NCSoft has a new venture.

[Knight Light]

*sigh* For those that haven't heard yet, there's a new company to boycott.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/07/25/former-blizzard-soe-executives-form-new-video-game-studio-molten-games/

"Former execs of Blizzard and SOE have formed a new game studio with backing from NCSOFT."

Head to their Facebook page and let them know what a horrendously stupid mistake they are making in being allied with the stupidest most evil game company in the history of the universe.

https://www.facebook.com/MoltenGamesStudio

Also putting down their website.

http://www.moltengames.com/

Forgive me if there's already a thread, I haven't been able to keep up with things here lately but i check in when I can.

[beveri8469]

i wont be playing anything they come up with as long as it has ncstupid attached to it.

[JanessaVR]

Good to know.  Up to date intelligence on our enemy - always a good thing.

[JaguarX]

*sigh* For those that haven't heard yet, there's a new company to boycott.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/07/25/former-blizzard-soe-executives-form-new-video-game-studio-molten-games/

"Former execs of Blizzard and SOE have formed a new game studio with backing from NCSOFT."

Head to their Facebook page and let them know what a horrendously stupid mistake they are making in being allied with the stupidest most evil game company in the history of the universe.

https://www.facebook.com/MoltenGamesStudio

Also putting down their website.

http://www.moltengames.com/

Forgive me if there's already a thread, I haven't been able to keep up with things here lately but i check in when I can.

I think EA have them beat :p.

But hey, some companies when there is lot of funding dangling in the face and need the funding they will align themselves with anyone that helps.


Or this could be opportunity. Maybe (slim chance but what isn't a slim chance or a hail mary(non-religious context) these days) they work on COX replacement. It is said the yare focusing on making western titles. Maybe it will include a super hero mmo and since they (NCSOFT) have the IP...updated COX? is possible. Probably not likely but possible.

[Brou]

I remember when NCSoft sucked and only had Tales Weaver and some other crappy isometric MMOs.

[JaguarX]

I remember when NCSoft sucked and only had Tales Weaver and some other crappy isometric MMOs.

I thought Tales Weaver was a 2003 published by Nexon  with Softmax as developer?

[Brou]

:/ Guess I remembered wrong.

N-this and N-that.

[Kyuuen]

[JaguarX]

[Kyuuen]

They just ran where the money was thrown.

[FatherXmas]

Not surprising considering both ArenaNet and Carbine Studios are also founded by former Blizzard employees.

The South Korean's shear adulation of Blizzard is boundless.  Plus it's a MOBA and not an MMO, a market space NCSOFT hasn't gone before.  One of the founders of Molten Games was closely associated with South Korea's eSports community so there shouldn't be as much of a cultural rift there than a pure Western studio.

LoL is such a huge game in South Korea now I'm surprised none of the local companies have made any headway into that market.

PS.  Oh I forgot.  Booo Hisss Ebil NCSOFT.  A pox on the HVAC system of their new offices.

[JaguarX]

They just ran where the money was thrown.

Money talks.

[Shenku]

[saipaman]

I think that answer is obvious, isn't it? Unlike other publishers, they stand apart as one of the publishers with the most disregard for the studios they support and the customers they service which was well showcased with how they dealt with CoH and Paragon Studio's closures. That's different enough to be a truthful statement, isn't it?

Part of me wishes the new studio luck, but part of me just kinda feels bad for them because deep down I know what NCSoft is going to do to them in the end...

The corporate philosophy at NCSoft is 'bite the hand that feeds you'.

[Twisted Toon]

[FatherXmas]

Maybe it's like the one they have with ArenaNet and who knows, Carbine may have the same deal.

[JaguarX]

From reading the article, I did notice this...
Maybe they learned something from the closing of Paragon Studios and CoH.

I certainly want to know more about that relationship between NCSoft and Molten Games.

Well hell then, if they keep the IP and stuff sounds like it's in their hands a lot more than Paragon studios had. They already fro mthe looks of it, have already what paragon tried to get after the fact.

They probably did learn and or went for the similar deals like Carbine and Arenanet or combination of.

[Super Firebug]

[JaguarX]

[FatherXmas]

So they like our development acumen, just not our patronage unless it aligns with theirs.

[Tubbius]

Like someone else said, it would be great if this means the potential reopening of City of Heroes or even of other games they've shuttered.  Here's hoping something positive comes of this interaction.

