Much as I know... people are going to hate me for saying this, but...
Microsoft Games.
Now before the whole world goes screaming "OH NOES!!!!?"
We should maybe look at the following:
1) City of Heroes was at one point ready for the Xbox. The devs actually had working code for it and were ready to pull the trigger before Microsoft pulled out in large part, if reports are correct, due to concerns at the time the Xbox players would get owned by PC players (a limitation which, in many ways no longer exists due to hardware and network improvements).
2) Microsoft and Marvel were working on a Marvel MMO - when Marvel / Microsoft pulled out of the deal (which is why there's a Champions Online), the problem at that time was that between Marvel, Microsoft and Cryptic - there weren't enough pieces of the pie to make it profitable. Here they'd be splitting it with Paragon, that's a workable solution for them.
3) Microsoft has tried repeatedly to get a decent property in the MMO Market and failed repeatedly.
Now, that's not a lot confidence I know. But understand that Microsoft very much wants an MMO for the Xbox, they have all along. Here's one which actually has most of the code in place for them. All they need to do is update it to work with the current level of technology, and connect it to their systems. It's actually a very smart move on their part - it's family friendly, it's an MMO, it's a potential income generator and it gets them very good press with the gaming community. Microsoft loves having good press.
Microsoft needs something for the PC in this space.
Microsoft has a history of letting game studios do what they do best - giving Paragon Studios the cash and resources to rebuild how they want to achieve a great product isn't a problem for them. If you're familiar with Bungie and several of their other 'partners' they've usually been pretty good with them.
At one point they were so keen on City of Heroes they actually put Statesman and others on their "Microsofts Got Game" T-Shirts. I know a lot of people don't like Microsoft, even more so than Disney... but if you're we're tossing ideas out there, I really feel this is less of a long shot than even the Disney pitch.
Financially it's a risk for them, they generally don't go in for things this small, but it's small enough they might be able to take it and if it fails not worry, and let Paragon spin off to whatever they want. They've done it before with other companies.
