The latest MMORPG from NCSoft (Lineage, City of Heroes, Tabula Rasa) is called Dungeon Runners. It's free to get in on the first floor, but users are encouraged to pay $4.99 monthly for access to premium content, items and bonuses. NCSoft spokesman Mike Crouch said the split free and pay-to-play model is an "experiment" for NCSoft.

With a less-complicated interface and a lower cost of play, Dungeon Runners seems to be geared toward a slightly younger demographic, or toward the casual gamer hoping to avoid the big time and cash commitment required by a full-size MMO.

Thus far, the game has received some favorable critical reception; 1UP.com gave it a 7.6, saying it "might be the most outrageously cynical take on the genre ever;" GameShark.com assigned it a B rating, saying "it’s not quite good enough to be a full meal, but it’s certainly a deliciously indulgent little snack."

Korean online game publishers Webzen (Mu Online, SUN), Nexon (Kart Riders, Maple Story) and NCSoft (Lineage, Dungeon Runners), along with internet content service provider NHN (the Hangame portal), have teamed up with the Korea Culture & Content Agency (KOCCA) to promote their latest online games with the opening of an interactive Online Gaming Hall and Digital Mobile Content Center at the Korea Center in Los Angeles.

KOCCA is the creative content division of South Korea’s Ministry of Culture & Tourism, while the Korea Center on Los Angeles' Wilshire Boulevard opened in 2006, with the mission of introducing and promoting Korean creative content within its exhibition space of over 3,000 square feet.

One of the first online games featured at the Korea Center is Nexon's Audition, which claims to have registered over 100,000 North American users in two months. Other games on exhibition include Webzen’s Huxley, NHN’s GunBound, and NCSoft’s Lineage.

“The featured Korean online games and mobile content have already gained widespread popularity and success in Asia,” says KOCCA Managing Director Daniel Kim. “This event is significant in that the leading Korean online gaming and mobile companies are jointly displaying their creative content in the Korea Center exhibition space. People of all nationalities can now visit the Korea Center and experience Korean games and mobile content firsthand, thereby increasing awareness of Korean creative content to an even higher level in the United States.”

[Each day, Worlds in Motion will be taking a closer look at individual virtual worlds. We'll start with a nuts-and-bolts overview, then move on to an in-depth tour, to be followed up with a conclusion-- all with the aim of bringing you all the essential info and details on each world in the rapidly-developing virtual landscape.]

Let's investigate Dungeon Runners, the new MMO from NCSoft that brings a lighthearted twist to classic genre conventions. We'll start with an overview!

In a statement on the official NCsoft website, CEO Robert Garriott offered details about the company's recently-announced new relationship with Sony, describing the deal as one which "gives us an unprecedented opportunity to bring our online portfolio of games to a suite of highly popular console gaming systems, including the PlayStation 3."

Acknowledging that many in the industry and the press have asked for further articulation on the partnership and for information on the direction of future titles, Garriott issued the statement in an effort to outline NCsoft's vision for their products in the coming years.

"It has been one of our business strategies to bring customers to a catalog of games where the customer has the choice to play a variety of different products. However, we don’t want to limit ourselves to the PC, especially while the console market continues to grow by leaps and bounds with every new generation...and console makers want to get into the online space," he said.

"The ideal system would be an extremely capable, stable platform, with the best Internet connectivity and greatest freedom of web access and interaction available to the user... we felt like Sony fit the bill," he continued, adding that Sony's vision going forward complements NCsoft's strategy. Nonetheless, he also stated that NCsoft is "far from" plans to stop developing on the PC.

Garriott says the relationship with Sony will allow NCsoft to develop across all of Sony's console hardware platforms, though he specified the PS3 is the focus, "and perhaps the PSP." The crux of the statement was the expression of a desire to build NCsoft's catalog beyond PC MMO titles.

While Garriott says future titles to come are still under wraps, he added, "We are hoping, but can’t promise, to have the first of our products available for the holiday season in 2008."

He acknowledged that this is a short time frame, but stressed, "We won’t just be porting our games over to the PS3," stating the aim of making new products from current IPs that will take advantage of the PS3's user interface, connectivity and play styles.

He admitted, though, that this "tends to take a lot longer" than a simple port. Garriott added that NCsoft is also looking at new and original IPs specifically for the console, specifying that that particular process "will take two to three years at a minimum."

