Matt “Positron” Miller was the lead designer on City of Heroes right up to its closure last year, and in a post-mortem interview with Gamasutra, he’s revealed that the game’s financial future wasn’t as dire as NCSoft made it out to be.

In the same interview, Miller also revealed that he pushed for the release of the unfinished alien invasion content just prior to sunset, “bugs and all, just so the players had something new for the last couple months”. However NCSoft refused to go ahead with the plan, saying that “It was too bug-ridden and it was going to cause customer-service complaints and they didn’t want to have to deal with that.”

Some of the plans on the table for the game’s anniversary would have included a moon base, an entirely new enemy, and a storyline that played out over several issues across the solar system.

“We really wanted to give the players a brand new environment — something they’ve kind of been asking for, something to take the game to that galactic stage,” said Miller. “We’ve had superheroes in the game. You start off [and] you’re just fighting street crime. Then you move up and you’re fighting citywide threats and then global threats and then these sort of extra-dimensional threats all threatening the world. And we really wanted to take the stage and make it more of a galactic stage.”

“So we had an alien invasion race called The Battalion that was going to be arriving in the very next issue. That would play out over several issues culminating with the moon base, where you would use the resources of the moon base to actually fight back and basically kick Battalion out of our solar system.”

If you’re an aspiring MMO developer, why read our 10 Lessons that other MMO developers must learn from the death of City of Heroes?

Source: Gamasutra

The depressing shutdown of City of Heroes lead many to claim that they would fight on and not let the superhero genre — or indeed the game itself — die. Well, the game does appear to be about as dead as it gets but a group of former CoH developers have teamed up with some fans to create ‘Missing Worlds Media’, and they’re looking to create “a family-friendly game of heroes, vigilantes, mercenaries, and villains, bringing you all that you loved from previous heroic games and improving where the newest technology allows us to.”

More info on Missing Worlds Media at the official site.

City of Heroes/Villains (CoX) was my first MMO love, and a game that I poured a ridiculous amount of hours into over the years. The news of its imminent shutdown on November 30 is deeply upsetting to me, not only because I — perhaps foolishly, in the world of superheroes — hoped that it would live forever, but because the good things that the game has brought to the MMO genre still seem criminally under-recognised by developers at large. So, here’s the lessons that we need to take away from CoX — for better and worse.

As you may have heard, City of Heroes/Villains is shutting down at the end of November. The announcement was greeted with many a desperate plea of denial, the community even managing to accrue over 20,000 signatures on a petition begging for its reversal.

The battle for a beloved video game was hard fought, but unfortunately, City of Heroes/Villains publishers NCSoft have stepped forward to tell you, ‘Alas, it cannot be saved’.

“We wanted to let you know that your voices have been heard and your concerns have been taken into serious consideration. We appreciate the overwhelmingly constructive and positive messages in the emails, notes, and packages you’ve sent in support of the game,” the publishers said in a statement over at their home page. “It has not been an easy decision for us to close Paragon Studios and prepare to shut down City of Heroes. We’ve exhausted all options including the selling of the studio and the rights to the City of Heroes intellectual property, but in the end, efforts to do so were not successful. City of Heroes has a special place in all of our hearts, and we want to ensure its reputation and the memories we share for the game end on a high note.”

So there you have it, sports racers. End game events will be running until the game shuts down on November 30, although character creation has ended so if you haven’t already played, unfortunately you’ve missed the boat on this great MMO.

Source: Massively

City of Heroes/Villains fans fighting to keep the MMORPG from closing have already managed some impressive feats. If you’d like the free-to-play effort to continue, why not consider adding your name to the 20,000 or so who have already signed a petition directed at publisher NCSoft? Or perhaps you’d like to join in a campaign posting a soulful letter inviting NCSoft representatives to play the game alongside its vociferous community? Or heck, maybe you have something extra special planned, like buying dinner for the entire Paragon Studios team, whose jobs are on the line?

City of Heroes and Paragon Studios are expected to close in November, so whatever you do, get cracking.

Source: Massively

Last week’s news that City of Heroes would be shutting down in November was a sad blow to us all, but like all good comic books, there may be a twist yet. Fans have been rallying to save the game, including organising a huge petition and forming a community dedicated to saving as much of the game as possible.

An admin by the name of Alpha Wolf appeared in game to tell players that Paragon’s management team were currently in talks with NCSoft and with other investors, but Community Manager Zwillinger has warned players that these are simply talks and that nothing fruitful may come of them.

If you’re at all interested in City of Heroes continuing in one form or another, hit the links above and do your part.

Source: Massively (Thanks, Michael)

Over the weekend, I was dealt the devastating news that City of Heroes, my first MMO and my dearest love, would be shutting down before the end of the year. Paragon Studios, who are managing the title, had this to say: “In a realignment of company focus and publishing support, NCsoft has made the decision to close Paragon Studios.”

“Effective immediately, all development on City of Heroes will cease and we will begin preparations to sunset the world’s first, and best, Super Hero MMORPG before the end of the year. As part of this, all recurring subscription billing and Paragon Market purchasing will be discontinued effective immediately. We will have more information regarding a detailed timeline for the cessation of services and what you can expect in game in the coming weeks.”

Despite a shift to the free-to-play model last year, it seems like City of Heroes has no future in NCSoft’s catalogue. As a long-time lover of this sometimes boring but mostly brilliant game, I’d like to encourage us all to have a minute of silence.

Source: City of Heroes