NCsoft
Encyclopedia
NCsoft is a South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

-based online video game company, which has published massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....

s including Lineage, City of Heroes
City of Heroes
City of Heroes is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on the superhero comic book genre, developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCsoft. The game was launched in North America on April 27, 2004 and in Europe on February 4, 2005 with English, German and French language...

, Wildstar
WildStar (video game)
An upcoming MMORPG developed by NCsoft's Southern California-based Carbine Studios, WildStar offers epic high adventure, where players make their mark as Explorers, Soldiers, Scientists or Settlers and lay claim to Nexus, a mysterious planet on the edge of known space...

, Exteel
Exteel
Exteel was a third-person shooter game published by NCsoft, a Korean game company, and was developed by NCsoft's . Players controlled giant vehicles called Mechanaughts and fought against the computer, or against other online players, in a variety of gameplay modes. The Mechanaughts were...

, Guild Wars
Guild Wars
Guild Wars is an episodic series of online 3D fantasy role-playing games developed by ArenaNet and published by NCsoft. Although often defined as an MMORPG the developers define it as a CORPG due to significant differences from the MMORPG genre. It provides two main modes of gameplay—a cooperative...

and Aion.

History

NCsoft was originally founded in March 1997 by T.J. Kim, a business software developer
Software developer
A software developer is a person concerned with facets of the software development process. Their work includes researching, designing, developing, and testing software. A software developer may take part in design, computer programming, or software project management...

 and author of the Korean word processor
Word processor
A word processor is a computer application used for the production of any sort of printable material....

 Hangul
Hangul (word processor)
Hangul is a proprietary word processing application published by the South Korean company Hancom Inc.. It is used extensively in South Korea, especially by the government....

. One of the company's first products was NC HTML Editor. In September 1998, NCsoft launched its first and most popular game, Lineage. Lineage was the first MMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....

 to exceed the record of 100,000 concurrent users for the first time in Korea in December 2000. The success of this game helped the company expand to locations in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

In April 2001 the company created a US subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...

 under the name NC Interactive (based in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

) after acquiring Destination Games
Destination Games
Destination Games was a computer game development company created in April 2000 by Richard Garriott, Robert Garriott and Starr Long, following their departure from Origin Systems. Destination was founded in Austin, Texas to develop massively multiplayer online role-playing games...

, headed by Richard Garriott
Richard Garriott
Richard Allen Garriott is a British-American video game developer and entrepreneur.He is also known as his alter egos Lord British in Ultima and General British in Tabula Rasa...

 and Robert Garriott
Robert Garriott
Robert K. Garriott is a computer game industry figure and entrepreneur. He co-founded Origin Systems and Destination Games with his brother, Richard Garriott, and was the CEO of NCsoft-North America until 2008. He is the second-eldest son of NASA astronaut Owen K. Garriott...

. NCsoft programmer Jake Song
Jake Song
Jake Song, Korean Name Song Jae-kyeong , b. 1965 , is a South Korean programmer who is regarded as one of the greatest game developers in Korea. He played a major role in creating the MMORPG Lineage, an online game with huge following in Korea...

 also moved to Austin in order to stimulate development. NC Interactive published and developed MMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....

s and became the North American headquarters for (which had been established in May 2000 and operating from a small office in California).

On the same day, April 28, 2004, NCsoft's North American operation launched two major MMORPGs, Lineage II and City of Heroes. To date, NCsoft is the only MMORPG publisher to launch two products of this scale on the same day.

The company formed NCsoft Europe in July 2004 as a wholly owned subsidiary with its main office in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. They brought City of Heroes
City of Heroes
City of Heroes is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on the superhero comic book genre, developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCsoft. The game was launched in North America on April 27, 2004 and in Europe on February 4, 2005 with English, German and French language...

to several European countries on February 4, 2005, and established Lineage II
Lineage II
Lineage II is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game for Microsoft Windows. It is a prequel to Lineage, and is set 150 years before the earlier game. It has become very popular since its October 1, 2003 launch in South Korea, reporting 1,000,918 unique users during the month of March 2007...

service for Europe as well.

