I think I've said this before, but I can't find that post right now.
I think honestly - this time, with this closure, NCSoft is NOT going to get away with this - at least not unscathed.
We have an interesting confluence of things happening at close to the same time.
There is a bad economy, and thus gamers have to be more selective of their purchases.
Related to that is an issue that has been growing over several years - the lack of satisfactory customer service and/or value that people are getting fed up with. When your money is limited, you want VALUE for it and not to be treated like shit.
(To be fair - NCsoft has - in the past, been one of the BETTER companies in terms of customer support. I say this as someone who has sent in multiple in-game tickets and either got a prompt visit from a GM or an email that asked me to explain the issue in further detail. And the NCSoft GMs and crew ALWAYS came through. Mind - that's a reflection of the hard-working people at the NCSoft West offices and the server farm more than it is the home company. But just to be thorough and give credit where it's due and all.)
The rise of social media in the form of LiveJournal, Facebook and Twitter. (More the latter two. But LJ was the pioneer)
The Mass Effect 3 Ending Fiasco, where all of the above came together at once to FORCE EA and Bioware to compromise and give a (somewhat) better ending for the game.
Now let me backtrack a bit.
In the past, NCSoft closed 4 games. Dungeon Runners, Auto Assault, EXteel and Tabula Rasa. In every case, the fig leaf of the game being unprofitable or losing money could be used. Even in the fiasco between NCSoft and Richard Garriot, the fight was low key enough not to reach outside the hardcore gaming community.
(And on that subject of community - none of those games lasted long enough to DEVELOP a community of any real kind. But I'll come back to that point below.)
Let's take a side trip also - to the closing of Star Wars Galaxies last year. A lot of people complain about Sony (SOE) for that. But that really was not their fault. LucasArts decided not to renew the license (or they pulled it outright, I'm not sure if I remember which it was) and thus SOE legally could not continue the game.
(A side note - SOE actually has perhaps the BEST record of keeping older games going of all the MMO companies. Everquest was theirs, and it's still going. If DC doesn't pull the same license pull as Lucasarts, DCUO might actually last longer than Champions Online!)
SWG was obviously closed in favor of SWTOR. Well that game isn't doing so well either. It might be due to it just not being that great a game (as many people seem to think) or it might be because many fans shied away from EA and Bioware because of the ME3 debacle. Or it could be a combination of those things and the economy etc. But I tend to think the ME3 Ending had SOMETHING to do with it at least for a few months. I wonder now how much, if any, regret is going through the minds of the CEOs at Bioware, EA and Lucasarts now?
And the SWG fans certainly haven't forgotten. The gaming industry hasn't forgotten that closure. That one's still fresh in the minds of many fans and gamers. (And many of them I've noticed expressing sympathy with us on a few forums.)
So now we come to the closing of City of Heroes.
- Which was still doing financially well.
- Which was around for 8 solid years, and never ever went into the red.
- Which because of that time and because of the nature and the undeniable (award winning!) quality of the game - solid gameplay AND solid tools for RP - developed possibly THE most dedicated, coherent, mature, and MOTIVATED Community the gaming world has ever seen!
- A community which at the perfect time that it NEEDS it - has the TOOLS of the newly developed social media.
- And the EXAMPLE of the Mass Effect 3 Fans as a guide -
- AND the backing of one of the Fantasy Genre's finest writers -
- AND the goodwill and respect of not only many FORMER gamers, but even games that are in direct competition with it - namely Champions and DCUO.
This is a closing that shocked not just US, but dumbfounded the entire gaming industry and has left many wondering if their game is next.
Oh no. THIS TIME it's VERY VERY different. THIS time NCSoft made a MONUMENTAL misjudgment in which game to close in their stable to appease their stockholders. Because of their blindness to the Western Market and it's needs and because of their provincialism at the home office, they have NO IDEA what they have awoken.
The cyclical nature of their stock may have something to do with the downturn. The economy may also play into it.
But c'mon - LOOK at that graph and the timeline!
The graph goes UP sharply around the time that GW2 is released. There is a slight drop off of speed in the upward swing as the closure of City of Heroes is announced.
And then the Unity Rally happens on the weekend of the 7th.
And BAM - as soon as the stock market opens on the following Monday the NCsoft ticker takes a SCREAMING FALL. That despite some ups and downs since, has continued until now?
You want to tell me THAT is a coincidence? I wasn't sure myself until just this past week. But I'm convinced now that we STOPPED that upward swing COLD.
Oh no. No no no... We ARE having an effect. We HAVE ALREADY had an effect. Why do you think they even bothered trying to ask us to stop saying nasty true things?
Because what we are doing is WORKING. Because it's HURTING them.
Pop a rez. Plant your feet, and BRING THE NOISE.