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NCSoft Stockwatch

Started by Blackgrue, September 20, 2012, 04:27:00 PM

Rotten Luck

Quote from: Turjan on October 28, 2012, 11:55:07 AM
It's a puzzle - one for which, I'm afraid, we are missing several pieces - pieces that are in corporate hands, beyond our reach.

Your not the only one Turjan.  No one seems to know why.  It's part of the frustration we feel, kind of hearing someone died of a mugging.  Their is just no reason we can see.

If I do mean IF Ncsoft going to launch a CoH2 (even without our Devs... part two of our anger) announcing it and explaining that CoH going to go down Nov 30th so they can convert the servers to the new game we be overjoyed.  Our world updated and enhanced with new graphics better engine, and new game play styles are all things players said they wanted.

But this seems to be a franchise killing move like the end of Exteel, as well as others.  End the game and sit on the IP been done to much by NCsoft that we can even tease ourselves they have a CoH2.  The pattern doesn't fit.
One way or another... Heroes will fly again!

CapaDevans

Unless NC are selling out to someone with a superhero franchise already or far on in the works.

In which case their stocks tanking is probably helping the buyer. Which doesn't concern me much because I still think those numbers are good news for us.

Segev

Yeah, ANY effort to capitalize on the CoH franchise is being destroyed by the current tactics. Now, maybe NCSoft assumes we're a vocal minority and most players will just be so relieved they'll leap onto anything. Maybe they are realizing there's something off but they're too proud (or too afraid of losing face) to step it back and fix it now. Maybe there's something none of us have thought of going on.

It's all a mystery, and all we can do is hope that we're going to make a difference.

Keyne

1) Competing business buys heavily into your stock
2) Pull the plug on one of your products to intentionally sabotage stock value
3) ????
4) Profit?

Codewalker

That would actually backfire pretty badly. As I uncovered while analyzing their balance sheet to determine why their Current Assets are so high, one of the bigger stockholders of NCSoft is... NCSoft. The company owns a sizable chunk of its own stock -- a little shy of half its recorded assets.

So they're hurt as much as anyone when their stock price falls. Probably more, since a it would devalue their overall assets, which would make them look bad to investors, causing the price to fall further.

NecrotechMaster

it sounds like they caught themselves in a downward spiral if things start to go badly for them

its like they were playing with a tower of cards, knock out one card and the whole thing can tumble down

Atlantea

Quote from: NecrotechMaster on October 29, 2012, 06:53:02 PM
it sounds like they caught themselves in a downward spiral if things start to go badly for them

its like they were playing with a tower of cards, knock out one card and the whole thing can tumble down

If that's the case, then...

(Mr. Burns)  EXcellent! (/Mr. Burns)

The more they hurt, the more they'll think about actually selling off assets. And the ONE asset that's likely causing them the MOST problems right now is City of Heroes.

HAMMER DOWN people! Ramp up the NOISE!!!
"I've never believed in the End Times. We are mankind. Our footprints are on the moon. When the last trumpet sounds and the Beast rises from the pit — we will KILL it."
— Gen. Stacker Pentecost

DrakeGrimm

Quote from: Atlantea on October 29, 2012, 08:13:12 PM
If that's the case, then...

(Mr. Burns)  EXcellent! (/Mr. Burns)

The more they hurt, the more they'll think about actually selling off assets. And the ONE asset that's likely causing them the MOST problems right now is City of Heroes.

HAMMER DOWN people! Ramp up the NOISE!!!

Like I've said before...keep shouting until the walls of Jericho(metaphor: NCSoft) fall around them, leaving them dazed and confused.
We are the crazy ones, the mavericks, the dreamers, the forgotten sons. We color outside the lines for fun. We are the crazy ones! - "The Crazy Ones," Stellar Revival

"We put ourselves in "the attitude of heroes"--and we all became a little more heroic." - VV

Codewalker

That's true, but I wouldn't get too excited about it. Just look at the 6 month and 1/2 year graphs. NCSoft's stock price is fairly cyclical, climbing sharply when they release new games and then dropping back down shortly after.

TimtheEnchanter

Quote from: Codewalker on October 29, 2012, 10:10:03 PM
That's true, but I wouldn't get too excited about it. Just look at the 6 month and 1/2 year graphs. NCSoft's stock price is fairly cyclical, climbing sharply when they release new games and then dropping back down shortly after.

How many times can they launch a flop and actually keep investors fooled?

Kaiser Tarantula

Quote from: TimtheEnchanter on October 29, 2012, 10:27:58 PM
How many times can they launch a flop and actually keep investors fooled?
As many times as they can fool investors with their own press releases, unfortunately.  Our goal, then, is to wake them up with information of our own, pointing out the history of failure.  If we keep twisting the knife hard enough, NCsoft's eventually gotta scream.

We've already heard the whimpering.

Atlantea

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.
"I've never believed in the End Times. We are mankind. Our footprints are on the moon. When the last trumpet sounds and the Beast rises from the pit — we will KILL it."
— Gen. Stacker Pentecost

Terwyn

Drums in the Deep.

We are coming.

^_^
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction.
- Albert Einstein

http://missingworlds.wordpress.com

Mentalshock

Quote from: Terwyn on October 30, 2012, 12:00:29 AM
Drums in the Deep.

We are coming.

^_^

And we have a Cave Troll!

DrakeGrimm

#94
Hold your ground, hold your ground!
Sons of Paragon, of the Isles, my brothers!
I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of heroes fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day.
An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of heroes comes crashing down!
But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Heroes of the City!
We are the crazy ones, the mavericks, the dreamers, the forgotten sons. We color outside the lines for fun. We are the crazy ones! - "The Crazy Ones," Stellar Revival

"We put ourselves in "the attitude of heroes"--and we all became a little more heroic." - VV

Atlantea

Quote from: DrakeGrimm on October 30, 2012, 12:17:26 AM
Hold your ground, hold your ground!
Sons of Paragon, of the Isles, my brothers!
I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of heroes fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day.
An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of heroes comes crashing down!
But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you *stand, Heroes of the City!

**APPLAUSE!!!**

Damnit! A LIKE button! Where's the like button!?
"I've never believed in the End Times. We are mankind. Our footprints are on the moon. When the last trumpet sounds and the Beast rises from the pit — we will KILL it."
— Gen. Stacker Pentecost

Victoria Victrix

They're destroying my world.  I aim to misbehave.
I will go down with this ship.  I won't put my hands up in surrender.  There will be no white flag above my door.  I'm in love, and always will be.  Dido

DrakeGrimm

Quote from: Victoria Victrix on October 30, 2012, 12:53:52 AM
They're destroying my world.  I aim to misbehave.

...where in the bloody hells is that like button?
We are the crazy ones, the mavericks, the dreamers, the forgotten sons. We color outside the lines for fun. We are the crazy ones! - "The Crazy Ones," Stellar Revival

"We put ourselves in "the attitude of heroes"--and we all became a little more heroic." - VV

Twisted Toon

https://images.weserv.nl/?url=malzeth.com%2Fimages%2Flike.JPG

There ya go.
Hope never abandons you, you abandon it. - George Weinberg

Hope ... is not a feeling; it is something you do. - Katherine Paterson

Nobody really cares if you're miserable, so you might as well be happy. - Cynthia Nelms

LT. Couper

"Heroes may die, but heroism never shall." ~Cyrus "Breakneck" Thompson