City of Heroes/Villains Sale Interview

Ten Ton Hammer also took the opportunity to discuss the acquisition of the City of Heroes and City of Villains IPs with NCsoft's Brian Clayton.
TTH: How does NCsoft hope to introduce or reintroduce players into a game that is 3.5 years old?

Brian:
That's a great question and one that has a very long response. Let me take a rain check on it for now and we'll plan on dedicating an entire interview to this subject at a later date. The short form is that the growth potential is virtually limitless for this franchise, especially because it's rooted in the superhero genre. The only other insight I can provide at this time is we have extensive plans (many already underway) that will lead us to a long-term successful future for the franchise and our fans.

TTH: Is there any concern that the current CoH/CoV playerbase will feel abandoned?

Brian:
From our perspective, the response from the players has been extremely positive and supportive. Since the entire active (City of) development team has come over to NCsoft from Cryptic, the community should not feel abandoned in any way. The same team will work on the product, but with more resources, a stronger commitment and a surefooted direction.

I personally have worked on site with the City of Heroes Cryptic development team as the Producer and Executive Producer since mid-2003 (about as long as Lead Designer Matt (Positron) Miller has been with the project). We have an experienced team of Cryptic and NCsoft MMO development veterans that will continue to drive this franchise to new levels never before possible. I can't underscore enough that NCsoft as a publishing and development company fosters an extremely creative, high-quality, and pro-development work environment that allows us to do what's in the best interest of the product and our players. This philosophy will completely carry forward.