Are we going to wait for an answer from Disney before others are approached

[HEATSTROKE]

 im just wondering.. if Disney isnt the only option.. why not start approaching others..

[Quinch]

Basically, we're giving them a head-start, as a courtesy and to show that they're our first choice. Also, it bears keeping in mind that even though we've fed the Mouse information that isn't publicly available, it's quite possible that other publishers' eyes were caught by the publicity the Disney pitch drummed up, and might already be making overtures of their own based on the information that is widely available.

[dwturducken]

So, you can neither confirm nor deny...

[Surelle]

Basically, we're giving them a head-start, as a courtesy and to show that they're our first choice. Also, it bears keeping in mind that even though we've fed the Mouse information that isn't publicly available, it's quite possible that other publishers' eyes were caught by the publicity the Disney pitch drummed up, and might already be making overtures of their own based on the information that is widely available.

Is that hint you just gave that others might be offering for CoH right now based on your own inside information, or is it just your against-all-odds hope there, Quinch?   

[Kistulot]

I asked the other day in another thread if we might not start moving forward on reaching out to more sources.

It seems to me sooner would be better than later.

[Victoria Victrix]

I have mentioned that I love you all, right?  My gods, you have boundless energy....

OK let me here lay out in pixels what our basic marketing strategy. 

We hit Disney with the pitch a week before the shutdown on the infinitesimally small chance they MIGHT have moved to delay the shutdown. 

Knowing this probably would not happen, we used that timeframe anyway as a chance to get 3 weeks of activity in before Christmas news overwhelmed everything else, and to give the Disney Dragon a chance to open one eye and notice something before---

---everything stopped two weeks before Christmas.  If you have ever worked in a big business whose main function is not affected by Christmas, you know that two weeks before Christmas, as everyone takes vacation time, everything stops.   Same for one week after Christmas.   And if your business IS tied in with Christmas, it is worse.

So realistically we do not expect to hear ANYTHING until a week into the new year. 

Brian knows some people in the upper echelons of Disney Interactive.  He is going to put a bug in their ears to (1) find out if they know anything and (2) let them know quietly this is not some crazy fan idea, this really is a viable opportunity and he backs it.

So, step one for me, remind Larry to contact Darren first to find out if we have ANY chance.  I do not want to waste your time on something he knows is going to get shut down at Google.  One I know that, I know where we need to take it from there.

Everyone good with this?

[Ironwolf]

Dear lady, while our political leanings differ vastly - ANY savior for the game is fine by me as long as they have proven backing. I would hate to see a fly-by-night acquisition where someone over reaches but buys the game and then folds after a year tying up the IP for 2-3 years in a bankruptcy.

That along with never getting it out of NCSoft's hands is my only fears.

[beveri8469]

That along with never getting it out of NCSoft's hands is my only fears.


that is the only thing that bothers me to. trying to wrestle it out of their hands.

[Roughtrade]

  im just wondering.. if Disney isnt the only option.. why not start approaching others..

I assumed because it sounds sort of impolite.  "Hey, we have this really great idea and we want you to consider how good it could be for your company.  You don't mind if we tell your competitors, do you?

I can say with full certainty, that dreck don't work for selling floor space at a Gaming Convention.  Tried to warn a friend of mine who went into the Convention Business with that attitude.  Fortunately he and his partners incorporated so they did not lose all their assets completely when they went $40k in the hole.

So, step one for me, remind Larry to contact Darren first to find out if we have ANY chance.  I do not want to waste your time on something he knows is going to get shut down at Google.  One I know that, I know where we need to take it from there.

Everyone good with this?

Works for me Bawz.  I'm mailing four letters a week until we switch targets.

[Menrva Channel]

So realistically we do not expect to hear ANYTHING until a week into the new year. 

That's almost as bad as waiting to open presents and you're still a week away from Christmas, lol. Still, anything good is worth the wait. Thanks again for trying this.

I was curious, was Mircosoft ever an option? (A "just in case" should Disney pass?--I am really hoping they don't... but... it's always good to have a back up plan.)

[Victoria Victrix]

Microsoft is on the list. 

[Golden Girl]

Microsoft is on the list.

That would be rather amusing, as CO was the result of Microsoft and Marvel pulling out of their deal with Cryptic

[Victoria Victrix]

That would be rather amusing, as CO was the result of Microsoft and Marvel pulling out of their deal with Cryptic

Well Microsoft pulled out of the deal before the game was even in beta, and I suspect pulled out because Marvel pulled out first.  At least we can say that CoX is a fully functioning game with demonstrable cash flow.

[Terwyn]

Microsoft is on the list.

This bit of information and some others you have made mention of make me quite certain my hypothetical list isn't as inaccurate as I originally thought. This makes me happy.

