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Thread: NCSoft Moving Away from Gaming?

  1. #1
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    Default NCSoft Moving Away from Gaming?

    I am not sure if this was already posted. I checked the general section and this section and could not find a thread on this~ so here i go...

    Is NCSoft moving out of the gaming industry? Cho Jin-seo of The Korea Times reports that the company is considering moving into conventional Internet services, most notably, a social networking service, Openmaru, which seems to include several "Web 2.0" style services.

    NCSoft's stock has been cut in half in the past 2 months. Its revenues are down 16% in the last quarter and the reception of the new game, Tabula Rasa, has been lukewarm.

    This is usually a bad sign for a company. First of all, online gaming itself is a thriving business. Usually, a company diversifies when its market is maturing. While online gaming seems to be plateauing in Korea, globally, the industry is growing rapidly. NCSoft really hasn't had a major hit since Lineage II. Its forays into the US market and strategy to build a global gaming company have met with limited success Guild Wars is a solid performer and City of Heroes/Villains has also had reasonable, but not overwhelming success.

    Also, of course, social networking / Web 2.0 type businesses are intensely competitive and a lot of innovation has come from new startups, not existing companies. It would seem more sensible for NCSoft to work on acquiring additional game properties and build on its existing market than move into a completely new direction. Casual MMOs would be an obvious target as would migrating its games over to the free-to-play / virtual asset purchase business model.

    Source: http://news.mmosite.com/content/2007...204024,1.shtml
    ---------------

    The article was posted in the site 4 days ago...i was surprised when i read this news. Too bad Tabula Rasa did not get such a good attention from the community....i thought there were as much of a hype to it as Hellgate: London....if NCSoft stops producing mmorpgs...what will happen?

  2. #2
    McFox Sandwich Reputation: 10
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    no moar guild wars?
    no moar lineage?
    o_o......

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    Heck no! I want GW2!!

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    huh!?!?

    "NCSoft really hasn't had a major hit since Lineage II. Its forays into the US market and strategy to build a global gaming company have met with limited success Guild Wars is a solid performer and City of Heroes/Villains has also had reasonable, but not overwhelming success."

    considering most companies out there are even worse NCsoft is one of the top already isnt it?!?!

  5. #5
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    old news -.-

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    Hey, don't you dare NCsoft, don't you dare.

  7. #7
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    soooo is this bad news ?

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    Yes its bad. No guildwars/2, lineage/2, CoH/V,Aion, Exteel or Dungeon runners if they close their online gaming service.

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    oh, and Aion, they gonna close it?

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    They better lawl, I love GW =(

    And caint w8 for GW2...

  11. #11
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    It doesn't matter GW is not even by NCsoft they only sell it and promote it and host servers i think probably there will be a new host.

  12. #12
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    quite frankly I am not surprised.

    They have to be one of the worst companies for screwin people out of their money. Perhaps Softnyx is #1 there.

    As far as guildwars goes though, even if it NCSoft does fold, Arenanet owns the rights, they only partnered with NCSoft for the global market. So that won't affect anything except maybe the overseas crowd, but I am sure someone would pick the title up without too much trouble.

    The rest of the games they would sell off or let die, depending on the title or how much they were offered I suppose.

  13. #13
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    They should probably stop charging so much. That is the main reason why I do not play some of their games. I would much rather use a cash shop than pay a monthly fee's for the quality of the games they release. Or have it like Dungeon runners where it is only 5 dollars a month and you get access to better gear. I am not saying the games are bad. But they are about the same quality as other free to play games.

    Ok back on topic. I seriously doubt that they are going to get out of the industry. They just bought the rights to the City of Heroes franchise. But they do need to do something about Tabula Rasa. I imagine they are going to take a big loss on that one.

  14. #14
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    Lol gw fans gonna be pissed.

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    I'll be pissed if they close Exteel =[ It's only 3rdPS that I like.

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    GW2 + AION + LINEAGE3

    those 3 games if they all live up to the standards will make ncsoft big $

  17. #17
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    No big hit since lineage 2? lies...

    And the only reason Tabula Rasa sucks is because its p2p..if it was b2p or f2p with cash shop I would be playing it.

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Blinx View Post
    no moar guild wars?
    no moar lineage?
    o_o......
    More like...

    no moar citty of hurroez

    BTW, korncob, Tabula Rasa doesn't suck then.

  19. #19
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    I bet Blizzard's assassins are behind this.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Attila View Post
    I bet Blizzard's assassins are behind this.
    Hell yeah!

    Those bitches. They're probably lvl 80 already, too.

  21. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Seiyuuki View Post
    Yes its bad. No guildwars/2, lineage/2, CoH/V,Aion, Exteel or Dungeon runners if they close their online gaming service.
    Too bad eh..

    I wasn't planning on p2p for any NCSoft games in the future anyways..

    Someone better make emulators quick!

  22. #22
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    Arena.Net will have to find a new publisher for GW2 if that happens

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