Even though City of Heroes was first developed by Cryptic Studios and Paragon Studios, publisher NCsoft actually owned the IP rights to the superhero MMORPG. Launch in 2004, City of Heroes garnered a core group of players over the years, keeping the community spirit alive and vibrant. However, after 24 free updates and 2 paid expansions, NCsoft opted to shut down City of Heroes on 30 November 2012. However, on 4 December 2019, NCsoft mysteriously filed a new trademark application for City of Heroes as seen below!
Ever since the closure of City of Heroes was announced, there have been many attempts to obtain the server code from NCsoft, but no groups were able to come to an agreement with the Korean gaming giant. Is NCsoft trying to revive City of Heroes to save its non-existence Western market? Or is there a new City of Heroes game being developed? Last we checked, Paragon Studios was no more and Cryptic Studios is busy developing Magic Legends. It could not be a renewal as the application was stated as “new.” Hope we get answers soon!