The new console games will be developed via the same distributed model of development currently used for NCsoft's PC titles, Garriott said, though he noted that the idea of starting a new console-specific studio outside of Austin is under consideration, even as the company also looks to other existing studios to house specific projects. "This includes our Austin offices or our other currently existing studios. Console game development won’t just be at one single location," he explained.

The anticipated Sony products will continue to utilize a range of NCsoft's current business model. "There will be the traditional subscription models, micropayment systems and free-to-play games with membership options," Garriott said.

Promising more info to come, he concluded, "It's an exhilarating time for NCsoft."

[The preceding article originally ran at Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

Free To Play currently has an interesting interview with NCsoft's Dallas Snell all about the business model of Dungeon Runners. Of particular interest is the following excerpt, wherein Snell explains to Free To Play's McElroy Flavelle about the decision to make Dungeon Runners free:

The decision to resurrect Dungeon Runners and make it a free to play game (versus a full retail MMO) came from NCsoft CEO Robert Garriott and Chris Jung, the former ArenaNet General Manager, who operated out of Korea at the time and therefore had early expose to the free to play model. Chris is back in Austin now and looking to push NCsoft further into casual MMO development, replicating the success of Korean companies like Nexon.

There’s been speculation that NCsoft chose subscriptions as the primary revenue model in Dungeon Runners due to a belief that North American players preferred that model to microtransactions. However, that was not the rationale for the subscription decision. Instead, Dungeon Runners’ optional subscription fee was chosen simply because a microtransactional model wasn’t yet set up in the Dungeon Runners code base. To remedy that, the team is currently working on getting microtransactions running within Dungeon Runners before the game is launched in Korea.

Another key highlight from the interview? Looks like NCsoft will begin unveiling in-game ads soon too, perhaps even as an alternative altogether to subscriptions.

[Via F2P.biz]

MMO publisher NCsoft and in-game advertising company Double Fusion have announced a partnership which will see two of NCsoft's free-to-play games supported by in-game ads.

Dungeon Runners, a fantasy MMO which is currently live and already free-to-play, will be bolstered by "in- and around-game advertising," as will Exteel, a futuristic mech-based shooter which is currently in beta. Both games were planned to make the bulk of their money through in-game item sales, which will continue.

According to Jonathan Epstein, president and CEO, Double Fusion, "Partnering with a leading MMO publisher like NCsoft, a leader in free-to-play as well as subscription online game models, allows us to set the type of example we hope other publishers will look to and want to join." Gamasutra recently interviewed Epstein about fusion.runtime, the technology which allows the company to serve ads into its clients games.

Dungeon Runners is NCsoft's first free-to-play MMO. It launched earlier this year. The company also continues to publish other subscription-based MMOs, such as City of Heroes and Lineage II. Its biggest title for this year, Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa, is currently in beta.

[The preceding article originally ran on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

NCsoft has announced the acquisition of the City of Heroes IP and the opening of a new development studio in Mountain View, California -- a city approximately 37 miles south of San Francisco.

The studio will be "built around key members of the City of Heroes team from NCsoft and Cryptic Studios including the art, programming and design team leads," according to the NCsoft press release.

This studio will be in charge in expanding on the City of Heroes property, which NCsoft had shared with Cryptic Studios. As of today, the property is 100% owned by NCsoft. Cryptic Studios will presumably continue to work on Marvel Universe Online, a game announced a little over a year ago by Microsoft.

“We’re happy to announce that NCsoft has acquired full ownership of the City of Heroes IP,” said Brian Clayton, NCsoft executive producer and manager of the new studio. “Our plans are clear. We are now in a position to make a major reinvestment in the City of Heroes product line." Clayton served as the executive producer on City of Heroes and its companion game, City of Villains.

In a FAQ posting on its site, Cryptic Studios justified the decision to sell by stating that "CoH/CoV will be in good hands at NCsoft, and the transition will be as seamless as possible. With this move, we now have complete creative freedom and the resources we need to develop new games." The company promises "no change" and a "smooth transition" to the game's players, noting that "every member of the team has been offered employment at NCsoft."

No plans about the future of the franchise in NCsoft's hands are being revealed at this time.

NCsoft has announced an agreement with Chinese game company Shanda Interactive Entertainment, through which Shanda has obtained a license to operate NCsoft's upcoming 3D multiplayer online game AION: The Tower of Eternity, currently in closed beta in Korea since October 27th, in mainland China. Closed beta testing for AION in China is expected to begin in the second half of 2008.