[Cobra Man]

Like someone else said, it would be great if this means the potential reopening of City of Heroes or even of other games they've shuttered.  Here's hoping something positive comes of this interaction.

It would indeed be a very nice thing if it were to happen, but I think Hell will freeze before NCsoft reopen CoH.

[JaguarX]

It would indeed be a very nice thing if it were to happen, but I think Hell will freeze before NCsoft reopen CoH.

Well true but here, we went after things that had even slimmer chances than that.

[TimtheEnchanter]

Which execs? If the one from SOE by any chance was involved in the SWG NGE fiasco, that's kinda funny.

Lookout, everyone... game killers are rallying under a common banner.

[Ultimate15]

Well true but here, we went after things that had even slimmer chances than that.

This.

[LadyVamp]

I have nothing productive to say.  But it is a curious group.

NCSoft:  known to kill games without much warning.
SOE:  had one hell of a security breach a few years ago shutting down their gaming systems for several days.
Blizzard: maker of some of the most successful titles.

I'd be a little concerned about playing an NCSoft backed, Ex SOE and Ex Blizzard exec managed game.  More importantly, how did the separation of the execs from Blizzard happen?

[FatherXmas]

More importantly, how did the separation of the execs from Blizzard happen?

He must still be respected in S Korea if he's considered an asset in this venture.  I'm think he was very involved during the original growth of StarCraft eSports there.  So I'm guessing he wasn't part of Blizzard stepping in when StarCraft II came out and essentially demanded to be in charge of all StarCraft II eSports.

One aspect of this blew up last month between Blizzard and Major League Gaming over StarCraft II tournaments.  It may be the first major push back since Blizzard declared itself commissioner of all StarCraft II eSport.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/06/25/mlg-no-longer-working-with-blizzard-to-host-starcraft-2-world-championship-series/

[Codewalker]

Like someone else said, it would be great if this means the potential reopening of City of Heroes or even of other games they've shuttered.  Here's hoping something positive comes of this interaction.

I really doubt a studio helmed by ex-Blizzard execs would have any interest whatsoever in picking up what in their eyes is an old, cancelled game. Developers tend to want to work on new, shiny things. Even Paragon Studios was not exempt, just look at the various "secret projects".

[FatherXmas]

This new studio is working on a MOBA like LoL or DOTA 2.  Stop trying to read into it people.

[Eoraptor]

I don't know a damned thing about eSports, other than that it is a thing.

but I'm with a lot of others. You've got some really big bad offenders involved here. people who were involved with some of the worst moves in gaming history, between CoH getting the axe, the PSN breach where it cam out that even basic security best practices were not followed, a company that grew fat on decade's old content and then decided to jump on the hot new bandwagon with come licensed content.

I want to like Molten and the idea of new content and different new genre... but honestly, the news just makes me want to lob a thermite grenade into the lot of it like the angry disenfranchised gamer I am.

[Illusionss]

Sorry for the innocents involved but I feel NO trust in my heart for anything that NCSoft is even distantly related to. I will not patronize it. I would return to the City and the Isles if they reopened while I hoped fervently that whatever Skunkworks is/are reverse engineering a server keep on keeping on.  Because the instant that became availiable I would reroll my characters there and probably not look back.

Nc is crap and from what I hear SOE not much better. I am done with those kind of outfits.

[FatherXmas]

Okay just checked out the building the new company is in.  Sharing space in the ICW building.  It's conveniently adjacent to the San Diego Fertility Clinic and the Changes Plastic Surgery and Spa (love California's perfectly plastic people society).  Homes in the area are only in the $750K range.  Guess most of the grunts will be commuting, far.

[OzonePrime]

Okay just checked out the building the new company is in.  Sharing space in the ICW building.  It's conveniently adjacent to the San Diego Fertility Clinic and the Changes Plastic Surgery and Spa (love California's perfectly plastic people society).  Homes in the area are only in the $750K range.  Guess most of the grunts will be commuting, far.

Now, I'm hearing " Plastic People", by Zappa and the Mother's of Invention, in my head! Lol!

[Cobra Man]

Sorry for the innocents involved but I feel NO trust in my heart for anything that NCSoft is even distantly related to. I will not patronize it. I would return to the City and the Isles if they reopened while I hoped fervently that whatever Skunkworks is/are reverse engineering a server keep on keeping on.  Because the instant that became availiable I would reroll my characters there and probably not look back.

