And the mask comes off.

[Thunder Glove]

The last thing I read about it (from a secondary source, but a rather well-trusted one) was that NCsoft is currently just "tapping the deal" and "stringing it along" with "no intent to close", at least not until this whole thing with Nexon is settled.  As I understand it, the person doing the negotiations doesn't want to get fired if Nexon takes over, since Nexon is primarily going after NCSoft for their old titles, including CoH, so the negotiations are just circling the runway for the time being.  This was back in June.

But don't worry.  I was assured that "no intent to close the deal at this time" doesn't mean that they have no intention of closing the deal at all, it just means it might be another three or five or ten years until the NCSoft/Nexon thing is worked out, and then they can finally resume negotiating in earnest, which will surely only take another three or five or ten years to reach an agreement.  I'm sure Nate's financial backers will hold on that long.

So sit back.  Relax.  And just keep smiling.

[DanPan89]

I think most people that haven't gone through business negotiations before view this as, more or less, akin to buying a used car.  It's there, sitting, we've made an offer for said car.  It's essentially rusting away.  Yes or no to my offer?

That's NOT what is involved with this kind of deal. 

As Arcana, I believe, pointed out, this is, essentially, negotiation by committee.  So the salesman doesn't have to just get his manager's approval.  He has to get six people to sign off on the sale of the car.  And, oh, yeah, Joe's with another customer right now.  And Ed's on vacation.  Bill?  He was here just a minute ago.  Does anyone know where Bill is?  From this standpoint, it truly is like herding cats to get all necessary people to sign off on the deal.

Now, that said, I would assume that there are multiple deals going here.

1)  What's the business plan?  (In other words, how does NCSoft know that Nate and Co can run/manage the game?)  Note that this doesn't just include, "Show us what you got," but were I in NCSoft's shoes, I'd want to know things like projected income/expenses associated with setting up and running the game, where they'd host, how will the store work, will there be a store, justification of these decisions, etc.  And if any of those issues NCSoft didn't like?  It would be a discussion about how NCSoft thought there was a better way to do it, or pointing out perceived flaws in the plan and having to rework it. 

2)  I'd assume that Nate and Co want to see a working image of the game.  Going back to the car analogy, this would be like taking the car for a test drive.  Just because a "car" is sitting on the lot doesn't mean it can start and drive.  Again, the engineering resources NCSoft may be willing to apply to making that disk image work may be low, so it may be taking time for them to untangle the spaghetti code.  While it may be being worked on, again, I'm betting that any engineer working on this part of it is not spending a lot of his time on it, as they probably have a lot more pressing issues.  Put another way:  His/her annual review probably relates to current live games.  If they let this game slip a bit, it's probably not going to hurt their review as much as resurrecting a game image instead of fixing those bugs in Aion would. 

3)  What rights are associated with the game?  Can Nate and Co change splash screens?  Does NCSoft's logo have to be plastered all over things?  Can they hold annual events, like the ski chalet?  Do they have the tools to open the chalet?  To turn on 2xp?   Even if they do, are they allowed to?  Or is the game actually set in stone at I23's normal state?

4)  Licensing agreements?  Does NCSoft have any input on that at all?  Can the holding company license things to anyone they want without any input from NCSoft?  Does NCSoft retain any rights?  What rights do they retain?  Can NCSoft use Statesman, etc. if they so decide, once the sale goes through, without contacting the holding company?

5)  Terms.  What's the up front payment?  What are the periodic payments, if any?  What happens if the cash flow set up in part 1 isn't there?  How long will the contract be in effect?  Is this a lease or a purchase?

6)  Other things I'm not thinking of

That's a whole lot of stuff to get consensus on.  Each one of those things not only has to be agreed to by the people Nate is talking to, but I guarantee that NCSoft's corporate lawyers are involved.  And that's another layer of things dragging on the timeline.  Even if the managers, etc. say, "Sure," the lawyers could, and probably are, coming back saying, "Giving up the rights to those characters is not in the best interests of the corporation.  We've made edits to the contract." and the whole process starts over again.

There's a LOT more to this than just buying a car.  It's more like buying a NASCAR, showing the sponsors you can drive at 200 mph and have a decent pit crew, and figuring out not only who the sponsors will be but also where their logos will be placed on the car.

This isn't a sprint.  It's a marathon.  That's why no news is good news.

^
^
This

[Rejolt]

Am I the only one more anxious for Valiance and Titans just so I can forget this effort exists and can be surprised when real news is announced?

[MM3squints]

Am I the only one more anxious for Valiance and Titans just so I can forget this effort exists and can be surprised when real news is announced?

Actually I'm more excited for Valiance right now because they keep churning out tangible screen shots. CoT just been building up lore base, which is fine, but it isn't as "Shock and Awe" as screen shots

[Nyghtshade]

Actually I'm more excited for Valiance right now because they keep churning out tangible screen shots. CoT just been building up lore base, which is fine, but it isn't as "Shock and Awe" as screen shots

Yes, but didn't Valiance online already have quiet a jump on things with their game engine, which was transitioned from an earlier (and different) game development plan?  Or I could be wrong.

[MM3squints]

Yes, but didn't Valiance online already have quiet a jump on things with their game engine, which was transitioned from an earlier (and different) game development plan?  Or I could be wrong.

They did, but just seeing something tangible is more exciting. Don't get me wrong, when CoT is at Valiance level, that will be exciting too.

[hejtmane]

They did, but just seeing something tangible is more exciting. Don't get me wrong, when CoT is at Valiance level, that will be exciting too.