The two companies also announced a strategic alliance that would make Shanda a strategic investor of NCsoft's Chinese subsidiary, NCsoft China, as part of what NCsoft says is a joint effort to "enhance their collaboration" in China.

AION pits two oppositional races, the Angelic and Demonic, against one another in a world threatened by the emergic Draconic race. NCsoft says that actions taken by players in the AION universe actually cause the game environment to evolve, in addition to affecting the storylines.

NCsoft corporation Tack-jin Kim said, "We are very excited to bring our highly anticipated title AION to the China market. Shanda is our most ideal partner in China, given its proven track record in operating MMORPGs, its nationwide distribution platform as well as its strong marketing capabilities. We believe our partnership with Shanda represents an alliance between leading game companies in Korea and China, and we are very optimistic about our collaboration going forward."

The Korea Times is reporting that NCsoft's game business may be waning a bit, leading the largest online game company in Korea to turn towards non-gaming internet services. This year, the company has released four different social networking services from its in-house studio, Openmaru.

Two of the services, MyIDnet and Life Pod are personal data and scheduling programs, while NCsoft's Spring Note and Rolling List are social networking platforms. The company is also reported to be exploring the ISP arena, eyeing a place to break in between dominant regional portal operators.

NCsoft's sales reached 161 billion won ($175 million) primarily driven by its most popular MMOs, Lineage and Lineage 2, which have earned the company a combined 1.5 trillion won ($1.6 billion) since 1997. But those games are reported to be losing subscribers, with a 16 percent drop in Lineage revenues in NCsoft's fiscal second quarter.

PC games, ``Lineage'' and ``Lineage II.'' Both have earned the company more than 1.5 trillion won since 1997, but are gradually losing subscribers. In the second quarter alone, its revenue fell by 16 percent.

Additionally, the company's latest U.S. product, Tabula Rasa, spearheaded by renowned Ultima developer Richard "Lord British" Garriott, has apparently not been performing to the company's expectations amid mixed reception from players and game critics. According to the Korea Times, NCsoft will continue to monitor U.S. sales despite "ups and downs."

Despite this evidence, an NCsoft spokesperson apparently denied the shift in stance to the Korea times, stressing that games are the company's main business, the source of 100 percent of its sales.

[Via Korea Times]

NCsoft Europe has announced the release of its second content update for its free-to-play multiplayer online game, Dungeon Runners. Called Chunk 2, the update adds in-game advertising for non-members, more bank space for members and item trading, along with game balance refinements that include loot access and combat adjustments.

NCsoft, which recently announced it would be adding the advertising support through a partnership with in-game advertising agency Double Fusion, says the in-game advertising will help fund future development of the massively multiplayer online game and keep it free for players. The in-game advertising will be visible to non-members in loading screens, and in a banner that sits on top of the game window during play. Subscribers can avoid the advertising altogether.

Because of the ad support, free players will be able to access dungeons and valuable items they haven't been able to access thus far. Non-members will also have another page of bank slots to store more items. Through the new trade system, all players can now swap items amongst themselves (not including gold).

NCsoft producer and Dungeon Runners lead programmer Stephen Nichols said, “Chunk 2 unlocks an enormous amount of playable content for non-members that they didn’t have access to before thanks to the addition of in-game advertising. Our non-member players are very happy they can now use what was previously members-only loot, and our members are really excited about receiving additional bank slots to hold their items. These changes, plus our new secure trade system, make this update a win-win for everyone!”

NCsoft has announced the release of what it says is its largest expansion ever to its Lineage II franchise with a 1 gigabyte update called Kamael, which adds a new race of one-winged soldiers to the slate of available characters, along with new lands, instanced dungeons and new account services.

The Kamael expansion is free to all current Lineage II subscribers, which NCsoft says number 17 million worldwide. The company also says it will make game features such as character server transfers, name changes and gender changes available for purchase.

There's also a bit of a game balance adjustment, it seems, with items and enhancements available for newer players to support the single-player experience and make it more accessible, while also adding new areas for players over level 70.

Interestingly, players can record certain accomplishments and boss battles on video with a record and replay system, to let them create their own gameplay movies. Wonder if they'll be able to share and exchange videos?

Tim Tan, NCsoft’s North American producer of Lineage II, says, “The new Kamael race is very unique and adds a new world of playability to the game. The new high-level lands will benefit our longtime players seeking harder challenges, while the new-player and soloing features will make getting to the heart of the game easier for more players. The sheer amount of content in this expansion is unbelievable and I really look forward to seeing the players’ response.”