On April 28, 2005, the company launched Guild Wars
Guild Wars
Guild Wars is an episodic series of online 3D fantasy role-playing games developed by ArenaNet and published by NCsoft. Although often defined as an MMORPG the developers define it as a CORPG due to significant differences from the MMORPG genre. It provides two main modes of gameplay—a cooperative...

, 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.

It was announced at E3 2007 that NCsoft had become an exclusive third party Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....

 developer, and will be developing exclusive games for the PlayStation Network.

On July, 2007, NCsoft has announced Blade & Soul, the next MMORPG after AION has announced in 2006. NCsoft has shown the next MMORPG before 2 weeks in Project[M] name and release to Blade & Soul in NCsoft Media Day in Korea. The game is changed the concept of MMORPG because it will release to PC online and PlayStation Network online system.

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.

On July 8, 2011, NCsoft has started a contract with SK Telecom
SK Telecom
SK Telecom Co., Ltd. or Sunkyoung Telecom is a South Korean wireless telecommunications operator, controlled by the SK Group, one of the country's largest chaebol. As a part of SK Group, SK stands for Sun Kyung.SK Telecom is a provider of mobile service in Korea, with 50.5% of the market share as...

 to acquire Ntreev Soft Co., Ltd. After NCsoft has always failed launching casual online game in South Korea successfully.

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

Stolen source code

On April 27, 2007, Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

 Metropolitan Police said that seven former employees of NCsoft are suspected of selling the Lineage III
Lineage III
Lineage III is a sequel to Lineage II by NCsoft. The Lineage III project began January 1, 2008 and was to be announced to the public in 2011....

source code to a major Japanese game company. According to NCsoft, the potential damages may exceed $1 billion USD.

Worlds.com patent lawsuit

On December 24, 2008, NCsoft was targeted in a patent infringement case over its entire series of MMO software titles. Worlds.com has filed suit in Texas claiming NCsoft has infringed on its patent for a "system and method for enabling users to interact in a virtual space," and are pushing for an injunction to stop all games covered in the suit along with seeking unspecified damages. While only NCsoft has been named in the suit, many sources have observed that the patent (if upheld in this case) could be used to draw royalties from basically every MMO currently running. Worlds.com CEO Thom Kidrin has recently stated that if they win their suit against NCsoft that his company fully intends to pursue other companies such as Activision Blizzard
Activision Blizzard
Activision Blizzard, Inc., formerly Activision, Inc. is the American holding company for Activision and Blizzard Entertainment. The company is majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA and was created through the merger of Activision and Vivendi Games, announced on December 2, 2007, in a...

 (for World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...

) and Linden Lab
Linden Lab
Linden Research, Inc., d/b/a Linden Lab, is a privately held American Internet company that is best known as the creator of Second Life....

 (for Second Life
Second Life
Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...

). An NCsoft representative is quoted as saying,"We can't comment on potential litigation except to say that NCsoft takes all legal action seriously -- even if the company believes a lawsuit has no merit. We intend to defend ourselves vigorously."

April 23, 2010, Worlds.com case settled. The court on April 23, 2010, ordered dismissal with prejudice based on a binding settlement agreement between Worlds.com and NCSoft. Terms of the settlement are for now confidential. On July 22, 2010, Worlds.com requested the case be reopened.

Richard Garriott termination

Richard Garriott
Richard Garriott
Richard Allen Garriott is a British-American video game developer and entrepreneur.He is also known as his alter egos Lord British in Ultima and General British in Tabula Rasa...

, lead developer of Tabula Rasa, sued NCsoft for US$47 million in damages concerning his termination from the company. Garriott asserts 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. On July 30, 2010, a jury in a Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 federal court awarded him $28 million. Garriott said that he was "extremely pleased with the decision", but NCSoft vowed to appeal it.

Customer satisfaction

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

According to the Better Business Bureau
Better Business Bureau
The Better Business Bureau , founded in 1912, is a corporation consisting of several private business franchises of local BBB organizations based in the United States and Canada, which work through their parent corporation, the Council of Better Business Bureaus .The Better Business Bureau, through...