Nc is crap and from what I hear SOE not much better. I am done with those kind of outfits.

Very well said.

Pretty much sums up my feelings on the matter as well.

[Kaiser Tarantula]

"Former execs of Blizzard and SOE have formed a new game studio with backing from NCSOFT."

This, really, is all I needed to read.

Three of the companies I hate most in video gaming, coming together under of the banner of the one I currently despise most of all, making a game that's part of a genre that I genuinely wish would've died with the Warcraft 3 mod that spawned it.

The only thing I will do to dignify this thing's existence further is to give it a grim chuckle when it finally dies - and then NCsoft squats on the carcass, like it does with everything it kills.  That pile of corpses is getting pretty big by now, I'd imagine.

[Nightwatch]

Very well said.

Pretty much sums up my feelings on the matter as well.

Make your views known on the Molten's Facebook page.  There are about 25 comments on it now (including mine as Archimedes Nye) and all but one make the point that getting into bed with NCSOFT is poison.

Login.  Comment.  Let them know what you think of NCSOFT.

[Stormsurge]

I don't know. Perhaps with the closing of CoH, companies have become aware of how NCSoft likes to work and have thus changed the way they do business with them accordingly in order to protect their own interests. I would like to think that at least.

[LadyVamp]

I don't know. Perhaps with the closing of CoH, companies have become aware of how NCSoft likes to work and have thus changed the way they do business with them accordingly in order to protect their own interests. I would like to think that at least.

No kidding.  Even people I knew who hated couldn't believe it was shutdown.  It blows my mind NCSoft is ignoring the PR nightmare they're in.  At least one company is actually telling their own players not to worry because that will never happen with their game.  Don't remember the company or the game, but make it clear that it's over 14 years old now and going strong with new content being written.

Too bad it's fantasy fiction and not comic book hero.

[FatherXmas]

It blows my mind NCSoft is ignoring the PR nightmare they're in.

But EA has constantly abused their customers and nothing comes of it.  If Ford screws over a small group of customers in say Malaysia, would A) we hear about it and B) care.  NCSOFT's major presence now in NA and EU is Guild Wars 2, which is doing pretty well, and hype about WildStar.  If WildStar does GW2 numbers for the holidays and preorder the only people who remember CoH and hold a grudge about it is us.

Oh, and when was the last time NCSOFT funded a studio they didn't own, Cryptic.  I'm betting Molten will be bought outright by NCSOFT within 3 years.  The three founders get big stinking piles of money and NCSOFT gets another studio to ride roughshod over.

[JaguarX]

But EA has constantly abused their customers and nothing comes of it.  If Ford screws over a small group of customers in say Malaysia, would A) we hear about it and B) care.  NCSOFT's major presence now in NA and EU is Guild Wars 2, which is doing pretty well, and hype about WildStar.  If WildStar does GW2 numbers for the holidays and preorder the only people who remember CoH and hold a grudge about it is us.

A) Probably not unless one went looking for it and or just happen to be in the said region at the time.

B) Probably not. Hell, overall, most don't care about companies screwing over others even within this country and even after hearing about it...until it affects them personally, then it becomes a big issue.

[srmalloy]

No kidding.  Even people I knew who hated couldn't believe it was shutdown.  It blows my mind NCSoft is ignoring the PR nightmare they're in.

Unfortunately, City of Heroes was never more than a sideshow for NCSoft; although it reportedly constituted the biggest single chunk of their North American revenue, it was never more than an afterthought in their balance sheets. If it didn't make enough money for them to be worried about what throwing it on the trash heap would do to their revenue stream, it wasn't important enough to them to be worried about any negative PR from the shutdown.

[JaguarX]

Unfortunately, City of Heroes was never more than a sideshow for NCSoft; although it reportedly constituted the biggest single chunk of their North American revenue, it was never more than an afterthought in their balance sheets. If it didn't make enough money for them to be worried about what throwing it on the trash heap would do to their revenue stream, it wasn't important enough to them to be worried about any negative PR from the shutdown.

basically.

One day... a company will treat the super hero mmo genre not as a sideshow, but give it a fair shake at a shot of being mainstream. One day.

[healix]