Is it too late for COH to get rescued?

[doc7924]

Considering how semi-insane bringing back a controversially killed MMO on a "limited time basis" would be for NcSoft (for all sorts of reasons) I would actually be TOTALLY surprised to see that happen.  I'd sooner expect to see real-life unicorns and/or flying pigs before CoH returned in that mind-boggling format.

And even if they brought it back for a limited time - what good would it be apart from being able to make live demo records again?

I certainly wouldn't bother making new toons or try to level up some 40-somethings only for it to be taken away again.

Unless they wanted to see if there were still enough people interested in it to maybe rethink.

[Ashen Fury]

If it was ever brought back "temporarily", I don't even think I could play it. I'd rather not face THAT heartbreak a second time, once was enough.

[saipaman]

I'd use the opportunity gather all the demos and screenshots I missed before.

[Brightfires]

And even if they brought it back for a limited time - what good would it be apart from being able to make live demo records again?

I could take another few thousand screen shots.  ;D

[Sailboat]

As for the offer question, I've heard mentions of offer being made in the realm of $8m-15m and NCSoft rejecting them out of hand because they would not even consider an offer of less then $80m. Now I will admit I am not an industry insider and I don't have some mythical understanding of it, but $80m seems so far beyond the level of outrageous for the IP....

Can't we pay them $80 million, or whatever they're asking, in faerie gold that turns into dew when the sun rises?  That's what we all know should happen to those who fail to appreciate the value of what they have, and are greedy for gold instead.

You have to understand that as much as we love COH, it's positively ancient by game standards these days. The IP itself is not as valuable as you might think it is.

Ancient perhaps, but every game I compare it to is inferior in almost every, sometimes every, way.  I long for one of these "modern" games to approach the level of sophistication, variety, and customization COH offered us. Hell, even their brand-new graphics seem insignificantly improved -- if I stare for a while, I can find a few visual touches that are slightly better.  Nine years of "progress" it ain't.

[Sajaana]

They have to archive the code for legal, accounting and auditing reasons.

Failure to keep the code would mean that someone could put out a full blown Publish 14 CoH server for profit, and NCSoft could do nothing to stop them.  For they have to have a copy of the code in order to show that it's their code in a court of law.

[NeoFight]

I long for one of these "modern" games to approach the level of sophistication, variety, and customization COH offered us.

Not to mention all the friends that we made.

[doc7924]

Not to mention all the friends that we made.

That was the thing. Out of date, ancient, whatever - it was the WHOLE experience from the powers to the zones to the players to your SG mates to the TF's to the customization that made the game great.

[Mistress Urd]

I don't think its ever "too late" but given the track record of you know who, I don't expect the game will be sold to someone else.

The comic book genre seems to be untapped but the games so far, CoH, CO and DCUO have not been "good enough" for the games to get enough traction. Competition is much tougher now, there are many in the MMO community who expect games to be F2P which creates another design headache.

I am really pulling for any of the plan Z folks and they have quite a few challenges ahead of them.

[indiramourning]

If it was ever brought back "temporarily", I don't even think I could play it. I'd rather not face THAT heartbreak a second time, once was enough.

This is where I stand as well.  I still get pains in my chest when I think about CoX *sigh*.

[Hyperstrike]

Can't we pay them $80 million, or whatever they're asking, in faerie gold that turns into dew when the sun rises?  That's what we all know should happen to those who fail to appreciate the value of what they have, and are greedy for gold instead.

Ancient perhaps, but every game I compare it to is inferior in almost every, sometimes every, way.  I long for one of these "modern" games to approach the level of sophistication, variety, and customization COH offered us. Hell, even their brand-new graphics seem insignificantly improved -- if I stare for a while, I can find a few visual touches that are slightly better.  Nine years of "progress" it ain't.

Put it this way.  80 million is an insane sum for the CoH property (especially in its current state).

That being said, if I had the cash to spare, and the means to keep the product going (servers, devs, programmers, connection, the spare cash after the purchase to pay for the day-to-day stuff, etc), I'd do it in a heartbeat.

[Intone]

The $80M figure often cited as the amount that NCsoft sought for Paragon/CoX never did make sense. Corporate acquisitions tend to run between 1.5x to 2x annual revenues (at least, over the last couple of years).  With estimated revenues of $12M at Paragon, that makes a "reasonable" bid at most $24M.  Of course, NCsoft would want to penalize a buyer who might make the game more successful, by charging a purchase premium; but the 2X charge would accomplish that.

Ssooo . . .  either the cited financial figures here are inaccurate, or there never was a sincere intention to sell the game. If the latter, then even a white knight rescue attempt at this point would be fruitless.

Hope springs eternal, of course, and I'm wishing the Project Z development efforts all the success in the world.

[Ironwolf]

People keep coming back to the $80 million sum and the Devs were negotiating for about 1/10th of that.

It was around the $8 million mark, but fell through. I would think at this point they would take that $8 million and run. The game was worth far more up and running with a sub base than now with a complete restart.

If it was averaging $2 million a quarter when alive and with steam. Rezzed back it would likely make less than $1 million a quarter to start and would require capital to hire Devs and server staff and equipment.

[JaguarX]

The $80M figure often cited as the amount that NCsoft sought for Paragon/CoX never did make sense. Corporate acquisitions tend to run between 1.5x to 2x annual revenues (at least, over the last couple of years).  With estimated revenues of $12M at Paragon, that makes a "reasonable" bid at most $24M.  Of course, NCsoft would want to penalize a buyer who might make the game more successful, by charging a purchase premium; but the 2X charge would accomplish that.

Ssooo . . .  either the cited financial figures here are inaccurate, or there never was a sincere intention to sell the game. If the latter, then even a white knight rescue attempt at this point would be fruitless.

Hope springs eternal, of course, and I'm wishing the Project Z development efforts all the success in the world.

No telling. That 80 million figure is sometimes throw naround as fact but nothing to back up that fact exist it seems. Sounds like another rumor that gotten out of control and some people grabbed it and ran with it.

[Ironwolf]

The rumor was that NCSoft to cover a lawsuit like with Tabula Rasa wanted $80 to cover any legal issues that would arise if the game was still operating when sold.

If however it was shutdown this would not be an issue and the price would drop to a nominal level.

Since NCSoft bought the game for $10 million and operated it for a couple of years splitting the profits with Cryptic - I would imagine a similar deal was what the Paragon team offered. Without inside information just guess work and some Jethro Bodine level cypherin' - I would say Paragon offered $8 million + 2 or 3 years profit sharing.

I honestly think if it was an outside source who offered that same deal they would have taken it. I think there was some form of a corporate smackdown in effect to send a message to all the other gameshops that NCSoft wasnt to be triffled with.

[emperorsteele]

The game will be back April 1st, because the whole shutdown was an April fools joke.

... Not bloody likely, I know =(

[MaidMercury]

Perhaps being 'outdated' could help the game be sold off.
However, NCsoft represents a  threat to any 'creative up and coming' Software company that wishes to put out a game. Even Microsoft allowed their old  games to be run on private servers ex: Crimson Skies, by Fans of the game that still enjoyed playing them. NCSoft are ruthless MF's. I can only hope they go out of business one day.