NCSoft

South Korea-based online, video and mobile game development company

NCSoft Corporation
엔씨소프트

Type	Public company
Traded as	KRX: 036570
Industry	Computer and video games Interactive entertainment
Founded	11 March 1997; 21 years ago (1997-03-11)
Headquarters	Pangyo, Seongnam, South Korea[1] Subsidiary companies Seattle, Washington, U.S. Osaka, Japan New Taipei, Taiwan Shanghai, China Brighton, England Austin, Texas, U.S. Orange County, California, U.S. Bangkok, Thailand San Mateo, California, U.S.
Key people	T.J. Kim, CEO
Products	Aion Blade & Soul Guild Wars Guild Wars 2 Lineage Lineage II Master X Master WildStar
Revenue	US$ 1.885 billion (2017)[2]
Operating income	US$ 627 million (2017)[2]
Net income	US$ 475 million (2017)[2]
Total assets	US$ 3.78 billion (2017)[2]
Total equity	US$ 2.93 billion (2017)[2]
Number of employees	3100 (including 16 global subsidiaries, as of Dec 31, 2015)
Website	http://www.ncsoft.com/

T.J. Kim, the CEO of NCSoft

NCSoft is a South Korean video game developer. The company has produced Lineage, City of Heroes, WildStar, Guild Wars, Aion, Blade & Soul, Exteel and Master X Master.

Contents

• 
  1 History
  


• 
  2 Subsidiaries
  
  
  
  • 
    2.1 Current
    
  
  
  • 
    2.2 Former
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  3 Customer satisfaction
  


• 
  4 Controversies
  
  
  
  • 
    4.1 Stolen source code
    
  
  
  • 
    4.2 Worlds.com patent lawsuit
    
  
  
  • 
    4.3 Richard Garriott termination
    
  
  
  • 
    4.4 Closure of Paragon Studios and City of Heroes
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  5 Games
  
  
  
  • 
    5.1 Under development
    
  
  
  • 
    5.2 Available
    
    
    
    • 
      5.2.1 PC Online
      
    
    
    • 
      5.2.2 Mobile
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • 
    5.3 Closed
    
  
  
  • 
    5.4 Titles not available in English
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  6 References
  


• 
  7 External links
  

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.^[3] In 2004, NCSoft launched two MMORPGs, Lineage II and City of Heroes.^[4]

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 have since established European service for WildStar and Blade & Soul as well.^{[citation needed]}

On April 26, 2005, NCSoft published Arenanet's first MMO Guild Wars Prophecies as well as Arenanets follow up campaigns Factions and Nightfall and the expansion Eye of the North. NCSoft also published Guild Wars 2 but stopped being the publisher for Guild Wars 2 in 2015 with the release of Heart of Thorns.

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]

In June, 2012, NCSoft launched Blade & Soul, their first MMORPG since Aion launched in 2006.

In 2012 Nexon acquired a 14.7 percent interest in NCSoft for $688 million.^[9] Nexon sold all of its shares of NCSoft in October 2015.

On November 19, 2015, NCSoft West announced the formation of Iron Tiger studios, a developer based out of San Mateo, California focused on adapting Korean-made mobile titles for the West, as well as developing their own mobile games.^[10]

Subsidiaries

Current

• ArenaNet


• Iron Tiger Studios


• Ntreev Soft

Former

• Carbine Studios


• Destination Games


• Paragon Studios

Customer satisfaction

NCSoft and RightNow Technologies were both recognized in 2006 with the "Beagle Research 'Whiz Kids' Award for Innovative Embedded Customer Service Solution."^[11] for NCSoft's integration of RightNow's customer support software.

Controversies

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.^[12] According to NCSoft, the potential damages may exceed US$1 billion.^[13]

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^[14] and targeted NCSoft for patent infringement in 2008,^[15] in what he says will be the first of many lawsuits against MMO developers.^[14] 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 the failed MMORPG game 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, costing him millions of dollars. In addition, he claimed that the company was guilty of fraud by forging his resignation announcement.^[16] On July 30, 2010, a jury in a Texas federal court awarded him US$28 million in damages. NCSoft described Garriott as someone "who keeps finding different ways to turn the company into his personal ATM," and that "Garriott left the company voluntarily to catch his ride to the International Space Station." Citing his questionable work ethic and the failure of his video game project despite a $84.4 million investment, NCSoft pulled the plug on the game after which Garriott announced he would be leaving the company. This came after he boarded a much-publicized news on his boarding of a Russian aircraft, which cost $30 million.^[17] 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.^[18]

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^[19] and many used social media to promote their criticisms.

Games

Under development

Title	Developer	Genre	Status
Project TL	NCSoft (Team TL)	MMORPG	TBA
AION 2	NCSoft	RPG	TBA
Blade & Soul M	NCSoft (Team Bloodlust)	Action MMORPG	TBA
Blade & Soul S	NCSoft	Strategy RPG	TBA
Blade & Soul Console	NC Interactive (NCWEST)	Action MMORPG	TBA
Lineage II M	NCSoft (Team L2Live)	RPG	TBA
Blade & Soul 2	NCSoft (Team Bloodlust)	Action MMORPG	TBA

Available

PC Online

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.
Love Beat	CrazyDiamond	Dance/Rhythm	Released on Steam January 13, 2016
Jan Ryu Mon	NCSoft Japan	Mahjong	Active.