Publisher NCsoft has announced the results of its first quarter, showing sales up four percent to KRW 88.1 billion ($84.3 million), and profits down 43 percent to KRW 8.1 billion ($7.7 million) following a write-off after its decision to drop Spacetime's PC MMO Blackstar from its lineup.

The company announced the decision in January to end its publishing agreement with Austin-based Spacetime Studios for Blackstar, resulting in layoffs at the developer. NCsoft says without the write-off, profits would have increased 8 percent to KRW 15.2 billion ($14.5 million). Spacetime announced in early May it had re-acquired the IP and development continues on the project.

Elsewhere, NCsoft says its operating income was buoyed by continued popularity of the Lineage series in Asia, and sales of Guild Wars and City of Heroes in North America and Europe. NCsoft notes in particular that its first quarter saw the highest sales of Lineage II since its 2003 release.

By title, NCsoft saw sales made up by 43 percent from Lineage II ($34.1m), 35 percent from Lineage ($27.8m), 12 percent from Guild Wars ($9.1m), and seven percent from City of Heroes/City of Villains ($5.2m). By region it saw sales of 57 percent in Korea, 12 percent in North America, 10 percent in Europe, 11 percent in Japan, three percent in Taiwan and seven percent from royalty income.

Looking forward, NCsoft says its third closed beta test of Aion is coming this summer ahead of its full launch later in the year, and casual titles Point Blank, Punch Monster, Dragonica, and Love Beat due for launch later in the year.

Said CFO Jaeho Lee said, “As proven once again in the Q1 financial results, we strongly believe our key franchise products, such as Lineage and Guild Wars, will meet our sales target with a strong customer base and continued content updates going forward. We plan to ensure the smooth launch of many new products in the next two to three years, which will strengthen our position as a global leader in online games.”

[The preceding article by Brandon Boyer originally appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

MMO developer Spacetime Studios is laying off about half of its 32-person staff as it struggles to find a publishing deal for its Blackstar IP.

Spacetime previously had an agreement with NCsoft to publish the science-fiction MMO, but in January of this year, the publisher canceled the project. Since then, the developer says it's been self-funded during its search for a new deal.

"We have been shopping Blackstar around, but right now, at least,the concept of a SciFi space/ground IP has proven to be a challenge," says Spacetime on its official blog.

"Our studio cannot survive at its current burn rate without a publishing deal, so we face a necessary (though very difficult and painful) decision," reads the recent post. "We are scaling down from thirty-two down to sixteen folks in the hopes of developing a pitch, a prototype and another publishing deal."

[The preceding article by Leigh Alexander originally appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

NCsoft will consolidate its U.S. and European subsidiaries into a new wholly-owned organization called NC West, to be established in Seattle by year's end, the company announced today.

Incorporating existing NCsoft subsidiaries NC Interactive, NC Europe, NC Austin, and ArenaNet, NC West will be responsible for the U.S. and European regions, and will be led by Chris Chung as CEO, Jeff Strain as president of product development, David Reid as president of publishing, and Patrick Wyatt as CTO, in addition to yet-unannounced European executives.

In the process, the Lineage and Guild Wars publisher is expected to lay off employees from both its Brighton, UK and Austin, Texas offices.

Widespread media reports pegged the number of layoffs planned at the publisher's Brighton studio at about 50 employees. Citing anonymous sources, GamesIndustry.biz reports as many as 70 Brighton employees will lose their jobs as the studio stops work on an unannounced MMO in development there, though NCsoft declined to confirm when contacted by Gamasutra for comment.

NCsoft founded the Brighton studio with just 3 employees in 2004, but thanks to a grant from the UK's South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) just over a year ago, the company expanded those offices. It's yet unclear what will become of the grant or whether NCsoft had received any of those funds thus far.

As for the Austin group, NCsoft confirmed layoffs last month of some 21 employees, a day after the publisher's second quarter fiscal results showed profits down 42 percent. At that time, NCsoft also cut staff from its Dungeon Runners team, as it decided to indefinitely suspend plans to port the client to other platforms. It is unclear whether today's reports refer to these or new layoffs in Austin; NCsoft directed all requests for comment to today's NC West announcement, which made no mention of any layoffs.

