My guess would be this is the most ironic occurrence of the phrase 'tabula rasa' that I've ever seen...
By tabula rasa in this case I'm not referring to the game NCsoft murdered, but rather the original phrase meaning "blank slate". Seems to me this is the manifestation of that "realignment of focus" they were blathering about back when they announced the closure of CoH.
We don't know exactly what the legal doodads behind the scene with the CoH IP were. VV has alluded to them of course, in that she knew the web of legal ties attached to CoH would be severed when the game closed.
So here's what I reckon.
NCsoft knew their western operation was mostly in the toilet. 4 closed MMOs does not make for happy reading if your plan is to "realign your focus" into a brave new world of Nexon-NCsoft collaboration. But, on the flipside, if you've closed 4, what extra harm is there in making it 5 if the fifth also takes a bunch of annoying legal issues with it too?
With CoH axed, this new Holding company becomes NCsoft's new puppetmaster in the west. One of the things that amused me in the linked article was the implication this change would lead to more rapid decision making in western matters. Call me cynical, but to me, that translated in my mind as "total control by HQ in Korea rather than having to continually put up with attempted western interference in our way of doing business".
To do this, you'd need a core figure pulling those strings, controlling those western operations (including GW2 and Carbine Studios) from on high. A sort of localised clone version of NCsoft's Korean HQ. I'm guessing Kim Taek-jin's missus for the starring role in this. Not just because she's his missus, but because she's an MIT graduate and so (in theory at least) is not west-naive.
So you have a shiny new operation in the west. All the embarrassments of the past (especially the Garriott business!) have been swept away along with the old name, that failed organisation with its failed practices, all disposed of and replaced with an entirely new set up. All eyes can now look to the future!
Yes. Quite.
Of course, it's extremely unlikely to actually pan out that way in the real world. Changing the name of the operation in the US may be sufficient for the consumers and investors back in Korea, but unless NCsoft really do intend to change business practices in America (which as I've said above, I actually expect the opposite to be true and NC Holdings will be run even more like a domestic Korean business, not less), then I see no reason why NC Holdings shouldn't suffer exactly the same failings as its predecessor.
Only worse.
What are we in all this? The loyal fans of CoH?
Half of me still thinks the death of CoH was 'collateral damage' in some nebulous future vision NCsoft has for its operation in the west. Not hacked down with malice but rather because it had stringy sinewy bits attached that would get in the way of a nice, surgical amputation and transplantation of NC Interactive's head onto the new NC Holdings body.
Remember the infamous phrases "a realignment of company focus and publishing support" and "the continued support of the franchise no longer fits with our long-term goals for the company". In that light, those corporate doublespeak phrases actually do make a sort of sense at last.
