Bye-Bye Capes

In 2004, City of Heroes was launched and became the world's first superhero MMORPG. Since then, the game has been cruising along nicely with 2 expansions as well as going free-to-play (F2P).

So it’s with some surprise to gamers when NCsoft announced that they are closing Paragon Studios due to a "realignment of company focus and publishing support". Since Paragon Studios is the company running City of Heroes, this effectively means the City of Heroes game is going to way of the dodo.

Sadly, I sort of expected this. Although the game has positive cash flow (they are still making money), it is already 8years old and problems between NCsoft and Paragon Studios have been reported for years. A few years ago, some founding members of Paragon even left the company to form their own company due to lack of support from NCsoft. Also the MMORPG industry is currently in trouble due to the lack of success of Star Wars: The Old Republic and The Secret World. Add to that, the big releases of Guild Wars 2 and the new expansion of World of Warcraft, and I can understand why NCsoft is pulling the plug on City of Heroes.

Still, it’s sad that a stable money-making game has been given the axe. So for all former players of City of Heroes; this is your last call to Paragon City!