NCSoft gets new studio, CoH property

It is said that the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. That’s probably why Brian Clayton, NCsoft Executive Producer is so enthusiastic about NCsoft owning all of the intellectual property of City of Heroes. And if that weren’t enough, NCsoft has announced the formation of a new studio as well. According to Mr. Clayton, both moves will prove conducive to NCsoft’s plans for City of Heroes.

What does NCsoft intend to do with the City of Heroes franchise? Find out after the jump!

NCsoft, developer and producer of such MMORPGs as Lineage II, Guild Wars, Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa and City of Heroes, has recently announced the formation of a new development studio in Mountain View California. Furthermore, Brian Clayton, NCsoft executive producer and manager of the new studio, has proudly announced that NCsoft now owns all of the intellectual property (IP) of City of Heroes.

In spite of these developments, the new studio will still comprise key members from both NCsoft and Cryptic Studios‘ (previous co-owner of the City of Heroes IP) art, programming, and design team. The point of the transfer, according to Mr. Clayton, is this:

We are now in a position to make a major reinvestment in the City of Heroes product line. With our existing Cryptic and NCsoft team as the core, we will be able to run our current service without any interruption to our players, expand our studio to deliver triple-A content, and take City of Heroes to new heights.”

Apparently, the “new heights” that Brian Clayton has mentioned includes plans for more expansions and sequels to City of Heroes. With the NCsoft-slash-Cryptic Studios gestalt in place and clear plans in mind, it seems things are looking up for this comic book-based MMORPG franchise.