NCsoft (KRX: 036570) is a South Korea-based online video game company, which has published massively multiplayer online role-playing games including Lineage, City of Heroes, Wildstar, Exteel, Guild Wars, and Aion.

History[link]

NCsoft was originally founded in March 1997 by T.J. Kim, a business software developer and author of the Korean word processor Hangul. 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 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, China, Japan, Europe and the United States.

In April 2001 the company created a US subsidiary under the name NC Interactive (based in Austin, Texas) after acquiring Destination Games, headed by Richard Garriott and Robert Garriott. NCsoft programmer Jake Song also moved to Austin in order to stimulate development. NC Interactive published and developed MMORPGs 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, England. They brought City of Heroes to several European countries on February 4, 2005, and established Lineage II service for Europe as well.

On April 28, 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.^[2]

It was announced at E3 2007 that NCsoft had become an exclusive third party Sony developer, and will be developing exclusive games for the PlayStation Network.^[3]

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.^[4]

On July 8, 2011, NCsoft has started a contract with SK Telecom 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.^[5]

Controversies[link]

Stolen source code[link]

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. According to NCsoft, the potential damages may exceed $1 billion USD.^[6]

Worlds.com patent lawsuit[link]

On December 24, 2008, NCsoft was targeted in a patent infringement case over its entire series of MMO software titles.^[7] 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.^[8] 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 (for World of Warcraft) and Linden Lab (for Second Life).^[9][10] 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."^[11]

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.^[12] On July 22, 2010, Worlds.com requested the case be reopened.^[13]

Richard Garriott termination[link]

Richard Garriott, 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 federal court awarded him $28 million. Garriott said that he was "extremely pleased with the decision", but NCSoft vowed to appeal it.^[14]

Customer satisfaction[link]

NCsoft and RightNow Technologies were both recognized in 2006 with the "Beagle Research 'Whiz Kids' Award for Innovative Embedded Customer Service Solution."^[15] for NCsoft's integration of RightNow's customer support software.

According to the Better Business Bureau, in the 36 months leading up to August 15, 2010, 133 complaints have been filed against NCsoft. NCsoft previously had a BBB rating of "B-." NCSoft is now rated A+ by the BBB.^[16] By comparison Electronic Arts had 1005 complaints and has a rating of "A"^[17] and Sony Online Entertainment had 145 complaints and has a rating of "A"^[18] for the same time period.

Development studios[link]

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 (Bellevue, Washington) – ArenaNet is the creator of Guild Wars, and its sequel, Guild Wars 2.
• 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, Exteel and Aion.
• Paragon Studios (Mountain View, California) – Formerly called NCsoft NorCal, Paragon Studios develops the City of Heroes franchise.

Games[link]

Available[link]

Game available from Ntreev Soft Co., Ltd.[link]

End of Life / Closed[link]

Titles not available in English[link]

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

References[link]

External links[link]

• NCsoft
• NCsoft West