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City of Heroes to end this year, Paragon Studios closing

NCsoft's long-running hero-themed MMO, City of Heroes, will be closing later this year as part of a "realignment of company focus and publishing support."
Andrew Yoon
10

NCsoft's long-running hero-themed MMO, City of Heroes, will be closing later this year as part of a "realignment of company focus and publishing support." Development on the title will cease immediately, and all recurring subscription billing and Paragon Market purchasing will be discontinued right now. The MMO will be shut down before the end of the year, although a more detailed timeline has yet to be prepared.

In addition to shutting down the game, developer Paragon Studios will also be closed. The studio began working on the game in 2007, after NCsoft picked up the rights from original developer Crytpic Studios. In a message from the dev's community manager Andy Belford, he asks "potential studios" to hire affected employees. "You won't regret it," he notes.

"Thank you. Thank you for your years of support. You've been with us every step of the way, sharing in our challenges, encouraging us to make City of Heroes better, more than everyone else thought it could be," he added.

City of Heroes launched in 2004.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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  • Shacknews legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
    reply
    August 31, 2012 12:00 PM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, City of Heroes to end this year, Paragon Studios closing.

    NCsoft's long-running hero-themed MMO, City of Heroes, will be closing later this year as part of a "realignment of company focus and publishing support."

    • Ziz legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
      reply
      August 31, 2012 12:12 PM

      Well that kinda sucks, I haven't played it in a long time, but still sad to see a company closing.

    • Machinaeclipse legacy 10 years
      reply
      August 31, 2012 12:14 PM

      I miss the awesomeness from creating a character in this game. Recent hero style games or mmo's didn't come very close to how neat it was to make one in that game.

    • David Craddock legacy 10 years mercury mega
      reply
      August 31, 2012 12:55 PM

      This is why I can't get into MMOs. I love replaying favorite games, so the idea of a game I love just disappearing does not appeal to me at all. I can dust off old consoles and PC games to relive memories, but once MMOs shut down, that's it, nothing more to see here, move along.

      • schmads legacy 10 years
        reply
        August 31, 2012 1:49 PM

        I understand how you feel, and despite only having played CoH a little while, I'm still sad to see them closing. I wonder, are there any private servers for CoH? I would assume that they're against the TOS, but you still see them for WoW and others, and it's the only way I can think of that people might still be able to play CoH, even after the official servers are turned off.

      • Grape Flavor legacy 10 years
        reply
        August 31, 2012 1:56 PM

        Singleplayer is all that truly endures. Any game experience that depends on game servers and an active playerbase, you better enjoy it while it lasts, because inevitably it will dry up and blow away. This is the reason I never buy an MP focused game if I'm not sure when I'll actually get around to playing it.

      • [deleted] 1066890608 legacy 10 years
        reply
        August 31, 2012 2:01 PM

        [deleted]

      • Aldebrand legacy 10 years
        reply
        August 31, 2012 2:18 PM

        I know what you mean, I wish that companies would give out the server code when they shut down a game. I'd happily replay SWG (pre CU of course but with Jump to Lightspeed) or Earth and Beyond again but I can't because the servers are completely gone. :-(

        • zipper76 legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
          reply
          August 31, 2012 3:12 PM

          I agree. E&B was a game that I actually enjoyed a lot, but at the time I wouldn't play it because it was the first to have a $14.99/mo subscription and a $49.99 price tag to go with it.

          • Aldebrand legacy 10 years
            reply
            August 31, 2012 8:49 PM

            That was my problem too, I was a poor uni student although I played the crap out of the beta. There was something about E&B that just grabbed me. I loved the fact that you could mine Tiberium too. RIP Westwood. :-(

      • Techy007 legacy 10 years
        reply
        September 1, 2012 4:23 PM

        This is how I felt in Tabula Rasa. I was completely devastated because I put so much work into it. Even if it was a weird, buggy, and mediocre game I still loved it.

    • ashkie legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
      reply
      August 31, 2012 5:17 PM

      This was my first MMO experience and it was awesome. I loved my Regen Scrapper back in the day before it was nerfed. I was unkillable.

      • one random winner legacy 10 years
        reply
        September 1, 2012 8:12 PM

        That was my very first build! Totally unoptimized but was still really fun.

    • saturn96 legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
      reply
      August 31, 2012 9:51 PM

      Played it years ago when I needed a change of pace from another game. It was fun to get in on the Costume Contest when you just wanted to hangout.

    • Vogerl legacy 10 years
      reply
      September 1, 2012 8:43 AM

      Closing an MMO thats still in the black to get more servers for GW2 ? GENIUS!

    • TigerKnight77 legacy 10 years
      reply
      September 3, 2012 11:08 PM

      There is also a petition out at: http://www.change.org/petitions/ncsoft-keep-ncsoft-from-shutting-down-city-of-heroes

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