Author Topic: A crazy theroy  (Read 4106 times)

LuchRi

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A crazy theroy
« on: November 04, 2012, 08:12:12 PM »
Ok, I am not sure if this has been put forward before, but I thought about it while falling asleep last ngiht and I just wanted to see what people thought. Admittedly this still sounds a bit crazy to me, but it is possible.

So NCsoft shuts down CoH without warning. they offer little to no real explination and do their best to let people know that a sequel will NOT be coming out. Their actions have continued to drive stock price down and any rumors that ma have helped them to recover are frankly falling on deaf ears.

Could this be the plan?

It could be that they have been trying to illegally, or semi-legally, lower the price of their own stock, Go into a buying frenzy to regain shares and then either count on B&S or Wildstar being a success... OR maybe even announcing resumed work on CoH2 since the "Community" seems to desire it so badly.

It would ensure that the primary stockholders keep control of the stock, allow them to do so for a relatively small price and Then BAM, make a windfall when the stock jumps back up. True this is probably giving the people over there in the NCsoft board room way too much credit as buisnessmen, but then again it does seem like an interesting if unsettling possibility

dwturducken

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Re: A crazy theroy
« Reply #1 on: November 04, 2012, 08:31:11 PM »
Hmm... A new person posting crazy ideas? UNICORN!

J/K. Welcome to the crazy house. Miss Victrix is handing out copies of the keys. :)

I've had a suspicion for about a month, now, that something is behind the shutdown that the board can't talk about. Maybe it's a condition of the court settlement with Marvel, which I believe was confidential. Maybe it's just some backroom deal with a couple of the major shareholders.  Who knows? Whomever does isn't talking and, whether it's right or not, doesn't have to.  Could your theory be crazier or more or less likely? Yes and no.

At the end of the day, the reason no longer matters. The handling of the closing by NCSoft is the issue, now.  They thought that they could throw us a few tokens to "soften" the blow, like the weekend events as we approach Doomsday.  Whether or not their "attempt" to negotiate the sale of the game was in good faith is a matter of some contention, and no one involved, there, is talking, either, so we are left to our vivid and fertile imaginations.

Suffice it to say, no theory is crazy, at this point, because all or none could be true, and none of them matter. What matters is showing NCSoft that we are not going away, that they made a terrible, ill-conceived mistake, and that we are not going to "smear" them as we speak the truth as loudly and persistently as humanly possible.
I wouldn't use the word "replace," but there's no word for "take over for you and make everything better almost immediately," so we just say "replace."

Kaiser Tarantula

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Re: A crazy theroy
« Reply #2 on: November 04, 2012, 09:52:45 PM »
J/K. Welcome to the crazy house. Miss Victrix is handing out copies of the keys. :)
So... the inmates are running the asylum?

Hmm.  Reminds me of a House party a good friend of mine once threw.  Where was it?  Ackbar?  Adelaide?  Oh... Arkham!  Yes, that was it.

Ah, fun times.

Anyway, welcome LuchRi.  Have a cookie, help yourself to the punch (try not to overindulge; there's no telling who's spiked it, or with what), and have a good time.

It's sad to say, but at this point dwturducken is right.  NCsoft's reasoning is perplexing, even in the context of Korean culture, but at this point, with less than a month left in CoH's life, the "why" is not so important as the "what" and neither is as important as the "how do we illustrate to them that they've made a colossally huge mistake and retract the cancellation?"  Because at that this point, that's about our best hope of saving CoH in its current form.

Omega Mark V

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Re: A crazy theroy
« Reply #3 on: November 04, 2012, 10:04:20 PM »
Yeah, LuchRi, I've had this same hunch from the start, and still do.

I SWEAR there's a ton going on behind closed doors that we don't know about concerning this closure. Sequel or non-sequel related.
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Mister Bison

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Re: A crazy theroy
« Reply #4 on: November 04, 2012, 10:14:24 PM »
When I read the title, I heard...

THEROOOOOOOY JEEEENKINNNNNNS !

