A sad day for all the superhero wannabes out there…
City of Heroes, one of the longest running MMORPGs on the planet, will cease operations by the end of the year.
Community manager Andy Belford made the announcement on the game’s official website, where he also confirmed that NCsoft are in the process of shutting down the developer in control of the comic-book MMO, Paragon Studios.
Here’s his letter to the community in full:
At its prime City of Heroes was one of the most exciting MMOs to be involved with.
“This morning we announced that Paragon Studios will be taking to the skies of City of Heroes for the last time.
In a realignment of company focus and publishing support, NCsoft has made the decision to close Paragon Studios. Effective immediately, all development on City of Heroes will cease and we will begin preparations to sunset the world’s first, and best, Super Hero MMORPG before the end of the year. As part of this, all recurring subscription billing and Paragon Market purchasing will be discontinued effective immediately. We will have more information regarding a detailed timeline for the cessation of services and what you can expect in game in the coming weeks.
The team here at Paragon deserves special praise for all that we have accomplished over the last 5+ years. These developers are some of the most creative and talented people in the gaming industry. By now, we’ve all been given this news internally, but to anyone who may be reading this message after the fact; know that your hard work and dedication has not gone unappreciated or unnoticed. To any potential studios looking to grow your team; hire these people. You won’t regret it.
To our Community,
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. We couldn’t have come this far without you. I implore you all, focus on the good things of CoH and Paragon Studios. Don’t dwell on the “how” or the “why”, but rather join us in celebrating the legacy of an amazing partnership between the players and the development team.
Thank you, and I’ll see you in the skies, one last time.”
This move is incredibly sad, especially as City of Heroes has been in service since 2004. Of course back then it was Cryptic’s baby before they sold it wholesale to NCsoft, which in turn lead Paragon Studios to be formed.
City of Heroes was genuinely the first game which got us hooked on the MMORPG concept, and it’s no overstatement to say that are immensely sad to hear today’s news. It’s worth noting that no official closure date has been announced at the moment, but it’s believed servers will cease to operate by the end of the year. This is the nature of online-only game development, it seems even the more successful games can’t stay open forever.
Here’s hoping another publisher swoops in to save the day and hire the eighty staff members at Paragon Studios who have been given their marching orders. It’s happened before, just look at APB Reloaded’s revival thanks to GamersFirst.
We wish the best of luck to all those folks at Paragon Studios and we hope that they find swift employment soon.
Tags: City of Heroes
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