And NC says...

[TimtheEnchanter]

http://us.ncsoft.com/en/news/response-to-city-of-heroes-player-and-fan-suggestions.html

City of Heroes® Players and Fans,

We wanted to let you know that your voices have been heard and your concerns have been taken into serious consideration. We appreciate the overwhelmingly constructive and positive messages in the emails, notes, and packages you've sent in support of the game. It has not been an easy decision for us to close Paragon Studios® and prepare to shut down City of Heroes. We've exhausted all options including the selling of the studio and the rights to the City of Heroes intellectual property, but in the end, efforts to do so were not successful. City of Heroes has a special place in all of our hearts, and we want to ensure its reputation and the memories we share for the game end on a high note.

Once again, we will be holding events throughout the process of preparing for the game's end, and we encourage players and fans of the franchise to join forces and enjoy their time in a game that we've enjoyed supporting for more than eight years.

The NCSOFT® Team

To summarize:

https://images.weserv.nl/?url=theintelhub.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2010%2F05%2FNuke-Ocean-2.png

Honesty, or another teargas attempt to quiet the rioters?

[DrakeGrimm]

Yeap.

Nobody do anything stupid until we hear from Brian Clayton's group and TonyV.

[Burnt Toast]

Yeah definitely not the response I was hoping for :(
So it looks like Plan A is down the tubes officially now.


So basically this means the game is dead.


Looks like my last hoorah will be on 10/20/2012 then when I do the Extra Life campaign. I will continue to try to get sponsors because Children's Miracle Network is an awesome cause...and it looks like 10/20 will be the last time my in game friends and I will get together.


I have no desire to be a part of plan Z or anything like that. I wanted the game to continue; even if it was on a skeleton crew of designers etc...damn it I wanted Issue 24.

[DrakeGrimm]

Yeah definitely not the response I was hoping for :(
So it looks like Plan A is down the tubes officially now.


So basically this means the game is dead.


Looks like my last hoorah will be on 10/20/2012 then when I do the Extra Life campaign. I will continue to try to get sponsors because Children's Miracle Network is an awesome cause...and it looks like 10/20 will be the last time my in game friends and I will get together.


I have no desire to be a part of plan Z or anything like that. I wanted the game to continue; even if it was on a skeleton crew of designers etc...damn it I wanted Issue 24.

To further clarify, I consider "giving up" to be "doing something stupid." >.> Knock it off until we hear from Brian. :P

[Golden Girl]

I'm still not giving up on a last minute rescue.

[V-Mink]

To further clarify, I consider "giving up" to be "doing something stupid." >.> Knock it off until we hear from Brian. :P

Delurking to approve of this message.

/em holdtorch

ETA: And to note that we ARE talking about the company that forged a resignation letter as part of closing another game.  Waiting for someone slightly more... shall we say... reliable to chime in would seem to be prudent.

[TimtheEnchanter]

"Exhausted options" really makes no sense in the business world. It 'sounds' like there's an attempt to get more investors, so why is NC saying "No" now, instead of waiting?

[Knightslayer]

Yeap.

Nobody do anything stupid until we hear from Brian Clayton's group and TonyV.

My thoughts exactly.

[Jetfire99]

Keep calm don't drink the NCSOFT-aid kiddos. Seriously don't we need to keep up the heat we actually got them to respond lets keep going, and keep it blue.

[darkquill]

I believe we should prepare to go on PR-wartime footing.  If we do not hear from the other side of the negotiations, I'm prepared to assume that NCSoft did not negotiate in good faith.

PR-Wartime Footing would mean things like:
-spreading the MMOkiller meme
-advocating boycotts

Waiting to hear from Clayton and/or Tony seems reasonable. Jumping to PR-Wartime Footing this very afternoon would seem pre-emptive.

Edit for clarity: lock and load for the next phase. Just don't fire yet, eh?

[TheFlea]

Nice words. Shame they're the same words you said to us on August 31st. The same words you said on September 3rd. The same words you said during the week following.

If you're going to attempt to repackage them then try harder.

We've not brought our Kronos to your Hamidon Raid yet NCSoft.

Kronos has a hold too, after all.

[emu265]

Do not mistake this for the end, my friends.  There is no way NCsoft has exhausted everything they can do.  That's a bold-faced lie.  However, we still don't know exactly what it means.  I take it to mean one of a couple things:

1) The current negotiations have fallen through.  This does not mean that future negotiations are doomed to fail, however.

