I'm not seeing any damage control efforts from NCSoft. We're hitting them with everything we have, and there's no opposition.
Are we beneath their notice? Their declining stock belies that. Several times our efforts have immediately preceeded a tumble.
Perhaps they're not answering because what we're saying is true, and answering would only draw more attention.
But then, they would mount a media compaign touting them and their recent efforts, trying to outshout us, especially before Christmas.
It feels like they're turtle-ing, trying to hide behind language barriers until this blows over. I wish we had more ears and voices in Korea.
What's their next move?
Well there are a number of answers to that, and without having an insider on the ground in NCSoft Seoul, we are not going to know.
It could very well be that we are considered to unimportant to bother with. That could be because we are Western and a fraction of their market. Or, because we really are NOT affecting the stock plunge that much (there are a number of factors affecting it at the moment, although I think the fact that it dropped 12,500 won after the article in the Korean Times has a good 60% chance of being a solid hit on our part). Or, because we are insignificant because we are (or were) mere customers, and our job is to sit down, shut up, and take what we are given.
It could be because they are still following the H & K strategy of hiding in the bunker. It's one they are comfortable with, as a culture. Hide from something long enough, it will get tired and go away.
It also could be because (WARNING! DONNING TIN FOIL HAT!) what we have here is a war invisible to us going on between Nexon and NCSoft, in which Nexon is attempting to gobble up its nearest competitor. I do have some interesting facts. Speculations I will put in [] brackets.
Taek Jin Kim divorced his first wife recently [early this year?]. He had to give her half of his 60% share of NCSoft as part of the settlement. [we don't know what happened to that 30% of NCSoft stock]
He then married his second wife, who is a former Nexon executive.
He then sold half of his remaining stock to Nexon. [rumor has it he would like to sell the rest]
Second wife is put in charge of NCSoft West.
Guild Wars sells 2 million copies, although they were expecting it to sell 6 million, based on the number of sold copies of GW1. One reason it only sold two million is because they shut off sales, claiming they weren't ready to handle that many all at once, thus chopping off a lot of impulse purchases. [WTF? you boast that you EXPECT to sell 6 million copies and you aren't ready to handle that number when you go on sale??]
NCSoft West unilaterally murders CoH.
[Now, if I were going to try to take over a company, the easiest way is through the bedroom, not the boardroom. CoH would just be collateral damage in a greater war. Distract the CEO. Give bad advice. Drive stock prices down, buy the stock when it bottoms out through proxies until you have the majority share, then come in and fire everyone that isn't one of your stooges.]