NCsoft Takes Over City of Heroes

NCsoft has taken full control of the City of Heroes/City of Villains IP it once shared with the developer Cryptic Studios. The company is forming a new Northern California studio to manage it where many of the former Cryptic developers on the CoH team will continue to work on the franchise.

“We’re happy to announce that NCsoft has acquired full ownership of the City of Heroes IP,” said Brian Clayton, NCsoft executive producer and manager of the new studio. “Our plans are clear. We are now in a position to make a major reinvestment in the City of Heroes product line. With our existing Cryptic and NCsoft team as the core, we will be able to run our current service without any interruption to our players, expand our studio to deliver triple-A content, and take City of Heroes to new heights.”

NCsoft is expected to announce formal plans for the IP soon, involving expansions and sequels to the comic book inspired MMOs.

Matt Miller, Lead Designer on the City of Heroes project and formerly with Cryptic Studios said, “We’re thrilled to be bringing the CoH franchise to the next level. And we couldn’t be more pleased to be working completely under the NCsoft banner. We feel that City of Heroes’ best days are in front of it.”

City of Heroes will be facing competition with the new Marvel MMO in development by Cryptic Studios in partnership with Microsoft.

via WarCry