[Kistulot]

Well Microsoft pulled out of the deal before the game was even in beta, and I suspect pulled out because Marvel pulled out first.

Microsoft's publicly stated reason seems honest enough to me.

There was one game (WoW) that was in their eyes "successful enough" and all other levels of success would be a failure.

Say what you will about Microsoft (I like them sometimes, dislike them others) they are a company of high highs and low lows, and they aren't happy with being boring or in the middle. Unless its boringly developing Microsoft Office that seems to only still be widely used because its the industry standard, not due to development making it better.

I can't be the only one who hates the ribbon interface.

[Segev]

Unless its boringly developing Microsoft Office that seems to only still be widely used because its the industry standard, not due to development making it better.

I can't be the only one who hates the ribbon interface.

To be fair, that was an attempt by them to make it better. It failed, but they were trying to innovate something better than the old menus. Honestly, I think the only major mistake of it was not having "classic" office menu either as well or as an option to which you could switch with an easy-to-find toggle. (Because yes, even after years of using the annoying ribbon layout, I STILL can't find some things until I ask somebody where to find them or google for a tutorial for that specific feature, whereas I could navigate the old menu system to find things I hoped might exist but wasn't sure did and successfully find them.)

[dwturducken]

Microsoft's publicly stated reason seems honest enough to me.

There was one game (WoW) that was in their eyes "successful enough" and all other levels of success would be a failure.

This makes me think Microsoft is probably further down the list (or should be). Disney may be huge and perhaps institutionalized, but it is good at compartmentalizing and specializing. Microsoft considers anything that isn't a huge success to be a failure.

[Kistulot]

To be fair, that was an attempt by them to make it better.

You're right, you're right. They did try and I can't really argue that they took a risk with it. Better luck next time I suppose?

This makes me think Microsoft is probably further down the list (or should be). Disney may be huge and perhaps institutionalized, but it is good at compartmentalizing and specializing. Microsoft considers anything that isn't a huge success to be a failure.

Very good points Honestly its weird considering that you'd think such a big company would understand the value of something that does well but isn't amazing. Considering they only make a usable OS every-other-one these days, the Zune . . .

But this is coming from someone who installed the Japanese "Nanami" theme for Windows 7 upon install, so I'm by no means a Microsoft basher. I just sometimes wanna sigh and shake my head.

Now if someone starts trying to get me to mail Apple on the other hand...

[Menrva Channel]

Microsoft considers anything that isn't a huge success to be a failure.

Maybe a devoted fan base really pushing to have the game come back would be something to pique their interest? I mean, it has to be worth something and successful if we all want it back so bad.

[Kistulot]

Maybe a devoted fan base really pushing to have the game come back would be something to pique their interest? I mean, it has to be worth something and successful if we all want it back so bad.

This is a very good point

Honestly it surprises me that the PR boost of saving a game hasn't made any sharks in the water smell the sweet sweet blood of a good buy.

Wait. I think I kinda failed at metaphors there...

[Surelle]

This is a very good point

Honestly it surprises me that the PR boost of saving a game hasn't made any sharks in the water smell the sweet sweet blood of a good buy.

Wait. I think I kinda failed at metaphors there...

Haha, but at the same time, ick on that metaphor.

Yeah, I have wondered the same thing since the shut down announcement myself.  I'd say that basically the entire MMO gaming industry knows NCSoft shut down City of Heroes by now.  You'd think *someone* out of all those tons of companies, publishers, distributors or development houses would have offered to buy the CoH IP off NCSoft by now.

These forums have claimed that the only offer made was by Brian Clayton with his backers, but then again I heard early on that TonyV had a group trying too.  I'm happy for whomever tried, but you'd think there would have been a lot more actual financed, professional publishing groups trying.

Most gamers I talk to already know CoH was closed down.  But all of them have told me the same thing:  "Yeah, but it was really old and had a long run."   

[Kistulot]

Most of the gamers I know add in "that's BS" after the story is explained more indepth at least!

[Victoria Victrix]

It's possible that other parties that might be interested are waiting to see how far off its stance of "we're not selling" NCSoft can be pushed. 

[Triplash]

Most of the gamers I know add in "that's BS" after the story is explained more indepth at least!

Exactly! IMO, that's how we know we're not just "whiners who can't let go". The majority of those who take the time to get the full story, agree with us that the game did not in any way deserve this. Which indicates that this a battle worth fighting. So if fighting it effectively takes more time than we'd like, so be it. Sometimes patience is just as much a key to victory as action.

[srmalloy]

Yeah, I have wondered the same thing since the shut down announcement myself.  I'd say that basically the entire MMO gaming industry knows NCSoft shut down City of Heroes by now.  You'd think *someone* out of all those tons of companies, publishers, distributors or development houses would have offered to buy the CoH IP off NCSoft by now.