Mobile

Title	Developer	Genre	Status
Final Blade	NCSoft	RPG	Active since February 2017
Lineage Red Knight	NCSoft	RPG	Active since December 8, 2016
Lineage M	NCSoft	MMORPG	Active since June 21, 2017
Pangya Mobile	NCSoft (Project G Team)	Casual	Active since December 14, 2017
Pro Baseball H2!	Ntreev Soft	Sport	Active since March 2017
Trickster: Wanna Be a Summoner	Ntreev Soft	MMORPG	Active since April 2015

Closed

Title	Developer	Genre	Status
Auto Assault	NetDevil	MMORPG	Closed August 31, 2007.
Dungeon Runners	NCSoft	MMORPG	Closed January 1, 2010.
Dragonica	Gravity	Casual MMORPG	Closed July 13, 2011.
Exteel	NCSoft (E&G Studios)	TPS	Closed September 1, 2010.
Point Blank	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.
Trickster	Ntreev Soft	MMORPG	Closed Feb.27, 2013
Master X Master	NCSoft (Studio MXM)	MOBA	Closed January 31, 2018.
WildStar	NCSoft (Carbine)	MMORPG	Closed November 2018.

Titles not available in English

Title	Developer	Genre	Status
Murim Jekook	Longtu Network Technology	Strategy	Korean release only.
Punch Monster	Next Play	MMORPG	Korean release only.
PangYa	Ntreev Soft	Sport Casual	Thailand release only.

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

References

1. 
   ^ "NCsoft's Global Network". NCsoft. Retrieved July 1, 2010..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
   


2. 
   ^ ^abcde "4Q 2017 earnings release". ncsoft.com. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
   


3. 
   ^ "NCSoft". kr.ncsoft.com (in Korean). Retrieved 2018-04-09.
   


4. 
   ^ "Seven years of City of Heroes statistics". eurogamer.net. 2011-04-28. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
   


5. 
   ^ "엔씨소프트의 역사" [History of NCsoft]. kr.ncsoft.com (in Korean). Retrieved 2018-05-23.
   


6. 
   ^ Weber, Rachel (July 8, 2011). "NCSoft in talks to acquire Ntreev Software". Gamesindustry International. Retrieved July 8, 2011.
   


7. 
   ^ Caoili, Eric (February 17, 2012). "League of Legends and NCsoft's Ntreev acquisition, this week in Korean news". Gamasutra. Retrieved February 17, 2012.
   


8. 
   ^ Caoili, Eric (July 27, 2011). "NCSoft Purchases Seoul-Based Mobile Dev Hotdog Studio". Gamasutra. Retrieved July 27, 2011.
   


9. 
   ^ Takahashi, Dean. "Korean game togetherness: Nexon acquires 14.7 percent of NCsoft for $688M". VentureBeat.
   


10. 
    ^ "About Us". us.ncsoft.com. Retrieved 2017-05-30.
    


11. 
    ^ "RightNow and NCsoft Win - January 19 2006 - RightNow - RightNow". Archived from the original on 16 July 2011.
    


12. 
    ^ "Former NCSoft Employees Suspected of Stealing Lineage III Code". WIRED. 30 April 2007.
    


13. 
    ^ "Chosun Ilbo article". April 26, 2007. Archived from the original on September 18, 2008.
    


14. 
    ^ ^ab "Worlds.com CEO: We're 'Absolutely' Going To Sue Second Life And World Of Warcraft".
    


15. 
    ^ "NCsoft Faces Patent Infringement Suit". WIRED. 29 December 2008.
    


16. 
    ^ massively.joystiq.com/2009/05/06/richard-garriott-blasts-ncsoft-with-24-million-lawsuit/
    


17. 
    ^ Kim, Tong-hyung (July 30, 2010). "Garriott wins $28 mil. in NCsoft lawsuit".
    


18. 
    ^ "Garriott wins appeal in NCsoft case". RICHARD GARRIOTT v. NCSoft CORPORATION. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
    


19. 
    ^ "Save CoH movement invites NCsoft execs to play, petition passes 20,000 signatures". joystiq.com. September 27, 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
    

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to NCSOFT.

• NCSoft


• NCSoft West

v t e City of Heroes
Other media	Comic books Collectible Card Game
Related articles	Characters NCSOFT Cryptic Studios Paragon Studios Captain Dynamic

v t e NCsoft
Games	Aion Auto Assault Blade & Soul City of Heroes Dungeon Runners Dragonica Exteel Master X Master PangYa Point Blank Tabula Rasa Trickster WildStar Lineage Lineage Lineage II Lineage II Revolution Project TL Guild Wars Prophecies Factions Nightfall Eye of the North Guild Wars 2 Heart of Thorns Path of Fire Rytlock's Critter Rampage
Studios	ArenaNet Destination Games Openmaru Ntreev Soft Paragon Studios
Related	NC Dinos Scott Jennings

v t e Major video game companies
Annual revenue of over US$1 billion as of 2017
Activision Blizzard Atari Bandai Namco Entertainment Capcom‎ Deep Silver Disney Mobile Electronic Arts Epic Games Gameloft Glu Mobile Google Play Games GungHo Online Entertainment Koei Tecmo Konami LucasArts Marvelous Microsoft Studios NCsoft NetEase Nexon Nintendo Nippon Ichi Software Perfect World Games Riot Games Sega SNK Sony Interactive Entertainment Square Enix Take-Two Interactive Tencent THQ Nordic Ubisoft Valve Corporation Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment ZeniMax Media
Category List

Authority control	BNF: cb15600798c (data) ISNI: 0000 0000 9776 4920 VIAF: 144691194 WorldCat Identities (via VIAF): 144691194

This page is only for reference, If you need detailed information, please check here