"We are confident that by combining our subsidiaries into a unified global organization under Chris Chung’s leadership, NC West will become a more powerful force to be reckoned with in the western MMO market," says NCsoft CEO Taek Jin Kim.

"Chris has become a guiding force within our company and has been extremely successful at every position he has held with us. His detailed first-hand knowledge of all aspects of our business is invaluable and will help establish NC West as a global leader."

[The preceding article by Leigh Alexander originally appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

City Of Heroes and Lineage MMO publisher NCsoft saw third quarter profits fall by exactly 50 percent in its third quarter; overall revenues also declined, as the publisher had to fall back on sales of older titles, after Tabula Rasa failed to gian significant traction.

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.

Overall revenue was down by only 2 percent on the same period last year, though, falling from 81.2 billion won ($59.6m) to 78.3 billion won ($57.6m) for the quarter.

The disappointing results come in the same week that market pioneer and Ultima/Tabula Rasa creator Richard Garriott left the company after he returned from a space trip, commenting that the "unforgettable experience has sparked some new interests that I would like to devote my time and resources to."

Korea still continues to account for 59 percent of the company’s sales by region, with North America and Japan both on 13 percent, Europe on 6 percent, and Taiwan on 5 percent.

Lineage II remains the company’s most successful game in terms of revenues, generating 48 percent of all sales, with its predecessor still at 36 percent. City of Heroes/Villains accounted for 8 percent, Guild Wars 5 percent, and Tabula Rasa just 2 percent.

[The preceding article by David Jenkins originally appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

Following the departure of Richard Garriott from NCsoft, the MMO-focused publisher has announced that its PC MMO Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa will be shut down February 28, 2009.

The news was delivered via the game's official site in a letter signed "The Tabula Rasa Team." The closure was pinned simply on a failure for the title to meet its financial targets.

"Last November we launched what we hoped would be a ground breaking sci-fi MMO. In many ways, we think we've achieved that goal," it reads in part. "Unfortunately, the fact is that the game hasn't performed as expected."

From January 10 through the game's shuttering, subscription fees will be waived for all players. Despite the game's imminent demise, NCsoft promised, "We'll be doing some really fun things in Tabula Rasa, and we plan to make staying on a little longer worth your while."

Furthermore, Tabula Rasa players who were already subscribed at the time today's announcement were made will receive a variety of perks relating to other NCsoft products, including three free months of City of Heroes and Lineage II, and upcoming beta access for Aion.

[The preceding article by Chris Remo originally appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

Virtual world company Worlds.com filed suit against City Of Heroes publisher NCsoft on Christmas Eve, claiming infringement on its MMO technology patent.

The main patent referenced in the suit is a "System and Method for Enabling Users to Interact in a Virtual Space."

According to the lawsuit, obtained by the Virtual Worlds News website, Worlds.com alleges that NCsoft's online games, including Dungeon Runners, City of Heroes/Villains and Lineage II, among others, are in violation.

Earlier this month, Worlds.com, which launched in 1994, referenced its holding of patents for two technologies common in virtual worlds and MMOs: scalable chat and user interaction in a virtual space.

As MMO site Massively reported at the time, this theoretically gives Worlds.com enforcement power over just about any online game that lets users talk and interact in a game world -- and the ability to collect financial damages.

Massively's report noted that Worlds.com's interaction patent was filed in 2000 -- after the launch of other games such as Habitat or Ultima Online, which appear to include some reasonably similar features.

The complaint, filed in NCsoft's home ground of the Eastern District of Texas, seeks a permanent injunction against NCSoft operating games covered under the patent, plus damages for the alleged infringement, "in no event less than a reasonable royalty", as well as lawyers' fees.

Worlds.com's second patent, unreferenced in this particular legal claim, is 'Scalable virtual world chat client-server system', which was filed in 1996 and granted in 2001.

[The preceding article by Leigh Alexander also appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

South Korean MMORPG publisher NCsoft's sales were up 5 percent year over year to KRW 346.6 billion ($248.6 million) in 2008.

The Seoul-based company's net profit, however, decreased dramatically by 40 percent for the year, primarily due to Aion: The Tower of Eternity's later-than-expected launch in Korea.

NCsoft also attributed its declining year-over-year profit to increased marketing spend for Aion's launch and updates released for its Lineage MMORPG series.

For its fourth quarter ending on December 31st, the publisher reported a quarter-over-quarter increase of 26 percent to KRW 99 billion ($71 million). Net profit was also grew 60 percent over the previous quarter to KRW 5 billion ($3.6 million).