But that's not it, I'm disappointed :'(

Just Kidding :D

A sound theory, except that if they wanted to do that, the best plan would have been to let the devs of the original participate. Also, they didn't close Guild Wars when developping Guild Wars 2 an all their sequels. So it would be strange.
Yeeessss....

The Fifth Horseman

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Re: A crazy theroy
« Reply #5 on: November 04, 2012, 10:26:42 PM »
Quote
It could be that they have been trying to illegally, or semi-legally, lower the price of their own stock, Go into a buying frenzy to regain shares and then either count on B&S or Wildstar being a success...
That... is a disturbingly logical theory. Worse, it's plausible (though not as far as CoH2 goes, definitely not after they made conscious effort to turn away CoH's target audience)
We were heroes. We were villains. At the end of the world we all fought as one. It's what we did that defines us.
The end occurred pretty much as we predicted: all servers redlining until midnight... and then no servers to go around.

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Jordan_Lee

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Re: A crazy theroy
« Reply #6 on: November 04, 2012, 10:35:57 PM »
That... is a disturbingly logical theory. Worse, it's plausible (though not as far as CoH2 goes, definitely not after they made conscious effort to turn away CoH's target audience)

And laid off the devs that would have been ideal to work on the project. Let's face it, any CoH without Positron is not one I want to play.

The Fifth Horseman

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Re: A crazy theroy
« Reply #7 on: November 04, 2012, 10:48:20 PM »
Which scarily means that if that is their goal, we are helping them achieve it by spreading the news about Ncsoft and *possibly* being partially responsible for the share price drop.... >.>

*shucks* They got us at our own game...
Maybe, maybe not. If that was their goal, they would also attempt to recover from such artificial stock devaluation at some point. Something tells me that we should do everything in our power to keep their stock in freefall as long as possible.  ;D
We were heroes. We were villains. At the end of the world we all fought as one. It's what we did that defines us.
The end occurred pretty much as we predicted: all servers redlining until midnight... and then no servers to go around.

Somewhere beyond time and space, if you look hard you might find a flash of silver trailing crimson: a lone lost Spartan on his way home.

Ampithere

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Re: A crazy theroy
« Reply #8 on: November 05, 2012, 12:41:29 AM »
Maybe, maybe not. If that was their goal, they would also attempt to recover from such artificial stock devaluation at some point. Something tells me that we should do everything in our power to keep their stock in freefall as long as possible.  ;D

Just because you find out this Nemesis might not be the real one doesn't mean you stop beating on him.

I agree, keep it going down. And if/when they try to recover, make it go down further. Nothing in the world would make me happier than to see NCSoft go out of business. Absolutely nothing.
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houtex

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Re: A crazy theroy
« Reply #9 on: November 05, 2012, 02:39:30 AM »
When I read the title, I heard...

THEROOOOOOOY JEEEENKINNNNNNS !

But that's not it, I'm disappointed :'(

I'm not, that's what I came in here to see, and if not, do. 

As to the topic... yeah, I don't think that was their plan.  I don't think they even HAVE a plan, except to do like a figure skater in a pirouette and pull their arms back in to Korea so they can spin faster.

But what do I know?

Mike

/Dammit, Theroy!

Ammon

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Re: A crazy theroy
« Reply #10 on: November 05, 2012, 03:31:07 AM »
We expect crazy conspiracy theories from Americans, whether that be that men never landed on the moon at all, or that NCsoft have chosen to devalue their stock to buy it back later. :)

The interesting part is how the CEO of NCsoft sold his own shares to Nexon, at the same time investing NCsoft money into Nexon, and how the two CEOs were seen together and, rumour had it, considering some pretty large joint purchases (Steam was mentioned as a target).  What we are looking at is not a buyout of NCsoft by Nexon, but rather a partnership that is short of a full merger, but has involved each company investing in stock with the other, and joining efforts.  THAT is the refocus that the stock-watchers are reporting.

