Can the owners of Marvel save the original superhero MMORPG?
City of Heroes is only days away from being put out of service permanently, thanks to NCSoft deciding that the celebrated MMORPG no longer fitted in their long-term corporate strategy, but fans are still hopeful of a last ditch rescue from an unlikely ally.
Despite fan efforts City of Heroes is still set to close this Friday.
The Titan Network, the most popular social network for CoH players, has sent a 31-page pitch to Disney Entertainment’s CEO and Disney Interactive’s CEO selling on them on the possibility of acquiring City of Heroes from NCSoft. The pitch was penned by select members from the game’s community and former members of the now defunct developer behind the game, Paragon Studios.
Now targeting Disney may seem quite odd on the face of it, but the House of Mouse recently spent £2.5bn acquiring Lucas Arts, so surely they have some change rattling around to pick up NCSoft’s most unique MMORPG on the cheap.
“We believe that Disney and City of Heroes are a perfect match; Disney now owns Marvel and two impending Marvel MMOs which are slated to be mirror opposites of the cooperative, community gameplay fostered by City of Heroes,” stated acclaimed fantasy author Mercedes Lackey , long time City of Heroes player and one of the many draftees of the pitch to Disney.
Mercedes Lackey has been a key component of the Titan Network's efforts to save City of Heroes from day one.
“In addition, Disney has the reach to effortlessly give City of Heroes the exposure it never had under NCSoft’s regime of benign neglect–and City of Heroes will provide Disney with some extremely unique cross-marketing opportunities.
“Disney has always understood and fostered community and loyalty–something NCSoft never did.
“We believe that acquiring City of Heroes will provide Disney Interactive with the logical extension of their games for kids and teens, offering a game that literally the whole family can play.”
It’s worth pointing out that the IP rights for City of Heroes and the associated tech are still owned by NCSoft and that by the publishers own admission “all efforts” to sell the game had been “exhausted”, but who knows what the future will bring. Interestingly Marvel’s old management structure attempted to sue NCSoft back in 2004 over the numerous unauthorised copies of Spiderman, Iron Man, X-Men and the like inside City of Heroes.
Infamously Marvel also pulled out of developing Marvel Universe Online with Cryptic, which eventually became Champions Online. For the good of City of Heroes, fans will be hoping those high-profile mistakes are all water under the bridge.
If you feel compelled to help save City of Heroes, sign the associated online petition currently sitting pretty at 20,000 signatures and check out the thread on the Titan Network detailing an initiative to send letters in support of the aforementioned pitch to Disney.
In all likelihood City of Heroes will close for good on Friday, 30th November, but the efforts of its fans trying to save the experience love will ensure that it won’t be forgotten easily.
Tags: City of Heroes, NCsoft
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Comments
Thank you for covering this story. I’ve been playing City of heroes for 8 years now and it was my first MMO. I’ve played others, but I always come home to Paragon City.
NCSoft has become notorious for underhanded business practices in recent years. And their claim that “all options were exhausted” rings very false. I think if Disney acquired the rights to the City of Heroes IP and code that it would be run much better in their hands.
I sometimes have issues with Disney as a company as well. But they have a very good track record of allowing studios within their framework to do their own thing and be successful, such as Pixar. If they could bring back the Developers formerly under the Banner of Paragon Studios, City of Heroes would thrive again. If they leveraged the game properly to offer tie-ins to their various movies (Avengers, anyone?) the game could do a lot more business!
Thanks so much for this article. I sent my letter off yesterday. I just hope Mickey can read my handwriting
Thank you for getting the word out on our efforts to save our city. This would be a wonderful thing if Disney would take over the franchise. There is so much potential for marketing that NCSoft just didn’t bother to do. I am sure that Disney would not regret their decision to take over the game.
Thank you for covering this. You know, we are not the only fangroup to try to resurrect our passion — merely, perhaps, the most audacious. But remember the successes, long after people declared the franchise was dead. BRowncoats. Trekkies. Galacticans. Stargaters. And that most British and most-resurrected franchise of all — Dr. Who. Speaking of which, if you see a reflection of yourself in our cause, please do not hesitate to write letters to Disney, explaining why, long after the nay-sayers declared something dead, it rose from the ashes. Please, we can use your help.
Thank for covering this. I have playing City of Heroes since it launched and I have never strayed from. I hope that we can save our City.
The heroes of Paragon City have been saving the day for the last eight years. Hopefully Disney can return the favor. #SaveCoH
Thank you for your support of the #SaveCOH efforts. When you have put eight years of your life into creating a fiction, a COMMUNITY, co-written with dozens (hundreds?) of others, it is difficult to just let it go.
That’s why we’re taking every potential lifeline open to us, no matter how slender. We are fighting for our city, our world. We are heroes, that is what we do.
Thanks for the article! Come on Disney save our City!
Thank you for the article! We knew City of Heroes would most likely close before it could be saved. We’re still here and hoping City of Heroes will find a new home! I’m waiting to subscribe once it does! Save City of Heroes!!!