I had a discussion with some people on HUB on Triumph, and we figured out that a buyout of CoH could actually come in 3 forms:
1. Complete IP and game buyout, of course, is the best option, where we own the game and all its IP.
2. Operating License - We retain the rights to operate City of Heroes and pay a percentage to NCSoft, where they avoid the operating costs buy still make some money. They retain the IP rights, however, and can revoke our license at any time.
3. Limited Operating License - We retain the rights to operate City of Heroes AS IS, but only for a fixed period of time, after which we have to remove all reference to NCSoft IP and possibly change the name of the game. As long as we comply with the agreement, we pretty much own the game.
All three would keep CoH running for now, though #2 is the riskiest.