I played some of the alpha last year and ran around attacked some mobs with fire attacks trying to feel all scrapper like

[Rejolt]

The evil secret of pre-alpha: it's ugly and awkward. I think it's brave of the Valiance crew to put any work product out to the public. I'm glad the server has been down while they work out things.

I.e.: all animations were SS jab.

I plan on supporting all the projects but I'm glad Valiance has that head start and that they and MMM seem to be on amicable terms

[AlienOne]

It means your chest cavity will soon burst open with an alien in its second form scratching and biting its way out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxDfECfLlF8

[MM3squints]

The evil secret of pre-alpha: it's ugly and awkward. I think it's brave of the Valiance crew to put any work product out to the public. I'm glad the server has been down while they work out things.

I.e.: all animations were SS jab.

I plan on supporting all the projects but I'm glad Valiance has that head start and that they and MMM seem to be on amicable terms

I agree, but seeing the progression from what it was to what is now is really exciting. Interesting enough,  I noticed Valiance Online went into hyperdrive shortly after getting former CoX animator Ron Friedman on the team.

[chuckv3]

I plan on supporting all the projects but I'm glad Valiance has that head start and that they and MMM seem to be on amicable terms

I'd also love to walk around in some of the zones that Caylin Alaynn / Irish Girl has been creating as part of Atlas Park Revival. They look amazingly good.

It is my dream that these end up as the zones of CoH 2, if Nate can secure the IP that would allow that to be created.

[Ironwolf]

What's it been, about 3 years now since this started?  Does that seem acceptable?  And while we are at it, where are these updates from the negotiation team?  The "new efforts" thread hasn't been updated in months.

Just over 1 year.

The team approached NCSoft as a group of PLAYERS to buy the game in March of last year. Due to the launch of Wildstar and a merger with Nexon - they were asked to come back in August.

Since it was a group of people who were not a game company but a start up - NCSoft gave them some tasks to complete to prove they could manage the game (we don't know what the tasks were). Once completed to NCSoft's satisfaction they said yes to everything so far. Nate has said repeatedly in differing threads they (NCSoft) have not said No yet.

It is also common knowledge they are under an NDA - without them coming right out and saying it (because they can't). During this time Nexon tried a hostile takeover of NCSoft which they found a slight bit distracting. So far, NCSoft is working slowly but surely to close the deal.

I can tell you once you get the legal department involved it slows down and this may be the case here. It took over a year where I work for Legal to allow us to switch platforms from Blackberries to iPhones. The techs were all ready just Legal had to say yes.

[Talon Blue]

[ivanhedgehog]

[Vee]

bioware austin kinda beat that joke to death..it is their answer to everything...and we know more about what is in VO than we do about what is in the next swtor expansion in a month and a half.

judging from what we do know - global carbonite freezing, episodic release and required subscription, my guess would be more dumb story, 29 days of nothing, more dumb story, repeat.

[Arcana]

I can tell you once you get the legal department involved it slows down and this may be the case here. It took over a year where I work for Legal to allow us to switch platforms from Blackberries to iPhones. The techs were all ready just Legal had to say yes.

My own interaction with legal departments is that for people who supposedly have at least seven years of higher education, they can be incredibly idiotic about anything except playing games with words.  In fact, my favorite lawyer game is what I like to call "we have to put those words in there but don't worry we'll never actually do that: well if you won't do that you won't mind if I scratch it out then."

In fact, ask any IT consulting company what its like to work for law firms.  Assuming you can find any that do.  A few years back I was chatting with a group of IT business people and I said "I would sooner work for a kindergarten class than a law firm" and without skipping a beat the most senior person at the table said "as the janitor."

[Pseudo42]

bioware austin kinda beat that joke to death..it is their answer to everything...and we know more about what is in VO than we do about what is in the next swtor expansion in a month and a half.

To be fair, Jack Emmet used this too. It used to be City of Heroes goto slogan for... everything.  (Capes, Level 50, Villains...etc.)

[Sinistar]

Just over 1 year.

The team approached NCSoft as a group of PLAYERS to buy the game in March of last year. Due to the launch of Wildstar and a merger with Nexon - they were asked to come back in August.

Since it was a group of people who were not a game company but a start up - NCSoft gave them some tasks to complete to prove they could manage the game (we don't know what the tasks were). Once completed to NCSoft's satisfaction they said yes to everything so far. Nate has said repeatedly in differing threads they (NCSoft) have not said No yet.

It is also common knowledge they are under an NDA - without them coming right out and saying it (because they can't). During this time Nexon tried a hostile takeover of NCSoft which they found a slight bit distracting. So far, NCSoft is working slowly but surely to close the deal.

I can tell you once you get the legal department involved it slows down and this may be the case here. It took over a year where I work for Legal to allow us to switch platforms from Blackberries to iPhones. The techs were all ready just Legal had to say yes.

Reminds me of Back to the Future 2 "The justice system works quickly now that they abolished all lawyers"

[Rejolt]

I'd also love to walk around in some of the zones that Caylin Alaynn / Irish Girl has been creating as part of Atlas Park Revival. They look amazingly good.

It is my dream that these end up as the zones of CoH 2, if Nate can secure the IP that would allow that to be created.

I hate to say this: without the CoH ip and with paragon chat/icon, Irish Girl's work feels like practice for eventual real work on a new game (unless we get those maps added to PC chat).

[Aggelakis]

PC chat

Heh. Paragon Chat chat.