Turjan

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Re: A crazy theroy
« Reply #11 on: November 06, 2012, 12:30:53 AM »
What we are looking at is not a buyout of NCsoft by Nexon, but rather a partnership that is short of a full merger, but has involved each company investing in stock with the other, and joining efforts.  THAT is the refocus that the stock-watchers are reporting.
Which also explains the use of these nebulous corporate waffle phrases from NCsoft about CoH :-

"In a realignment of company focus and publishing support, NCsoft has made the decision to close Paragon Studios."

"The continued support of the franchise no longer fits with our long-term goals for the company."


...and also explains the company mission statement made by Taek-jin Kim on NCsoft's site :-

Moving forward, we envision new ways to use Internet technologies to entertain, delight, and bring people together. This means new products, reaching more customers, around the world. The future is bright, indeed. We hope you have enjoyed playing our games. We thank you for your support as we innovate and grow. Thank you.

This last statement pre-dates the NC-Nexon 'merger', but in it you can clearly see a foreshadow of the insultingly dismissive comment the company made on their Facebook site recently where they said :-

'City of Heroes' is the world's first and best Super Heroes MMORPG. It has received unconditional love for more than 8 years and it is like a family member of this company.
However, to provide a better game and service in the future, we have made the tough decision to discontinue the game. It was very hard on all of us here at NCSOFT.
NCSOFT will strive for a better game and superior service and anticipates the day that we will meet again. We are confident that we will not look back towards today's choice with regret.


I do not share their 'confidence'. I believe they will indeed find themselves looking back towards their choice with much regret.

I did wonder for a while if this whole thing was about deliberately driving shares down, but the simple truth we have to face is that CoH is not a large enough part of their global operation to have much of an impact on their share price for good or ill.

Or at least WASN'T.

As Ammon has so eloquently pointed out elsewhere on these forums, negative PR can and does impact companies' share prices. If NCsoft were Nemesis enough to have planned a Machievellian fall and rise of their own stocks, they'd also have been able to predict the extent of the #SaveCoH movement, which they clearly were not. The announcement of the closure of CoH pushed the share prices up marginally, just before an expected steep rise at the launch of GW2. But since then, the stocks have steadily fallen, due largely I believe to market overexpectation of the successes of GW2 and B&S.

The upshot of that is the market is now LOOKING at NCsoft, expecting them to find a way to climb back up the slope they're currently sliding down...and while attention is focused on NCsoft uncertainty, the power of our objection to the closure of CoH is vastly magnified. We CAN have a real impact now - something NCsoft definitely do not want. They have tried to remain as silent as possible, but then they went and said this :-

Lastly, for the users who enjoy other games of NCSOFT, we would greatly appreciate it if you can hold back the negative and hurtful comments.

Made to a dissatisfied customer as it was, that comment is quite simply corporate suicide.

Turjan

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Re: A crazy theroy
« Reply #12 on: November 06, 2012, 01:00:23 AM »
Just wondering but can you link to the bit you said that they did. Not saying that they *didn't* say it, but I don't remember people complaining about this when it was 1st said (if indeed it was...)
The Facebook comment? I cut'n'pasted it to my ever-growing handy-dandy NCquotes file. This is exactly what I have there, taken from the post at the forum here :-

Quote
Dear NCSOFT Facebook Fan,
We feel immense gratitude towards your love and enthusiasm of 'City of Heroes'. It has been quite the privilege and we would like to thank you all. 'City of Heroes' is the world's first and best Super Heroes MMORPG. It has received unconditional love for more than 8 years and it is like a family member of this company.
However, to provide a better game and service in the future, we have made the tough decision to discontinue the game. It was very hard on all of us here at NCSOFT.
NCSOFT will strive for a better game and superior service and anticipates the day that we will meet again. We are confident that we will not look back towards today's choice with regret.
Lastly, for the users who enjoy other games of NCSOFT, we would greatly appreciate it if you can hold back the negative and hurtful comments.
Thank you very much.

Here's the post where the text was quoted.

Atlantea

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Re: A crazy theroy
« Reply #13 on: November 06, 2012, 01:29:32 AM »
Right, I know this is sounds bad, but without a link to the *original* post, I find it hard to believe that this was said.