2) They've exhausted ideas that they are willing to entertain.  In other words, we need to make them willing to entertain more drastic or difficult measures.

3) They're really, really desperate to get us to back off.  This has more of a conspiracy theory air to it, but it's a possibility considering we've forced multiple blinks.

However, until we know more (probably from Hitstreak or Mr. Clayton) this is all speculation.  But the take home message is:   WE ARE NOT BEATEN YET. 

Love you guys, we'll get through it. 

[Teege]

"Exhausted options" really makes no sense in the business world. It 'sounds' like there's an attempt to get more investors, so why is NC saying "No" now, instead of waiting?

Could be a number of things like asking for more than they'd get by writing it off. I still think a factor that isn't easily overcome: They don't want to risk Company B making it more profitable than it was under their control.

[Codewalker]

"Exhausted options" really makes no sense in the business world. It 'sounds' like there's an attempt to get more investors, so why is NC saying "No" now, instead of waiting?

Especially since I know for a fact that there have been attempts from serious investors to acquire the IP, not counting Brian Clayton's efforts, that were not answered or even acknowledged. So no, they did not "exhaust" anything.

It's PR fluff to get people to shut up, pure and simple.

[Segev]

As I said in the News thread, we are not yet done with the time for patience. Keep holding the course we've set, at LEAST until the end of the week. We need to hear from Brian and others who were representing Paragon Studios, who were trying to be the ones buying. I cannot even speculate what they will be able to say and what they won't, nor what they WILL say and what they won't.

If we get silence or find out that Brian et al have had to give up, then we may need to increase the pressure in more hardball ways. But even as we do that, we must remain united. It is not yet Nov. 30. Do not go apocalyptic. Plan A is not truly hopeless until we KNOW why NCSoft says it failed, or NCSoft does something other than sit on the IP et al. SOMEBODY might be able to make an offer they find acceptable, especially if we keep it up.

We can be strong, resolute, and yet disciplined. The carrot remains as important as the stick, even if we must start tightening the grip on the latter in preparation to use it. Do not scatter our force across ten million rain drops that annoy but ultimately only drive one to open an umbrella. Instead, we must be as a flood dropped all at once, directly in the right place, with the only refuge the high ground of the result we desire.

[Turjan]

"Exhausted options" really makes no sense in the business world. It 'sounds' like there's an attempt to get more investors, so why is NC saying "No" now, instead of waiting?

This is what I find most curious, but for the flipside of that same reason.

If their intention was always to kill the game and bury its bones in the desert (alongside the unmarked graves of Tabula Rasa, Exteel, etc etc) then why tell us this now? Why not keep stringing us along til Nov 30th and minimise any potential backlash from angry (and still active) players?

So I am forced to conclude that at least some of what they're saying is true, i.e. they were actually talking options.

Whether they were being sincere and/or reasonable with the demands in said options however, is another matter entirely...

[Golden Girl]

To be fair to NCoft, it would be pretty mentally exhausting to turn down money in exchange for somethimg that you intending to just throw away.

[Burnt Toast]

No thanks.


Like I said 10/20 will be my last venture into Paragon City. Not doing it to #SaveCoH - doing it to raise money for children in need.


After that I will probably just uninstall CoH and close this chapter in my life.


I have absolutely no desire to play CoH unless it was a game that was advancing with new content etc. If others want to invest in a Plan B,X, Y, or Z that is their prerogative  Me... I am done. NCSoft has made their decision thus negating the possibility of the only plan that was acceptable to me (The sale of CoH so that it could continue legitimately).


I know you were trying to be humorous with yer "knock it off" comment, but truth be told... No. I am done. I'm not going to be one of those "you people should let go" "You people are dumb for trying" people, but I am done cheer-leading because the cause that I was fighting for...(the survival of CoH to continue on legitimately)  is no longer a remote possibility.


No amount of petition signature or articles will make NCSoft change their minds. They have made their decision twice now...so be it.

To further clarify, I consider "giving up" to be "doing something stupid." >.> Knock it off until we hear from Brian. :P

[Rae]

Well..balls.

[downix]

"Exhausted options" really makes no sense in the business world. It 'sounds' like there's an attempt to get more investors, so why is NC saying "No" now, instead of waiting?

It indeed makes no sense. I know they have failed to even respond to some interest, which says that no, not all options are exhausted.