, in the 36 months leading up to August 15, 2010, 133 complaints have been filed against NCsoft. NCsoft currently has a BBB rating of "B-." By comparison Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...

 had 1005 complaints and has a rating of "A" and Sony Online Entertainment
Sony Online Entertainment
Sony Online Entertainment is a game development and game publishing division of Sony that is best known for creating massively multiplayer online games, including EverQuest, EverQuest II, The Matrix Online, PlanetSide, Star Wars Galaxies, Free Realms, and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, DC Universe...

 had 145 complaints and has a rating of "A" for the same time period.

Development studios

NCsoft is a developer and publisher of online computer games. NCsoft West, the arm of NCsoft with operating responsibility for North America, Europe, South America and Australia/New Zealand, houses its publishing headquarters in Seattle, Washington. The company also owns development studios on the United States West Coast:
  • ArenaNet
    ArenaNet
    ArenaNet is a computer game developer and part of NCsoft Corporation, founded in 2000 by Mike O'Brien, Patrick Wyatt and Jeff Strain and located in Bellevue, Washington...

     (Bellevue, Washington) – ArenaNet is the creator of Guild Wars
    Guild Wars
    Guild Wars is an episodic series of online 3D fantasy role-playing games developed by ArenaNet and published by NCsoft. Although often defined as an MMORPG the developers define it as a CORPG due to significant differences from the MMORPG genre. It provides two main modes of gameplay—a cooperative...

    , and its sequel, Guild Wars 2
    Guild Wars 2
    Guild Wars 2 is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game in development by ArenaNet. Set in the fantasy world of Tyria, the game follows the re-emergence of Destiny's Edge, a disbanded guild dedicated to fighting the Elder Dragons, a Lovecraftian species that has seized control of Tyria in...

    .
  • Carbine Studios (Aliso Viejo, California) – Carbine Studios was founded in 2005 and is working on Wildstar.
  • Game Production Studio (Seattle, Washington) – The NCsoft Game Production Studio brings products from the NCsoft development teams in Seoul to the West, including Lineage, Lineage II
    Lineage II
    Lineage II is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game for Microsoft Windows. It is a prequel to Lineage, and is set 150 years before the earlier game. It has become very popular since its October 1, 2003 launch in South Korea, reporting 1,000,918 unique users during the month of March 2007...

    , Exteel
    Exteel
    Exteel was a third-person shooter game published by NCsoft, a Korean game company, and was developed by NCsoft's . Players controlled giant vehicles called Mechanaughts and fought against the computer, or against other online players, in a variety of gameplay modes. The Mechanaughts were...

    and Aion.
  • Paragon Studios
    Paragon Studios
    Paragon Studios is a computer game developer, and wholly owned subsidiary of NCsoft. Founded in November 2007 as NCsoft NorCal, the studio's remit was to further develop the City of Heroes and City of Villains franchises following the acquisition of the titles by NCsoft from Cryptic Studios...

     (Mountain View, California) – Formerly called NCsoft NorCal, Paragon Studios develops the City of Heroes
    City of Heroes
    City of Heroes is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on the superhero comic book genre, developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCsoft. The game was launched in North America on April 27, 2004 and in Europe on February 4, 2005 with English, German and French language...

    franchise.

Available

Title Developer Genre Status
Aion NCsoft (Team Aion) MMO Active since 2009.
Blade & Soul
Blade & Soul
Blade & Soul is a fantasy martial-arts massively multiplayer online role-playing game in development by Korean game developer NCsoft and its Team Bloodlust division.-History:...

NCsoft (Team Bloodlust) MMO ETA 2011.
City of Heroes
City of Heroes
City of Heroes is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on the superhero comic book genre, developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCsoft. The game was launched in North America on April 27, 2004 and in Europe on February 4, 2005 with English, German and French language...

 series
Cryptic Studios
Cryptic Studios
Cryptic Studios, a wholly owned Perfect World subsidiary, is a small American massively multiplayer online role-playing game developer headquartered in Los Gatos, California.-History:...

