Is it safe to say Disney should not be considered an option anymore?

[Waffles]

Since they basically put LucasArts in a very similar situation as Paragon (closed it, Cancelling first assault, 1313, and battlefront 3 in the process), Granted our situation is worse, but still. Could we trust them, even if they got our game?

[SeaLily]

They also shut down Junction Point, which was Warren Spector's studio and the guys that made both Epic Mickey games.  Disney's looking to outsource all their game development right now, so yeah, they're not really a good option now.

In my opinion, they never really were, but I could see how some people would think looking to them might be a good idea I guess.

[HEATSTROKE]

 I dont think one thing has a thing to do with another in all honesty.. but Disney was a long shot to begin with and we all knew that.

[therain93]

*sigh* This is actually the first that I'm hearing that Lucasarts was closed down.  Such an amazing number of games they released over the past 2+ decades.  It's very depressing, although I can only hope they'll license out their old games (like Outlaws) to someone like valve to put them on Steam.  Best of luck to those people laid off.

[The White Rager]

Since they basically put LucasArts in a very similar situation as Paragon (closed it, Cancelling first assault, 1313, and battlefront 3 in the process),

That's actually wrong. They are not cancelling those games. They will see them produced. Disney has assured everyone of this. So, basically, they've got transparent business reasons for closing and they are doing it responsibly. But, yes, that still makes them unlikely to pick us up. They just don't want that kind of investment in the business anymore.

[Mister Bison]

That's actually wrong. They are not cancelling those games. They will see them produced. Disney has assured everyone of this. So, basically, they've got transparent business reasons for closing and they are doing it responsibly. But, yes, that still makes them unlikely to pick us up. They just don't want that kind of investment in the business anymore.

on the contrary. Disney is more likely to buy the city of heroes IP since Paragon Studios is not tied to it anymore. They can buy the IP and contract a studio into maintaining it, or developing it. What they don't want is owning a studio and developing.

I didn't know that they restarted the development of the stopped star wars games though. Good news.

[MaidMercury]

Microsoft allowed it's old MMO games like 'Crimson Skies' to be run on private servers by Fans of the game when they ended promoting it........I'd feel more comfortable having them buy CoH.

[CrimsonCapacitor]

Perhaps Disney isn't out of the running yet...

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/09/17/why-disney-buys-all-the-premium-character-collecti.aspx

[JaguarX]

yep who knows. But then even if thye did pick up the COX stuff, where would it go? They probably dont want it to compete with Marvel stuff, but they probably will want to make at least Marvel type money. And while most of the stuff DIsney picked up that are considered Niche, most are huge names. Like hundreds of millions to 1 billion niche big.

But who knows, the Mouse may find something interesting in it and I'm sure one of the TFHM just so happen to know a guy that knows a guy that used to wear the mickey mouse suit that knows this guy that knows this guy that work in the Disney resort office that knows this guy that recieved an email from the VP secretary once. AKA-the inside man. BUT of course, they cant tell us anything because they wasnt suppose to tell them and they dont want to get sued and even if they buy it will be another 5 years before word gets out. Forget about the expense report!  Soooo no news means a victory. :p

[CrimsonCapacitor]

Perhaps you're thinking of it too narrowly.  These are competitors to Marvel, they could easily be ADDITIONS to.  Statesman fighting alongside Captain America?  Wolverine and Manti going toe to toe?  Thor versus Infernal? 

They could so easily become part of the Marvel-verse.

[JaguarX]

Perhaps you're thinking of it too narrowly.  These are competitors to Marvel, they could easily be ADDITIONS to.  Statesman fighting alongside Captain America?  Wolverine and Manti going toe to toe?  Thor versus Infernal? 

They could so easily become part of the Marvel-verse.

yup. didn't think of it in that way.

And now to think of it I can see how those characters you mentioned fit. Thor vs Infernal. In Thor lore alone there are worlds that humans don't know exist with battles raging. And Infernal could possible be from and or draw power from one of these worlds that have been upsetting the balance from him catching too many demons, the inhabitants of a realm in Thor world.

