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NCsoft trademarks City of Heroes 2
A little over a year ago, Massively's Kyle Horner took a look at the possibility of City of Heroes 2 in The Digital Continuum. He investigated some of what NCsoft has done before and gave several reasons why it would make sense for them to move in that direction eventually. There was a fair amount of skepticism, but it looks like Kyle may have called it. Eurogamer reported today that NCsoft has trademarked the "City of Heroes 2" name. Now this is certainly not anything resembling a commitment to make the game, but it opens the door to the possibility. NCsoft could be planning to start working on the game soon, or they could just as easily be guarding against future shenanigans from those not affiliated with the game. NCsoft had this to say: "City of Heroes is a flourishing franchise and continues to be the world's most popular super-powered hero MMO. While we cannot comment on City of Heroes 2 at this time, NCsoft is proud of City of Heroes' success and is looking forward to future product launches associated with the franchise, including the City of Heroes Going Rogue expansion scheduled for release this July." For now, we'll try not too speculate too much, and look forward to Going Rogue.
NCsoft release Korean trailer for Aion patch 1.5
For us here in the west, the launch of Aion might still be on the horizon. However, having had the game for the better part of a year, gamers in Korea have already turned their attention to patch 1.5. Indeed this is something we should also be excited about as the localized version of Aion aimed at Europe and the US will include this newest content patch. With this in mind, NCsoft over in Korea has revealed a trailer touting the new patch, catchily nicknamed The Shadow of the Balaur. According to translated patch notes from the official Korean site, 1.5 will include new instances that will see players visiting a twisted Balaur-infested version of the Elyos starter zone known as Dark Poeta. There's also a flying ship crewed by the adorable ferret-like Shugo and a new battleground. On top of that are plenty of minor changes including the ability to zoom in on the minimap, four new face presets, new armour sets and, my personal favourite, in-game clothing in the form of kimono and the imperial uniforms of China and Taiwan. Check out the video after the jump for a taste of what's to come.
NCsoft Europe hiring after massive layoffs
Brighton, U.K., based NCsoft Europe is hiring people to fill five positions just a month after cutting 70 jobs in a move representatives from the company called a transition to "have a stronger focus in marketing in sales." The new openings seem to confirm NCsoft EU's new direction, as all five jobs are either in or related to marketing. The available jobs are: Creative Services Coordinator EU Territory Marketing Assistant European Territory Brand Manager Online Sales Manager Sales Account Representative Not a bad line, but if you're not already able to work in the E.U., you may be out of luck. The site bears this disclaimer: "All of NCsoft Europe's job openings are for full time, on-site employees. We do not employ 'remote' staff. Potential employees must be able to work legally in the United Kingdom, and must either reside near Brighton, England or be willing to relocate. Relocation assistance is potentially available."
NCsoft third quarter profits sliced in half
MMO industry giant NCsoft has seen better weeks than this. First there was Richard Garriott's announcement that he's leaving the company for new horizons. Then came the news that NCsoft's third quarter profits fell by 50 percent. Gamasutra reported today: "In the three months ending September 30th, the South Korean company's profit was down from 10 billion won ($7.2m) in 2007 to just 5 billion ($3.6m) in this year's third quarter." Gamasutra goes on to cite some additional figures in regards to NCsoft's operations, namely that its Korean titles are still the big earners, with Lineage and Lineage II comprising roughly 84 percent of its overall revenues. MMO titles popular in North America and EU account for roughly 15 percent of NCsoft's revenues. For further details, be sure to check out Gamasutra's piece on NCsoft's third quarter revenues for more statistics linked to the company's revenue dip.
Improvements made to SOE's Station Launcher beta
If you're a fan of SOE games, you may have noticed some big changes this week to the Station Launcher beta. Similar in function to the PlayNC launcher for NCsoft games, Station Launcher manages games, updates, and downloads, but it also allows you to chat with your friends across the SOE titles. While the idea of it is appealing, there have been problems with how the Station Launcher functioned. Dan Kinney, Senior Director of Platform Client Applications at SOE gave a rundown of the changes they've made based off of player feedback:
Gracia - Part 1 update now live on Lineage II test server
Lineage II players can give Part 1 of the Gracia expansion a go right now on the Public Test Server. Gracia is planned to be a three-part series, and this first installment offers a number of features, such as faster leveling and solo improvements, new hunting areas Kamaloka and Cruma Tower, and some skill and UI changes.Before diving on to the test server, you can get acquainted with Gracia at the expansion's official preview site. As well as listing the update's features, you can learn more about its back-story, reading straight from a stylish pop-up tome and enjoying some rather mysterious and epic music.
