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City of Heroes Defeated By NCsoft's Realignment

Publisher NCSoft is shutting down Paragon Studios, and the massive multiplayer online game, City of Heroes will be taken offline by year's end. The announcement was made by City of Heroes Community Manager Andy Belford in written post on the game's website.

"This morning we announced that Paragon Studios will be taking to the skies of City of Heroes for the last time," Belfors wrote. "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."

The game was launched in North America on April 27, 2004. Since the launch of City Of Heroes there have been 23 major updates that were released for no charge. The game received critical acclaim and many awards during its eight year run.

Computer Gaming World said that "City of Heroes blows a super powered gust of fresh air into an increasingly stale sword-and-sorcery MMO world" in August 2004. City of Heroes won Gameinformer's "PC Game of the Month," in a July 2004 Issue.

The game had a large following and Beldford thanked the fans for their support of the MMO.

"Thank you. Thank you for your years of support," Belford wrote. "You've been with us every step of the way, sharing in our challenges, encouraging us to make City of Heroes better, more than everyone else thought it could be. We couldn't have come this far without you. I implore you all, focus on the good things of CoH and Paragon Studios. Don't dwell on the 'how' or the 'why,' but rather join us in celebrating the legacy of an amazing partnership between the players and the development team."

The City of Heroes video game spawned a franchise of products that included comic books, novel, collector cards and action figures. In June 2007, an announcement was made that the producer of the "Transformers" film, Tom DeSanto, had acquired the option to make movies and television shows based on the City of Heroes franchise, but not much has been said about the project since.

Find out more about gamers' efforts to save the MMORPG by clicking here.

Here is a trailer for the game...

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