NCSOFT

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NCSOFT Corporation
엔씨소프트
Public company
Traded as KRX: 036570
Industry Computer and video games
Interactive entertainment
Founded March 11, 1997
Headquarters Seoul, South Korea[1]

Subsidiary Companies

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Key people
 T.J. Kim, CEO
Products <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Revenue IncreaseUS$ 686.6 million (2012)[2]
Increase US$ 137.0 million (2012)[2]
Increase US$ 142.0 million (2012)[2]
Total assets Increase US$ 1.2 billion (2012)[2]
Total equity Increase US$ 922.9 million (2012)[2]
Number of employees
 ~3,000
Website http://www.ncsoft.net/
T.J. Kim, the CEO of NCSOFT

NCSOFT is a South Korea-based online, video and mobile game development company that has produced Lineage, City of Heroes, WildStar, Guild Wars and Aion.

History

NCSOFT was founded in March 1997 by T.J. Kim. In September 1998, NCSOFT launched its first game Lineage.

In April 2001 the company created a US subsidiary under the name NC Interactive (based in Austin, Texas, and would later become NCSOFT West.) after acquiring Destination Games, headed by Richard Garriott and Robert Garriott.[citation needed] In 2004, NCSOFT launched two MMORPGs, Lineage II and City of Heroes.[3]

The company formed NCSOFT Europe in July 2004 as a wholly owned subsidiary with its main office in Brighton, England. They brought City of Heroes to several European countries on February 4, 2005, and established Lineage II service for Europe as well.[citation needed]

On April 26, 2005, the company launched Guild Wars, a MMORPG with no subscription model. Expansions followed: Guild Wars Factions, Guild Wars Nightfall and Guild Wars Eye of the North. On April 24, 2009, NCSOFT announced that Guild Wars had sold more than six million units.[4] On August 28, 2012, NCSOFT launched Guild Wars 2.

On September 10, 2008, NCSOFT announced the formation of NCSOFT West, a subsidiary which manages NCSOFT's other western organizations, and established its headquarters for that subsidiary in Seattle, Washington.[5]

On July 8, 2011, NCSOFT started talks with SK Telecom to acquire Ntreev Soft Co., Ltd.[6] The talks were expected to last less than a month, but it took seven for NCSOFT to complete the acquisition; purchasing 76% of Ntreev's stock for ₩108 billion (US$96.7 million) on February 15, 2012.[7]

In 2011, NCSOFT purchased Hotdog Studio, a mobile game studio based in Seoul that produces phone and smartphone titles such as Dark Shrine.[8]

On June, 2012, NCSOFT launched Blade & Soul, the next MMORPG after AION, in 2006. NCSOFT has shown the next MMORPG before 2 weeks in Project[M] name and released Blade & Soul in NCSOFT Media Day in Korea.

In 2012 Nexon acquired a 14.7 percent interest in NCSOFT for $688 million.[9]

In November, 2012, NCSOFT closed down City of Heroes.

Customer satisfaction

NCSOFT and RightNow Technologies were both recognized in 2006 with the "Beagle Research 'Whiz Kids' Award for Innovative Embedded Customer Service Solution."[10] for NCSOFT's integration of RightNow's customer support software.

Games

Under Development

Title Developer Genre Status
Lineage Eternal NCSOFT (Team Eternal) MMORPG TBA 2015
Master x Master NCSOFT (Studio MBA) MOBA TBA 2015
Project HON NCSOFT (Team HON) MMORPG CANCELLED

Available

Title Developer Genre Status
Aion NCSOFT (Team Aion) MMORPG Active since September 22, 2009.
Blade & Soul NCSOFT (Team Bloodlust) MMORPG Active since June 30, 2012.
Guild Wars ArenaNet MMORPG Active since April 26, 2005.
Guild Wars 2 ArenaNet MMORPG Active since August 28, 2012.
Lineage NCSOFT (Team L2Live) MMORPG Active since September 3, 1998.
Lineage II NCSOFT MMORPG Active since October 1, 2003.
Jan Ryu Mon NCSOFT Japan Mahjong Active.
PangYa Ntreev Soft Sport Casual Active since 2004.
WildStar Carbine Studios MMORPG Active since June 3, 2014.

End of Life / Closed

Title Developer Genre Status
Auto Assault NetDevil MMORPG Closed August 31, 2007.
Dungeon Runners NCSOFT MMORPG Closed January 1, 2010.
Dragonica (Korean Server) Gravity Casual MMORPG Closed July 13, 2011.
Exteel NCSOFT (E&G Studios) TPS Closed September 1, 2010.
Point Blank (Korean Server) Zepetto FPS Closed July 13, 2011.
Tabula Rasa Destination Games MMORPG Closed February 28, 2009.
City of Heroes Paragon Studios MMORPG Closed November 30, 2012.
Lineage (North American server) NCSOFT (Team L2Live) MMORPG Closed June 29, 2011.
Trickster (Current Landing page) Ntreev Soft MMORPG Closed Feb.27, 2013

Titles not available in English

Title Developer Genre Status
Love Beat CrazyDiamond Dance game Korean, Philippines and Thai release only.
Murim Jekook Longtu Network Technology Strategy Korean release only.
Punch Monster Next Play MMORPG Korean release only.

In addition, NCSOFT is also the developer and maintainer of a variety of web-based board games in Asian markets.

Controversy

Stolen source code

On April 27, 2007, Seoul Metropolitan Police said that seven former employees of NCSOFT are suspected of selling the Lineage III source code to a major Japanese game company.[11] According to NCSOFT, the potential damages may exceed US$1 billion.[12]

Worlds.com patent lawsuit

Worlds.com CEO Thom Kidrin claimed the idea of a "scalable virtual world with thousands of users" is patented by his organization[13] and targeted NCSOFT for patent infringement in 2008,[14] in what he says will be the first of many lawsuits against MMO developers.[13] On April 23, 2010, the Worlds.com case settled, but the terms of the settlement were kept confidential.[citation needed] On July 22, 2010, Worlds.com requested the case be reopened.[citation needed]

Richard Garriott termination

Richard Garriott, lead developer of Tabula Rasa, sued NCSOFT for US$24 million in damages concerning his termination from the company. Garriott asserted in his suit that he was forced out of the company and was made to sell his 400,000 shares in NCSOFT's stock, losing him millions of dollars. In addition, he claimed that the company was guilty of fraud by forging his resignation announcement.[15] On July 30, 2010, a jury in a Texas federal court awarded him US$28 million in damages. NCSOFT appealed the ruling.[16] Garriott again prevailed on appeal and NCSOFT was required to pay an additional US$4 million, bringing the total damages awarded to Garriott to US$32 million.[17]

Closure of Paragon Studios and City of Heroes

On August 31, 2012, NCSOFT liquidated Paragon Studios and announced the closure of City of Heroes. Over 21,000 players signed an online petition contesting the shut-down[18] and many used social media to promote their criticisms.

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ http://www.plaync.com/us/news/2008/09/ncsoft_announce_31.html[dead link]
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20110716191000/https://www.rightnow.com/crm-news-1357.php
  11. ↑ http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2007/04/former_ncsoft_e/
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2008/12/ncsoft-faces-pa/
  15. ↑ massively.joystiq.com/2009/05/06/richard-garriott-blasts-ncsoft-with-24-million-lawsuit/
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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