Those fourth quarter sales were divided over several territories, with Korea accounting for 56 percent of the total with KRW 55.4 billion ($39.7 million), Japan at 19 percent with KRW 19.2 billion ($13.8 million), and North America at 12 percent with KRW 12.2 billion ($8.7 million).

Taiwan contributed 4 percent with KRW 3.5 billion ($2.5 million), while Europe brought in 3 percent with KRW 3.4 billion ($2.4 million). Royalty income was also counted at 5 percent with KRW 5.3 billion ($3.9 million).

Korea, Japan, and North America saw significant quarter-over-quarter sales gains of 19 percent, 95 percent, and 21 percent respectively.

During the October to November period, Lineage sales increased 9 percent to KRW 28.9 billion ($20.7 million), as did Lineage II by 20 percent to KRW 41.9 billion ($30 million), City of Heroes by 11 percent to KRW 6.9 billion ($4.9 million), and Guild Wars by 33 percent to KRW 4.9 billion ($3.5 million).

MMORPG Aion, which released in November 2008 in Korea, generated KRW 9.7 billion ($7 million) in sales. The CryEngine-powered title is slated to release in China in the first quarter of 2009, and in Europe and North America in the fourth quarter.

NCsoft expects to see year-to-year sales grow by 36-44 percent in the new fiscal year to KRW 470-500 billion ($337.1-358.6 million).

"We anticipate full scale growth in 2009 based on the successful launch of Aion in Korea and the upcoming launch of the product in territories worldwide," says the company's CFO Jaeho Lee.

[The preceding article by Eric Caoili also appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

NCsoft has launched a new feature for players of its popular PC MMO City of Heroes called Mission Architect that lets users generate custom missions and story arcs and share them.

Using Mission Architect, discussed in depth recently at the Game Developers Conference, players can not only build missions using existing game assets, but they can also build their own characters and villains using the game's character creator. Mission architect also lets players write their own dialogue.

Users of the monthly subscription-based MMO can publish three story arcs per account, and each arc can have up to five missions of up to twenty five individual objectives.

The system also allows players to rate one another's user-submitted missions and stories, and players can earn in-game rewards for highly-rated content. Players can also get an extra slot for an additional story arc if theirs is hand-chosen by the City of Heroes dev team.

"We are very excited for City of Heroes to be the first-ever MMO to offer this revolutionary new system to our players," says City of Heroes GM and EP Brian Clayton.

"Within two weeks of opening the beta version of Mission Architect to our community, players published an astounding 5,000 custom stories, representing up to 25,000 user-created missions. Such a steady influx of fresh content offers the capacity for endless adventures to City of Heroes subscribers."

[The preceding article by Leigh Alexander also appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

NCsoft's Mountain View, CA-based City of Heroes developer gets an official rebranding today. The studio formerly known as NCsoft NorCal will now be called Paragon Studios, in a move the publisher says expresses its "commitment to further develop the City of Heroes franchise and other MMO games."

"Day to day we're still working on our current tasks, so that hasn't changed, but this is a particularly exciting announcement for us because it solidifies what we've been doing with NCsoft since the acquisition of the City of Heroes IP in late 2007," GM and executive producer Brian Clayton tells Gamasutra.

"We are moving forward full steam ahead and plan to maintain our leadership position in comic book-inspired MMOs," says Clayton. "For our team, this is a great way to formalize the commitment we already have."

So how will the rebrand affect the way the team is working? NCsoft bought the City of Heroes IP in 2007 and transferred the original Cryptic Studios team from Los Gatos to Mountain View. The team has since grown from 20 to 50 staffers and expanded its content offering for the MMO, most recently with the "Mission Architect" user-generated mission tool.

"But our temporary name didn't really play into our team's identity," Clayton says. "Now that we are able to formalize our identity around Paragon City -- the city in which the City of Heroes game is staged -- we can really show where we came from, where our hearts are, and where we are going."

"Our latest City of Heroes: Architect Edition release is the first full-fledged game from our studio. The Mission Architect system is something we feel has raised the MMO bar, and set the standard for innovation, creativity, and community support that our studio has and continues to invest in."

[The preceding article by Leigh Alexander also appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

PC subscription MMO City of Heroes' new user-generated Mission Architect system "has exceeded any expectation we have set for it," says Matt Miller, lead designer on the project at the NCSoft-owned Paragon Studios.

