playerbase will feel abandoned?
Brian: From our perspective, the response from the players has been extremely positive and supportive. Since the entire active âCity ofâ development team has come over to NCsoft from Cryptic, the community should not feel abandoned in any way. The same team will work on the product, but with more resources, a stronger commitment and a surefooted direction.
I personally have worked on site with the City of Heroes Cryptic development team as the Producer and Executive Producer since mid-2003 (about as long as Lead Designer Matt âPositronâ Miller has been with the project). We have an experienced team of Cryptic and NCsoft MMO development veterans that will continue to drive this franchise to new levels never before possible. I canât underscore enough that NCsoft as a publishing and development company fosters an extremely creative, high-quality, and pro-development work environment that allows us to do whatâs in the best interest of the product and our players. This philosophy will completely carry forward.
TTH: Was there a perceived conflict of interest with Cryptic developing a super hero MMOG while maintaining the only other super hero focused MMOG?
Brian: At a high-level itâs natural to assume that these products will be competition for each other, as they are both superhero-themed MMOs. But I have not had any direct exposure to any projects at Cryptic outside of City of Heroes / City of Villains so I can only speak for NCsoft. What I can say is that the new NorCal office and my focus are (and have been) 100% City of Heroes and that translates into great things to come for our players. Ultimately, we feel that NCsoft has the commitment and resources to carry out whatâs in the best interest of the brand and our City of Heroes players."
Many thanks to Brian for taking some time to answer my questions. Post your thoughts on the transfer of Paragon City in the forums.
Though this column is unbridled by grammar, facts, common sense and political correctness, I feel it is necessary to correct an error that I made recently. I feel terrible, inconsolable in fact that I wrote that Val "Pann" Massey was the Community Manager for EVE Online. Val is in fact the PR Director. My apologies Val.
Send your apologies to Val on my behalf or tell me your thoughts about the CoH/CoV sale by clicking the forum link below.
Comments, questions or naughty pictures? Hit the forum or hit my mailbox. --Boomjack
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