Or Statesman, who was also around the WW2 time period. How cool would it be if Capt. found another hero vet from that time period and teamed up with. Or I could see them butting heads at first. States-the pompous all powerful prick vs the all American family values kiss the babies Capt A. Of course I'm sure the Mouse will find a way and probably do a good job to not make it look like States is another Superman rip off.

Hell yeah. 

Now the question is are they interested in it

[JRVthatsME]

I'm not a big fan of disney right now after they shut down Pixie Hollow, Pirates of the Caribbean and Toon Town on all those little kids. I've been looking through youtube vids the last few days seeing kids reactions and trying to post comments with messages of support and advice on how we managed to cope so far. However bad shutting down a game on a primarily mature player base like us (this next part also applies to the kids you lost CoH with us) doing it to little kids is so much worse I can't even put it into words. If disney get those game back up and running for those kids then they may earn back my respect, by right now all I'm concerned about is how much they have hurt so many children.

As far as disney buying CoH and outsourcing it to a game studio that they don't own, it would seem the only real option (if it can be done and hopefully without being viewed in a negative or insulting way) would be to outsource it back to Cryptic Studios. At least it looks that way to me.

[JaguarX]

I'm not a big fan of disney right now after they shut down Pixie Hollow, Pirates of the Caribbean and Toon Town on all those little kids. I've been looking through youtube vids the last few days seeing kids reactions and trying to post comments with messages of support and advice on how we managed to cope so far. However bad shutting down a game on a primarily mature player base like us (this next part also applies to the kids you lost CoH with us) doing it to little kids is so much worse I can't even put it into words. If disney get those game back up and running for those kids then they may earn back my respect, by right now all I'm concerned about is how much they have hurt so many children.

As far as disney buying CoH and outsourcing it to a game studio that they don't own, it would seem the only real option (if it can be done and hopefully without being viewed in a negative or insulting way) would be to outsource it back to Cryptic Studios. At least it looks that way to me.

If that outsourcing thing that would be one hell of a cool storybook full circle thing for real.

Alright Disney, now, if a person want to see how business oriented a company can get, Disney is the king in the entertainment world and do it while handing out candy and kid stories while underneath they are one of the most calculating cold businesses out there. And not talking about them shutting down those three game either. They been like that for a while.

But the upside is that when Disney put their mind/money to something, they tend to make it succeed, over all, usually and are far from dummies in making a product. Which is why I think on one hand Disney picking up COX IP would be good, but people looking for a warm and fuzzy, "hey how's it going, guys." corporation, Disney is further from it than NCSOFT and would highly be disappointed.

Disney buys sells hire and fire, people, departments and studios like it was playing a chess game and everyone is pawns being moved around on a board.  And of course, outsource or not The Mouse would get it's cut but at the same time probably give COX the marketing push that it needed.

Under the Mouse I think COX probably would have grown 5-10 fold from the peak that it had under NCSOFT, but the cost and expectations would be dear.   

[HarvesterOfEyes]

I believe you all would have been horrified with what Disney would have made of CoH.

I take it as a blessing that they weren't interested.

[JRVthatsME]

And it does seems that for reason incomprehensible ncsoft are unwilling to let go of the IP. Though if perhaps the situation were to come about that ncsoft outsource City of Heroes to Cryptic things could work out for everyone provided a fair deal can be made. I'm thinking a joint membership deal with Champions Online to remove competition between those games as a factor and ncsoft get a percentage of cash shop sales as royalties. (And yes I am aware of how twisted and messed up of a situations this is, but it should all both ncsoft and Cryptic to make a profit while ncsoft can both own CoH and have nothing to do with it at the same time which seems to be what they want)

[Kistulot]

And it does seems that for reason incomprehensible ncsoft are unwilling to let go of the IP.

It's more valuable to them as something they can hold in their wallet and claim its worth X moneys than as a one time burst of cashflow. Sadly.

[Stormsurge]

They should pick up COH and put Marvel adds into the game. Everyone is happy.

[AlphaFerret]

A premium add-on to enter a parallel Marvel Universe would be fabulous.

