You notice something about that article? It looks to me like they wanted to write it that way.
Hmmm.
I think now might be an opportune time to introduce NCsoft's shareholders---especially Nexon---to a question I posed in my very first comment on this forum: is the closure of City of Heroes, and the apparent retreat of NCsoft from the Western market, a reactionary response to what Kim perceives as a hostile legal climate in the United States? Specifically, did NCsoft feel that the Garriott judgment was unfair, in light of the fact they fired him for what they described as a poor work ethic after he flew into space while his multi-million-dollar game was floundering?
I think it would be very interesting to have a large investor put that question to NCsoft's management and have them respond formally. They have no obligation to respond to us with anything more than their "corporate realignment" drivel, but they cannot dismiss their largest shareholder quite so tritely, and it is entirely possible that Nexon has not pieced that question together yet.
I think I should start off by saying that I feel NCsoft is perfectly within their rights to decide where to do business, and if the legal climate with respect to employment law in this country is not to their liking, they should by all means feel free to develop at home in order to avoid potential future losses from litigation. But that alone does not explain why a company would choose to burn its U.S. assets to cinders. The logical thing to do would be to liquidate those foreign holdings in order to maximize recovery. Now, it may be easy to overlook the burying of a game that was not profitable, as was undoubtedly the case for many of NCsoft's previous closures (though it might well be argued that NCsoft just wasn't patient enough); however, as we all well know, City of Heroes was neither unprofitable nor unpopular. Simply burying a revenue-producing property without recourse to market smacks not of strategic business behavior, but of simple vindictiveness---something more akin to a personal tantrum. And if that were the case, it might raise serious questions about the fiduciary integrity of NCsoft's management.
There's just one problem: all of the above is pure speculation on my behalf, though I actually suspect the staff writers at Korea Times are thinking along similar lines. They have all the facts, and they're certainly not idiots. Elsewhere on the 'net I have read editorials penned by some of the writers who cover NCsoft for Korea Times. One of those editorials lamented the arbitrariness and insanity of our patent system, specifically with regard to Apple's lawsuit against Samsung for infringing on the "look and feel" of the iPhone---an editorial that I, personally, happen to agree with. He cannot be alone. There may well be an undercurrent of resentment in many other countries about the casino-like mentality of our system of jurisprudence. So why wouldn't Kim fall into the same boat?
Maybe he does, but even if the writers at Korea Times suspected that Kim may be on an ill-considered rampage that could be damaging his company's shareholders, they would never dare put those words to print by their own hand: without someone to attribute it to, and with no first-hand experience in the matter, it could easily lead to a libel suit, because it damned sure would inflict harm upon the management of NCsoft.
But what if they could attribute it to someone who had first-hand experience?
Collette, in a post you made on another thread, you claimed to have spoken with an individual who had direct dealings with NCsoft as a developer, and the comments of that individual exactly mirrored my own. While I don't expect that you will necessarily be able to convince that individual to come forward and make a statement to the writers of Korea Times, perhaps you could put out feelers through him to find other people in his circle of associates who also had first-hand experience in the matter and who are not under non-disclosure terms. If one or more such individuals could be persuaded to come forward and make statements about their experiences---specifically, the exchanges they had with NCsoft's management and the timing and nature of management's actions vis-a-vis the Garriott incident---it might give Korea Times the defensive position they need to ask the very question we most want NCsoft's shareholders to see right now.
Mercedes may have given Korea Times a shield they needed to blow open NCsoft's corporate doors (thank the gods she's on our side), but it could be you, Collette, or anyone else who has access to similar people, who can help drive a bunker buster through that door and blow the CoX IP clean out of their castle.
