NCSoft and Nexon part ways

[pinballdave]

http://massivelyop.com/2015/10/16/nexon-and-ncsoft-part-ways/?utm_content=buffer5e8e5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

[Todogut]

[Atlantea]

I see a lot of rejoicing in the comments to the Massively article. But I honestly don't know - Is this good news or bad news or does it mean nothing for us?

How does it effect GW2 and Wildstar?

Is NCSoft in a better position now or not?

Regardless, Kim Taek-jin seems to have solidified his hold on the company. I kinda hoped he'd be out one way or another, but he has an annoying tendency to land on his feet.

[ukaserex]

It remains to be seen what impact, if any, this would have on CoH.

[pinballdave]

It remains to be seen what impact, if any, this would have on CoH.

It would seem with Nexon moving on that there are less people to deal with at the negotiating table.

[Hells Wing]

It would seem with Nexon moving on that there are less people to deal with at the negotiating table.

Hopefully that makes things easier as the talks have been going for sometime and I'm getting kinda impatient but as they said in "the Mask comes off" everything is done slowly in regards to this sort of thing in that part of the world and they only got this far with patience.

I'm hopeful this means that, as you said, there are less people to deal with at the negotiating table and we get our answers a little sooner. Maybe they'll decide to get rid of CoH IP and so on entirely because they want to get rid of dead-weight or are seeing this as an opportunity to make some money to make their bottom line.

[FatherXmas]

Sorry I'm late to this.

Nexon was never an issue with CoH/V's closure.  Nexon had no say in the day to day running of the company. 

The original stock purchase was part of an agreement to form a joint studio, N Square, and allow each company to pick the brains of the other.  NCSOFT learned how to monetize games better with a cash shop as well as mobile games and working with a partner in China and Nexon got to look at how you develop a real 3D MMO.

Of course what happen was N Square joint development got derailed, a very similar game was announced by NCSOFT a month or two to one N Square was developing which was then cancelled a month or two later (N Square version).  Also after 2 1/2 years since the stock purchase, NCSOFT stock value never recovered leaving Nexon with a huge paper loss so they tried to take control of NCSOFT to push the stock price up.  NCSOFT out maneuvered Nexon and after the courts told Nexon that how NCSOFT did it was OK, Nexon got out and took the $150 million loss.

Now the only person who made out was NCSOFT's founder and CEO.  It was his personal stock that was sold to Nexon, so he got the $685 million and after Nexon sold off their share, bought back a portion at a reduced cost making him once again the largest single stockholder.

So the end of this "marriage" NCSOFT finally entered China with their IPs, Lineage is making more money than ever due to it's cash shop, and NCSOFT has a new MOBA/fighter like title coming out as well as a slew of mobile games.  And Nexon got a harsh lesson in investing in a competitor with a crashing, over-inflated stock price.

[Inc42]

Nexon was never an issue with CoH/V's closure.  Nexon had no say in the day to day running of the company. 

No, but the problems with Nexon were frequently suspected to be slowing down the acquisition. Even Nate Downes seems to have suspected this according to a post he did back in April.

http://massivelyop.com/2015/04/30/city-of-titans-demos-its-first-costume-and-combat-prototypes/

NathanielDownes Apr 30, 2015
"I've talked to a few people within NCSoft, and the general consensus is that we've avoided any trouble thanks to our approach (inspiration, not duplication). There is a group negotiating with them for the rights to the IP, but that has been slow going due to the ongoing Nexon drama I've been led to understand."


Nexon trying to do their hostile take over raised a lot of questions for a while, like if NCSoft would even have the rights to CoH by the time a deal was worked out, if the team in charge of negotiations should be talking with Nexon as well, or if that would just make things worse. I remember a huge amount of talk about stuff like this in the "Masks comes off" thread.