NCSoft Stockwatch

[Aggelakis]

Seems to be holding pretty steady between 140k to 145k for the last little while. Some dips and some rises, but mostly steady. Until more news comes out (good or bad), I don't expect it to be doing much.

[Mistress Urd]

I for one am quite willing to put down money and pre-order any true successor to CoH Google would like to produce.

Who's with me?

It would probably be the better option at this point. While it would be nice to keep the IP, the old game running and a way to transition players to the new game. I'm sure one of the Plan Zs or something else being developed will come out.

[Taceus Jiwede]

I for one am quite willing to put down money and pre-order any true successor to CoH Google would like to produce.

Who's with me?

Interesting idea.  I wonder if they would be more inclined to purchase it if enough people said they would put down money upfront.

[Lightslinger]

Interesting idea.  I wonder if they would be more inclined to purchase it if enough people said they would put down money upfront.

Collection data on our community would be incredibly valuable. If we could get a poll up and ask people if they would play CoH again, if they'd subscribe again, etc etc. Some raw numbers about what a new CoH launch would bring in could be very helpful.

[therain93]

Collection data on our community would be incredibly valuable. If we could get a poll up and ask people if they would play CoH again, if they'd subscribe again, etc etc. Some raw numbers about what a new CoH launch would bring in could be very helpful.

Except internet polls are pretty meaningless, especially when it comes to words vs action.

[Mistress Urd]

Except internet polls are pretty meaningless, especially when it comes to words vs action.

So very true. Its NEVER easy to get good information off the internets. Just like when I was doing smartphone research. It took a long time to find someone who could give me meaningful information. Too often it was Droid User: Get a Droid Phone but no reason why, iphone user: get an iphone but no reason why, winphone user: get anything but a winphone but no reason why.  So after about 2 weeks of that, I found an iphone user who said get a droid phone, and yes I got some good honest info.

[FatherXmas]

A couple of bits of information about the current state of NCsoft, at least in Korea.

First B&S has climbed above ArcheAge for the first time since ArcheAge was introduced, according to the site Gamenote.com (in Korean, use Chrome or a translation service to read the list).  So it appears that ArcheAge was just the new kid on the block and after a month or so players are returning to older favorites.

Second, KDB Daewoo has put out another analysis on NCsoft.  While nothing has really changed in their forecasts it does contain hours played at PC cafes, info that I couldn't extract off of Gametrics without paying, among their four MMOs, League of Legends (which is the currently the most popular game at PC cafes in Korea) and Diablo III.

Overall the number of hours people were playing NCsoft MMOs (Lineage, Lineage 2 and Aion) in PC cafes dropped from 37.7 million hours per month (Jan 2012) to 23.2 million hours this January.  However if you include the B&S numbers it brings the Jan 2013 total back up to 37.6 million hours.  In the same period of time LoL went from 11.2 million hours in Jan 2012 to 58.4 million hours (wow!).  Diablo III on the overhand peaked at 56.2 million hours in June 2012, plummeted to only 5.1 million in Jan 2013.  Swing and a miss for Blizzard.  So LoL is the new StarCraft (since StarCraft II isn't).

Of NCsoft's four MMOs, Lineage seems to be the only one holding it's own or growing.  Aion numbers are less than half of what they were a year before.  For all you B&S haters out there, you will be happy to know that B&S's numbers have yet to level out, going from 40.2 million hours played in July 2012 (new game) to only 14.5 million in Jan 2013 (large drop in Jan 2013 likely due to ArcheAge).  Lineage 2 is still following up the pack at a distant 4th losing 1.9 million players from last year.

January 2013

B&S - 14.5 million hours
Aion - 12.8 million hours
Lineage - 7.2 million hours
Lineage II - 3.1 million hours

The most interesting quote in the report was the following.

But with practically every major gaming platform shifting towards online games, we believe developers of high-end, hardcore online games (which are rare these days) will gain value over the long term.

Does this mean the analyst wants more grindy MMOs or simply a comment about the plethora of casual games?  Don't know.

[srmalloy]

Collection data on our community would be incredibly valuable. If we could get a poll up and ask people if they would play CoH again, if they'd subscribe again, etc etc. Some raw numbers about what a new CoH launch would bring in could be very helpful.

And unfortunately, I think it would be stretching the limits of what Kickstarter would allow to set up a Kickstarter program that was set up to essentially take commitments to pre-order a CoH successor from Google if they acquired the IP and put out a new game.

[Aggelakis]

And unfortunately, I think it would be stretching the limits of what Kickstarter would allow to set up a Kickstarter program that was set up to essentially take commitments to pre-order a CoH successor from Google if they acquired the IP and put out a new game.

Kickstarter wouldn't take it. There needs to be some groundwork already done on the product in order to begin a Kickstarter campaign at all.

[JaguarX]

And unfortunately, I think it would be stretching the limits of what Kickstarter would allow to set up a Kickstarter program that was set up to essentially take commitments to pre-order a CoH successor from Google if they acquired the IP and put out a new game.

speaking of which, if available, again if available, once more IF available, is there any word or concrete sense of which direction Google is leaning towards with the IP thing or if they even contacted NCSoft yet?

[Aggelakis]

TF Hail Mary hasn't said if they've even submitted the paperwork yet.

[Victoria Victrix]

speaking of which, if available, again if available, once more IF available, is there any word or concrete sense of which direction Google is leaning towards with the IP thing or if they even contacted NCSoft yet?

I JUST FINISHED THE BOOK.

I'll be working on the revamped proposal starting today.  I figure to have it done in about a week.  We obviously did not approach Google without a proposal.

[Samuraiko]

I JUST FINISHED THE BOOK.

I'll be working on the revamped proposal starting today.  I figure to have it done in about a week.  We obviously did not approach Google without a proposal.

Lady, take a short break. Indulge in chocolate, wine, a really good massage, something. You owe it to yourself. You're not only burning your candle at both ends, you've got a team of fire/fire blasters blowtorching the thing on a timed mission.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

[houtex]

Gratz on your finishing the book, VV!
 
And what Michelle said, for sure.  After the flu, and the deadline... a couple of small time offs is a good idea.

[Rotten Luck]

Same here.  VV you earned your cape ten times over.  Take a moment and saver the fact you have fans that care more about you then what you can do for us. 

[Triplash]

Same here.  VV you earned your cape ten times over.  Take a moment and saver the fact you have fans that care more about you then what you can do for us.

Amen to that! Take the weekend or something, girl. I'm sure you could use a break by now.

[JaguarX]

We obviously did not approach Google without a proposal.

Good. Very good.

[Twisted Toon]

Same here.  VV you earned your cape ten times over.  Take a moment and saver the fact you have fans that care more about you then what you can do for us.

I am in full support of the Save Mercedes Lackey campaign in addition to the SaveCoH campaign.

[Lucretia MacEvil]

I am in full support of the Save Mercedes Lackey campaign in addition to the SaveCoH campaign.

Agreed.  Even heroes need some downtime.

[Blondeshell]

Lady, take a short break. Indulge in chocolate, wine, a really good massage, something

At first I read that as "chocolate wine."

I agree with everyone else that you deserve some kind of a break. After all, how can you save the rest of us if you can't save yourself first?