[JRVthatsME]

Actually yeah that would be great. Just imagine The Freedom Phalanx teaming up with The Avengers to try and stop some epic battle between Rularuu and Galactus causing devastating destruction across the multiverse. Well you know, for example lol :-)

[Mouse-Man]

Oh yeah, kind of like when Marvel bought the Ultraverse back in the 90's... Now we can see Prime, Nightman, Solitaire, and the Strangers teaming up with the X-men all the time!

Or when DC launched the Imapct line and brought all of those old Archie comics superheroes they licensed into a new era!
 
Disney has Marvel. They have one of the biggest two comic universes in existance. CoH's intellectual property mean nada to them. I'd hate to see a big company take CoH and systematically tear it down the same way Marvel and DC destroyed the Ultraverse and Impact Comics.

No good could have come out of this attempt.

[johnrobey]

When you wish upon a mouse......

[healix]

...you get a really cheesy house...

[Thunder Glove]

The thing is, I don't want Disney to buy just the IP, but the entire game, with character data if possible (though I, personally, wouldn't mind if I had to start all over again).  Disney (or any company, really) buying the IP and nothing else would be the worst thing that could happen to CoH.  (Well, the second-worst thing. NCSoft already did the worst thing)

[CoyoteSeven]

If Disney bought just the IP, then I'd expect all the CoH characters would be integrated somehow into the Marvel universe.

Isn't there already a Marvel MMO? And Disney owns Marvel now. Why would they even want CoH to begin with?

[JaguarX]

If Disney bought just the IP, then I'd expect all the CoH characters would be integrated somehow into the Marvel universe.

Isn't there already a Marvel MMO? And Disney owns Marvel now. Why would they even want CoH to begin with?

for the warm fuzzy feeling and positive PR for caring about the poor homeless cox players of course

Damn all the other homeless gamers. If they want the warm and fuzzy and positive PR they must care only about us! :p

[MWRuger]

I actually never considered Disney as a particularly viable option. They have a long record of sitting properties indefinitely for various reasons.  Getting it from NCsoft and under Disney would have been like being rescued from muggers by a gang of terrorists.

[Thunder Glove]

... the other question is, is it safe to say that the third pitch, whoever it was going to be for, isn't going to be sent out?

[Noyjitat]

Are any hail mary projects even happening currently? I haven't noticed much here since the city of titans kickstarter began and ended although I could just be conspiracy theorizing...

[JWBullfrog]

it's safe to remember that Disney was something of a longshot anyway. Although Disney has the money, they may not have the desire and, most importantly, all the money in the world won't be enough if NCSoft holds true to their historical stance on these things and refuse to let go of the property.

Now, I still believe that Disney would be a good custodian of the property and I would be perfectly happy to give them my money if they could bring my game back. Do I think this will happen any time soon? Probably not, but I'm not willing to give up on the idea just yet.

Next year in Paragon City, my friends.

[Thunder Glove]

Of course it was a long shot.  All of Task Force Hail Mary was a long shot - hence the name "Hail Mary", a desperation play in football where, when in a crunch, you just throw the ball as hard as you can in the general direction of your teammates and hope for the best.  It rarely works, but it's better than getting tackled while holding the ball.

While it would have been nice for some sort of actual response from the companies involved, I'm well aware that we at Titan were not the ones they were told to contact.  But even so, I was hoping that we'd at least hear a "no" if they weren't interested. This silence is nerve-wracking.

As far as I'm aware, no new pitches have gone out since the Google pitch last May, and the last we heard of even a pitch-in-progress was in October.

[MakoMako]

... the other question is, is it safe to say that the third pitch, whoever it was going to be for, isn't going to be sent out?

Very likely, yes. Core members of Hail Mary haven't responded to inquiry in a very long time. And my own personal offer of help wasn't even turned down... Just completely ignored.

Rae's last post on the forum seems to actually be a rather vague indication she's not even contributing anymore. I can't quite tell, to be honest.

I guess we have to rely on hopes that there is some sort of secret reverse engineering going on, even if it's a begrudging "Plan B".

[Brigadine]

Very likely, yes. Core members of Hail Mary haven't responded to inquiry in a very long time. And my own personal offer of help wasn't even turned down... Just completely ignored.

Rae's last post on the forum seems to actually be a rather vague indication she's not even contributing anymore. I can't quite tell, to be honest.