Sure, it might have been a PM to the person in private, which I can then understand. You cannot link to those directly.

However, if it was a *public* post, then you can link to them... especially if it was on the NCsoft page.

So no offence, but color me skeptical on that one...

Would a second observer of the original statement help corroborate the above in your eyes?

I can tell you I saw for my own eyes on the NCSoft Facebook page - those very quotations in posts by NCSoftcore to posters who were angrily denouncing NCSoft.

It's difficult for me to find specific posts on FB. I'm a novice user and haven't yet figured out how to link such things. But I assure you - just keep scrolling down in several posts on the NCSoft FB page and you'll see those quotes or slight variations of them. They posted them multiple times to multiple users.


Lily Barclay

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Re: A crazy theroy
« Reply #14 on: November 06, 2012, 01:40:33 AM »
Which NCsoft facebook page, there are 3 out there... Give me the date and the link to the facebook page, and I am sure I can find it (the date of the *original* posting/comment). As much information as possible would be handy here.

There is Ncsoft (Company)
There is NCSoft (Internet/Software). This is the NCsoft West page
There is NCsoft (Interest)

This is why I am asking for links to at least the initial page, and then as much information as to how to find it.

I saw it too.  They posted it several times on the NCSoft Korea page in response to different people.  I'll try to find a link for it.

Lily Barclay

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Re: A crazy theroy
« Reply #15 on: November 06, 2012, 01:44:29 AM »
https://www.facebook.com/ncsoft

It's in the comments on the last post on the timeline. Dated Oct 22.  The actual quoted response was made on Oct 25th, though.

dwturducken

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Re: A crazy theroy
« Reply #16 on: November 06, 2012, 01:46:34 AM »
I believe this is the thread where it was originally discussed.
I wouldn't use the word "replace," but there's no word for "take over for you and make everything better almost immediately," so we just say "replace."

Ammon

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Re: A crazy theroy
« Reply #17 on: November 06, 2012, 01:46:53 AM »
Gangrel, refer to Artillerie's post that first reported it here, in entirity and context, and check out the links on the FB groups too.

Lily Barclay

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Re: A crazy theroy
« Reply #18 on: November 06, 2012, 01:59:43 AM »
Yeah, i found it myself (same page, 23rd October thread (Blade and Soul), comment from them at 25th October), although telling me that it was the NCsoft Korean page helped :D

Ok, I take back what I said. They did say it.... although to be *fair* I am totally confused by it. Honestly, I am confused by the last statement...

Side note: I was intrigued by the earlier comment on as well about the person who said that CoX merchandise should have been more available. I remember it being fairly available, even up until the closure of the game... although this might have been a regional difference. (I believe that the EU store had Lord Recluse statues available... and it definitely had T-Shirts available).

*shrugs*

I was only able to find that one instance of it.  They appear to have removed the other ones.  I remember at the time they copy pasted it to like four or five different people.  The first person that got it that I was aware of was someone that had posted the poem in Korean

We are heroes.
This is what we do!
You will hear our voice!
We're not going to stop!
Save our city of heroes!!

This was what really got people scratching  their heads because there was nothing nasty in it to begin with.

Artillerie

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Re: A crazy theroy
« Reply #19 on: November 06, 2012, 03:04:20 AM »
I was only able to find that one instance of it.  They appear to have removed the other ones.  I remember at the time they copy pasted it to like four or five different people.  The first person that got it that I was aware of was someone that had posted the poem in Korean

We are heroes.
This is what we do!
You will hear our voice!
We're not going to stop!
Save our city of heroes!!

This was what really got people scratching  their heads because there was nothing nasty in it to begin with.

Yep, i posted that here - i was not the only person to recieve a reply at the time. At least one other person in the Save City of Heroes FB group also got this response.

I decided to share it here as i found the last part very interesting and thought it may give people some encouragement, what with the whole 'please leave us alone' vibe.

Was actually quite angry while i wrote it otherwise i could have done a better job and perhaps avoided a few of the spelling mistakes...