The Architect update, which lets players design and populate their own mission arcs within the game, has been a success among current players -- and also encouraged lapsed users to return, says Miller, although he declined to specify numbers.

According to Miller, users had built 360 mission arcs, each containing 5 missions, for other City of Heroes users within the feature's first 60 minutes of availability.

"By midnight on day one, we had over 2600 arcs, and exactly 24 hours after launch we were already at 3800 arcs," says Miller.

[The preceding article by Leigh Alexander also appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

"We did some data mining of our own, and 3,800 surpasses the amount of content that we, the developers, have made for all of City of Heroes and City of Villains combined. In just one day our users did more than we could in almost five years."

One week following Mission Architect's launch, Miller says there are 20,000 arcs published and playable -- 6259 of them "heroic" and 2240 of them "villainous." Of these, users have awarded five-star ratings to 2,860 total arcs.

Gamasutra is currently running a series of articles written by Paragon Studios' Joe Morrissey discussing the Mission Architect's policing system, with the second in the series to debut on the site in the near future.

Online game maker NCsoft may have its own internal digital storefront with PlayNC, but it has now turned to Valve and its 20 million users strong Steam service to help deliver its current line of MMOs to gamers.

NCsoft, with U.S. headquarters located in Seattle, said today that City of Heroes, Guild Wars, and Lineage are heading to the Steam digital distribution platform. Over the coming weeks, Steam will have special offers on NCsoft products, the publisher said. As of press time, the games had not appeared on the storefront.

NCsoft's products are also available on other third-party distribution services such as Direct2Drive.

The publisher said that it plans on releasing the upcoming MMO Aion on Steam when the game launches this fall in North America and Europe.

NCsoft West president of publishing David Reid said in a statement, "Extending our distribution reach with Steam will allow more gamers the freedom and flexibility to stay updated and engaged with our games and online communities."

Included in NCsoft's Steam deal is City of Heroes's recently-released user-generated Mission Architect. The system led to the creation of over 20,000 mission arcs, just one week after its launch earlier this month.

[The preceding article by Kris Graft also appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

Total sales for massively multiplayer online franchise Guild Wars have exceeded six million units, according to publisher NCsoft and subsidiary ArenaNet.

As the series prepares to celebrate its fourth anniversary, ArenaNet has released a major new content update, with additional in-game celebrations planned for the franchise’s official birthday on April 28th.

The episodic Guild Wars series currently contains three campaigns and an expansion pack: Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions, Guild Wars Nightfall, and Guild Wars: Eye of the North. The games have received generally positive critical acclaim since the franchise first launched in 2005.

Guild Wars does not rely on a monthly subscription model. Instead, NCsoft and ArenaNet released the full-priced standalone campaigns six months apart, which generated sales from new players and old players. The Eye of the North expansion is the only installment that requires the player own one of the three campaigns.

“We are humbled by how gamers have responded to Guild Wars over the past four years, and we are proud that the game and its community have helped to continually shape, define, and expand the genre,” said ArenaNet studio head Mike O’Brien.

“Our subscription-free business model has proven to be a big hit with gamers, bringing an enormous and diverse online community to the game,” he added.

NCsoft recently announced that Guild Wars, along with other titles such as City of Heroes and Lineage, would be made available via Valve’s Steam download service.

[The preceding article by David Jenkins also appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

The worldwide release of NCsoft's fantasy MMO Aion: The Tower of Eternity has proved a success, with the Korean online game publisher announcing an 836 percent leap in year-over-year quarterly profits on revenues that more than doubled.

NCsoft's first half of 2009, which benefited from Aion's Korean launch, had already far eclipsed the preceding quarters, but the third quarter's KRW 46.88 billion (US$40.60 million) in profits and KRW 166.28 billion (US$144.00 million) in revenues were up a further 39 percent and 21 percent, respectively, over the second quarter thanks to Aion's more recent launch in North America and Europe.

The company said its "proportion of overseas sales surged due to Aion's sales in Japan, Taiwan, U.S., and Europe." Overall, the game has been responsible for more than half of NCsoft's total sales in this financial reporting period.

It's a welcome rebound for a company that saw sales cut in half during the same period last year, following disappointing performance by the sci-fi MMO Tabula Rasa.

Aion has seen strong retail performance right out of the gate. The game was on sale for only seven days of the third quarter in North America and five days in Europe, but in that time it apparently managed to sell a total of 970,000 boxed units split roughly evenly across those two territories.