We don't know they haven't; all we know is that no one has succeeded. If someone tried, then depending on the reception they got from NCSoft, they may not want to announce how hard they got slapped in the face with their offer.

[Kistulot]

We don't know they haven't; all we know is that no one has succeeded. If someone tried, then depending on the reception they got from NCSoft, they may not want to announce how hard they got slapped in the face with their offer.

If we only knew the offers made, and how NCSoft handled it, I have a feeling we could use it as leverage.

Alas.

[Victoria Victrix]

UPDATE:

Larry finally got around to giving me Darren New's email addresses and I managed to catch him before he went to Panama for Christmas...

/em envy

...anyway, the short form is he did NOT immediately shut down the idea of Google Play acquiring and supporting CoH.  He promised to get with the appropriate Higher Ups over at Google Play when he (and they, evidently you could shoot a cannon off in the office right now and not inconvenience anyone) gets back from vacation.  He told me to expect to hear from him the second week in January. 

[Kistulot]

He told me to expect to hear from him the second week in January.

VV, you are officially my favorite person of the day.

Thank you for your wisdom in what to keep to the chest, and what to share to inspire/bolster/etc the troops

This holiday season has been a bit of a downer, so even a wait for bad news feels welcome! Here's to hoping for an interesting January.

[Terwyn]

I must admit, I have learned vastly more about Marketing, Public Relations, Business Ethics, and Corporate Communication in the past few months than I did in three years of college. ^_^

[NecrotechMaster]

the only thing ive really disliked from microsoft recently was windows 8, i HATE it so much, it is possibly one of the worst designed PC OS i have ever seen

it looks great for tablets, but its an awful design for desktops

[Lily Barclay]

UPDATE:

Larry finally got around to giving me Darren New's email addresses and I managed to catch him before he went to Panama for Christmas...

/em envy

...anyway, the short form is he did NOT immediately shut down the idea of Google Play acquiring and supporting CoH.  He promised to get with the appropriate Higher Ups over at Google Play when he (and they, evidently you could shoot a cannon off in the office right now and not inconvenience anyway) gets back from vacation.  He told me to expect to hear from him the second week in January.

And they won't want to turn the IP exclusively into a mobile game? *crosses fingers*

[Victoria Victrix]

And they won't want to turn the IP exclusively into a mobile game? *crosses fingers*

I will make sure to emphasize the fact that most CoH players would not play a 2D mobile CoH game if it came with a free car and free beer for a year.  BUT that there are a LOT of aps we would definitely use that are mobile! (Game Chat, Auction house, for instance)

[Triplash]

I will make sure to emphasize the fact that most CoH players would not play a 2D mobile CoH game if it came with a free car and free beer for a year.  BUT that there are a LOT of aps we would definitely use that are mobile! (Game Chat, Auction house, for instance)

Complete agreement on both points. I could see an app that tracks inventory and inf across all your characters and any SGs you're in. And I've always wanted a kind of "crisis monitor", some way to tell which zone events and giant monsters were currently active. More often than not the only way I knew one was running was when I saw the mesage that it ended.

Edit: Ooh... how about one where you run what amounts to an investigation or a crime spree, and after finishing each "story arc" you receive an ingame item in your email, probably small consumables like dual insps or tailor tokens. After you progress far enough you can talk to an ingame contact who'll give you access to a random safeguard/mayhem mission. A lot of people wanted access to those outside the restrictions of level-specific teaming.

Yeah, I can see a LOT of potential with tie-in apps.

[Lily Barclay]

I will make sure to emphasize the fact that most CoH players would not play a 2D mobile CoH game if it came with a free car and free beer for a year.  BUT that there are a LOT of aps we would definitely use that are mobile! (Game Chat, Auction house, for instance)

If they kept the game itself in tact, I would totally try any mobile version they added to it. I'm not a mobile gamer, but CoH on the go would be awesome if it was an add on to the existing game. Maybe some mini games or a mobile version of the in game events. That could be fun and maybe bring in new players to the complete game. But yeah, I'm sure google can figure it out better than me. Just so long as they don't turn it soley into an app, I'm good.

[srmalloy]

...anyway, the short form is he did NOT immediately shut down the idea of Google Play acquiring and supporting CoH.  He promised to get with the appropriate Higher Ups over at Google Play when he (and they, evidently you could shoot a cannon off in the office right now and not inconvenience anyway) gets back from vacation.  He told me to expect to hear from him the second week in January.

From the descriptions and pictures of the Google offices I've seen, if you set up a cannon in their offices and fired it, the only 'inconvenience' would be the work stoppage from other employees coming out and setting up a target, rigging up a sight for the cannon, and getting in line to fire it themselves...

[dwturducken]

I'm suddenly flashing on the episode of The Big Bang Theory, where the guys start "helping" Penny make and sell either hair clips or pins.

Everything's better with Bluetooth!