PlayNC store expands payment options by adding PayPal
NCsoft wants to make it easier for their PlayNC shoppers looking to buy one or more of the following MMOGs in their stable: Tabula Rasa, CoX, Guild Wars, and other digital-boxed goods. They've gone so far they are now accepting PayPal as a payment option. PayPal has a variety of different payment and transfer methods linked to one's PayPal account. The new payment option is only available for digital code purchases and not NCcoin or subscriptions. Support for Euros and British pounds will be added tomorrow. The pay-to-download business is booming, more and more MMOG companies are taking advantage of alternative non-credit card payment options. It sure beats driving down to the local big-box store.
Q4 2007: NCsoft's subscription numbers & Tabula Rasa's financial flop
NCsoft crunches their numbers every financial quarter and releases this information in the open since they are publicly traded company. With all this information it provides a fantastic insiders look at one of the biggest MMOG publishers in the world. Another Massively writer already reported on the gist from the latest round of numbers, but with all the recent hoopla surrounding Tabula Rasa, let's take a closer look at NCsoft's subscription numbers across the board, and come up with a subscription number for Tabula Rasa. Lineage [Worldwide]: 1,049,763 subscriptions (down 93,936 from Q3)[North America]: 6,414 subscriptions (down 585 from Q3)Lineage 2 [Worldwide]: 926,570 subscriptions (down 4,693 from Q3)[North America & Europe]: 79,986 subscriptions (up 943 from Q3)City of Heroes/Villains [North America & Europe]: 136,250 (-3,063 subs from Q3)Guild Wars[North America & Europe]: 4,878,000 boxes sold (+378,000 from Q3)Subscriptions continue to decline, but the impact isn't very noticeable unless you look at the loss over a greater period. Over a million subscriptions have been lost since the Lineage franchise peaked. No exact subscription numbers are given for Tabula Rasa, but an educated guess is discernable with the available projections given by NCsoft's CFO Lee Jae-ho. Tabula Rasa's given projection stands at 16 million for 2008. Its subscription fee is the standard $15 a month, added up for the year that amounts to $180. 180 into the projected 16 million and you get 88 thousand users.
Gifts for the City dwellers
Whatever you celebrate this time of year, December seems to be when the majority of gifts are exchanged among friends and family. Everyone has their own idea of what is and isn't appropriate in a gift-giving manner, and it's difficult to decide what's best to give, and what we most want to receive. Well, that's where we come in.We have the good fortune of having two of the fae here -- one from the Rogue Isles, and one from Paragon City -- to share with us their views of appropriate gifts for those of you who are playing in NCsoft's realms this holiday season. Their selections range from cost-free, in-game offerings up to something you can tuck under the tree ... or the computer desk, as the case may be.
NCsoft 2007 Q3 financial results & MMOG subscription numbers
NCsoft raked in $88.3 (US) million in sales for the quarter, a cool $11.2 million profit, and $10.7 million in operating costs, all on a consolidated big money-pit basis. Sales exploded in Europe mainly in due part to Guild Wars: Eye of the North, helping to rocket sales in Europe by 81% compared to those that took place in Q2. Overall sales jumped 5% compared to the previous quarter. Operating income and net income were not so lucky, sinking 8% and 5%, respectively, when compared to Q2's numbers. Taiwan saw an increase in net sales that rose by 15% thanks to a pick-up in Lineage II sales. Royalty sales increased as well by 20% due to strong Lineage sales in Taiwan. By game title, sales in the quarter for Lineage recorded $26.2 million, Lineage II $35.8 million, City of Heroes/City of Villain $6.3 million, and Guild Wars $14.4 million. Lineage and City of Heroes/City of Villains sales dropped 7% and 10%, respectively, and Lineage II and Guild Wars increased by 1% and 57%, respectively. NCsoft MMOG subscription numbers:Lineage[World-Wide]: 1,143,699 subscriptions (-47,026 from 2007 Q2)[North America]: 6,999 subscriptions (-2,094 from 2007 Q2)Lineage II[World-Wide]: 931,263 subscriptions (+27,007 from 2007 Q2)[North America + Europe]: 78,953 subscriptions (-5,767 from 2007 Q2) City of Heroes[North America + Europe] 139,313 subscriptions (-14,018 from 2007 Q2) Guild Wars[North America + Europe] 4,500,000 boxes sold (+583,000 from 2007 Q2)
Wanna try a MMO? The first hit's free
We know that MMOs can be a little addictive. So do developers and publishers. That's why some of NCsoft's new offerings are at once a stroke of brilliance and absolutely terrifying. Aimed at new MMO players as well as existing ones, the PlayNC portal invites players to try its games by putting them at an irresistible price -- $0.The money, of course, lies in areas like micropayments -- while a great portion of each game is free, features like new items or character slots will come at a price. Some games may only offer lower-level gameplay for free, meaning that players are enticed into purchasing the game once they have become invested in a character. Two games from the PlayNC portal were playable at E3: Dungeon Runners and Exteel.