I guess we have to rely on hopes that there is some sort of secret reverse engineering going on, even if it's a begrudging "Plan B".

Could also mean they got news that they cannot disclose...

[Drauger9]

Could also mean they got news that they cannot disclose...

True, there's always hope.

We'll have to wait and see I guess. Either way we're no worse off than we already was.

[Taceus Jiwede]

Rae I believe is working with MVM currently.  Plus Rae and others involved were volunteers doing it on their free time which they could have less of or are just keeping it more hush hush.  They could have sent more out actually but they just didn't tell anybody so we didn't ask if they had heard anything.  It could be a number of things but they did their best on their free time to get our game back so new pitch or no pitch I'm grateful they tried.

[Triplash]

Rae I believe is working with MVM currently.  Plus Rae and others involved were volunteers doing it on their free time which they could have less of or are just keeping it more hush hush.  They could have sent more out actually but they just didn't tell anybody so we didn't ask if they had heard anything.  It could be a number of things but they did their best on their free time to get our game back so new pitch or no pitch I'm grateful they tried.

This is pretty much how I see it too. We couldn't expect them to be at this forever, they deserve to have their free time be their own again. And who knows, there may be results we just have yet to hear about. But regardless of how it turns out, I'm extremely thankful that they tried on behalf of the rest of us.

Thank you, Team Wildcard! Thank you very much.

[Tacitala]

I guess we have to rely on hopes that there is some sort of secret reverse engineering going on, even if it's a begrudging "Plan B".

The secret isn't very tightly kept.  Last report was that it's going a little slower than they had hoped, but progress is being made.

[Rae]

Core members of Hail Mary haven't responded to inquiry in a very long time. And my own personal offer of help wasn't even turned down... Just completely ignored.

Rae's last post on the forum seems to actually be a rather vague indication she's not even contributing anymore. I can't quite tell, to be honest.

You're absolutely right, after my last post, I did resign from TF:HM.

I also stopped visiting the Titan Network boards for a bit, so I'm sorry if any PMs went unanswered - the ones I have received, I have just responded to with off-board contact details, as I'm not sure how often I'll get back here.

For TF:HM status, maybe try TheQuinch?

(Sorry for the zombie thread )

[Thunder Glove]

I'm guessing that's pretty much the end of TFHM, then, unless Quinch (who hasn't posted in three months) makes a roaring return.

Ah well.  It was a good try.  I wish at least that third package had been sent out before it all ended.

[healix]

*doesn't hear an ample woman singing yet*

[OzonePrime]

*doesn't hear an ample woman singing yet*

Neither do I!

Never Give Up! Never Surrender!

[Thunder Glove]

Welp, I'll just keep waiting for that pitch Quinch was working on back in October to finally be finished, then, and prepare my letter-writing fingers.  Any idea who is to receive it?

[TonyV]

I just want to point out that just because this particular effort has stalled, it does not mean that we have given up hope of some other company acquiring City of Heroes.  It just means that we're out of the "sweet spot" of when it was pretty public and frequently in the media.

Remember, NCsoft thinks that they have the advantage of time.  They do not.  Companies come and companies go, as do people who do things like tank deals to spin off Paragon Studios into a separate company.  I mean, for crying out loud, we just lost Irrational Games, developer of the really popular BioShock games; you don't think that NCsoft will ever go belly-up?  My point is, there will come a day when the stars align and an opportunity will present itself to acquire the IP rights to this game, and we have a lot of really motivated, really patient people out here watching for it.  It won't get past us when it arises.

So don't lose heart, and don't chalk up this effort as dead or not worthwhile.  We have a lot of valuable insight now that we didn't before, some valuable lessons learned, some contacts we didn't have before, and some people who are more dedicated than ever to seeing that this happens.

Allons-y!

[Rae]

What TonyV said, honestly (thanks for the title, btw, Tony.  I love it when The Dentist mends time with his sonic spamner!).

A few of the people I replied to got in touch,  with their own ideas of contacting various companies and I'm giving what advice I can (for what that's worth), so I'm sure more feelers and pitches will be going out as time goes on.

Quinch was working on a pitch to Valve. I'm not sure of the status of that,  I'm afraid.