 & Paragon Studios
Paragon Studios
Paragon Studios is a computer game developer, and wholly owned subsidiary of NCsoft. Founded in November 2007 as NCsoft NorCal, the studio's remit was to further develop the City of Heroes and City of Villains franchises following the acquisition of the titles by NCsoft from Cryptic Studios...

MMO Active since 2004.
Guild Wars
Guild Wars
Guild Wars is an episodic series of online 3D fantasy role-playing games developed by ArenaNet and published by NCsoft. Although often defined as an MMORPG the developers define it as a CORPG due to significant differences from the MMORPG genre. It provides two main modes of gameplay—a cooperative...

 series
ArenaNet
ArenaNet
ArenaNet is a computer game developer and part of NCsoft Corporation, founded in 2000 by Mike O'Brien, Patrick Wyatt and Jeff Strain and located in Bellevue, Washington...

MMO Active since 2005.
Lineage series NCsoft MMO Active since 1998.
WildStar Carbine Studios MMO ETA unknown.

Game available from Ntreev Soft Co., Ltd.

Title Developer Genre Status
Trickster Ntreev Soft MMO Active since 2009.
PangYa
PangYa
PangYa , is an online multiplayer casual golf simulation game designed by Korean development company, Ntreev Soft....

Ntreev Soft Sport Casual Active since 2004.
The story of my horse and me, Alicia Ntreev Soft Sport Casual Active since 2010.

End of Life / Closed

Title Developer Genre Status
Auto Assault
Auto Assault
Auto Assault was a massively multiplayer online game , developed by NetDevil and published by NCsoft. It combined vehicular combat with role-playing elements, allowing the player to explore a post-apocalyptic future in customizable cars, motorcycles, semis, and tanks...

NetDevil
NetDevil
NetDevil, owned by Gazillion Entertainment, was an American developer of massively multiplayer online role-playing games in Louisville, Colorado.- Beginnings :...

MMO Closed August 31, 2007.
Dungeon Runners
Dungeon Runners
Dungeon Runners was a medieval fantasy, often satirical MMORPG developed and published by NCsoft. It featured gameplay similar to the Diablo series of games.- Development :...

NCsoft MMO Closed January 1, 2010.
Dragonica
Dragonica
Dragonica known in North America as Dragon Saga, is a free-to-play 3D side-scrolling massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Barunson Interactive. Development has been ongoing since March 2006. Operation of Dragonica is relegated to different publishers for their respective...

Barunson Interactive Casual MMO Closed July 13, 2011.
Exteel
Exteel
Exteel was a third-person shooter game published by NCsoft, a Korean game company, and was developed by NCsoft's . Players controlled giant vehicles called Mechanaughts and fought against the computer, or against other online players, in a variety of gameplay modes. The Mechanaughts were...

NCsoft (E&G Studios) TPS
Third-person shooter
Third-person shooter is a genre of 3D action games in which the player character is visible on-screen, and the gameplay consists primarily of shooting.-Definition:...

Closed September 1, 2010.
Point Blank (Korean Server) Zepetto FPS
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...

Closed July 13, 2011.
Tabula Rasa Destination Games
Destination Games
Destination Games was a computer game development company created in April 2000 by Richard Garriott, Robert Garriott and Starr Long, following their departure from Origin Systems. Destination was founded in Austin, Texas to develop massively multiplayer online role-playing games...

MMO Closed February 28, 2009.

Titles not available in English

Title Developer Genre Status
Jan Ryu Mon NCsoft Japan Mahjong
Mahjong
Mahjong, sometimes spelled Mah Jongg, is a game that originated in China, commonly played by four players...

Japanese release only.
Love Beat CrazyDiamond Dance game Korean and Thai release only.
Murim Jekook Longtu Network Technology Strategy
Strategy video game
Strategy video games is a video game genre that emphasizes skillful thinking and planning to achieve victory. They emphasize strategic, tactical, and sometimes logistical challenges. Many games also offer economic challenges and exploration...

Korean release only.
Point Blank Zepetto FPS
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...

Thai release only.
Punch Monster Next Play MMO Korean release only.


In addition, NCsoft is also the developer and maintainer of a variety of web-based board game
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...

s in Asian markets.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK