NCSOFT Corporation
엔씨소프트
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Public company
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Traded as
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KRX: 036570
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Industry
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Computer and video games
Interactive entertainment
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Founded
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March 11, 1997
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Headquarters
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Seoul, South Korea[1]
Subsidiary Companies
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Seattle, Washington, USA
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Osaka, Japan
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New Taipei, Taiwan
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Shanghai, China
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Brighton, England
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Austin, Texas, USA
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Orange County, California, USA
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Bangkok, Thailand
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Key people
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T.J. Kim, CEO
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Products
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Revenue
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US$ 686.6 million (2012)[2]
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US$ 137.0 million (2012)[2]
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US$ 142.0 million (2012)[2]
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Total assets
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US$ 1.2 billion (2012)[2]
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Total equity
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US$ 922.9 million (2012)[2]
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Number of employees
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~3,000
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Website
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http://www.ncsoft.net/
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T.J. Kim, the CEO of NCSOFT
NCSOFT is a South Korea-based online, video and mobile game development company that has produced Lineage, City of Heroes, WildStar, Guild Wars and Aion.
Contents
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History 1
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Customer satisfaction 2
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Games 3
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Under Development 3.1
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Available 3.2
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End of Life / Closed 3.3
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Titles not available in English 3.4
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Controversy 4
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Stolen source code 4.1
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Worlds.com patent lawsuit 4.2
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Richard Garriott termination 4.3
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Closure of Paragon Studios and City of Heroes 4.4
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References 5
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External links 6
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. In 2004, NCSOFT launched two MMORPGs, Lineage II and City of Heroes.[3]
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 26, 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.[4] On August 28, 2012, NCSOFT launched Guild Wars 2.
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]
On June, 2012, NCSOFT launched Blade & Soul, the next MMORPG after AION, in 2006. NCSOFT has shown the next MMORPG before 2 weeks in Project[M] name and released Blade & Soul in NCSOFT Media Day in Korea.
In 2012 Nexon acquired a 14.7 percent interest in NCSOFT for $688 million.[9]
In November, 2012, NCSOFT closed down City of Heroes.
Customer satisfaction
NCSOFT and RightNow Technologies were both recognized in 2006 with the "Beagle Research 'Whiz Kids' Award for Innovative Embedded Customer Service Solution."[10] for NCSOFT's integration of RightNow's customer support software.
Games
Under Development
Title
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Developer
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Genre
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Status
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Lineage Eternal
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NCSOFT (Team Eternal)
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MMORPG
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TBA 2015
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Master x Master
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NCSOFT (Studio MBA)
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MOBA
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TBA 2015
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Project HON
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NCSOFT (Team HON)
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MMORPG
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CANCELLED
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Available
Title
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Developer
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Genre
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Status
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Aion
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NCSOFT (Team Aion)
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MMORPG
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Active since September 22, 2009.
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Blade & Soul
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NCSOFT (Team Bloodlust)
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MMORPG
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Active since June 30, 2012.
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Guild Wars
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ArenaNet
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MMORPG
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Active since April 26, 2005.
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Guild Wars 2
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ArenaNet
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MMORPG
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Active since August 28, 2012.
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Lineage
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NCSOFT (Team L2Live)
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MMORPG
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Active since September 3, 1998.
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Lineage II
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NCSOFT
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MMORPG
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Active since October 1, 2003.
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Jan Ryu Mon
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NCSOFT Japan
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Mahjong
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Active.
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PangYa
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Ntreev Soft
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Sport Casual
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Active since 2004.
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WildStar
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Carbine Studios
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MMORPG
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Active since June 3, 2014.
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End of Life / Closed
Titles not available in English
Title
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Developer
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Genre
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Status
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Love Beat
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CrazyDiamond
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Dance game
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Korean, Philippines and Thai release only.
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Murim Jekook
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Longtu Network Technology
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Strategy
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Korean release only.
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Punch Monster
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Next Play
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MMORPG
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Korean release only.
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In addition, NCSOFT is also the developer and maintainer of a variety of web-based board games in Asian markets.
Controversy
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.[11] According to NCSOFT, the potential damages may exceed US$1 billion.[12]
Worlds.com patent lawsuit
Worlds.com CEO
External links
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^ "NCsoft's Global Network". NCsoft. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
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^ a b c d e "Ncsoft Corporation (036570:Korea Stock Exchange (Koscom))". businessweek.com. Retrieved 2013-05-02.
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^ "Seven years of City of Heroes statistics". eurogamer.net. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
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^ "Guild Wars Announces Six Million Units Sold".
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^ http://www.plaync.com/us/news/2008/09/ncsoft_announce_31.html
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^ Weber, Rachel (July 8, 2011). "NCSoft in talks to acquire Ntreev Software". Gamesindustry International. Retrieved July 8, 2011.
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^ Caoili, Eric (February 17, 2012). "League of Legends and NCsoft's Ntreev acquisition, this week in Korean news". Gamasutra. Retrieved February 17, 2012.
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^ Caoili, Eric (July 27, 2011). "NCSoft Purchases Seoul-Based Mobile Dev Hotdog Studio". Gamasutra. Retrieved July 27, 2011.
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^ Takahashi, Dean. "Korean game togetherness: Nexon acquires 14.7 percent of NCsoft for $688M". VentureBeat.
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^ http://web.archive.org/web/20110716191000/https://www.rightnow.com/crm-news-1357.php
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^ http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2007/04/former_ncsoft_e/
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^ "Chosun Ilbo article". April 26, 2007.
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^ a b "Worlds.com CEO: We're 'Absolutely' Going To Sue Second Life And World Of Warcraft".
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^ http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2008/12/ncsoft-faces-pa/
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^ massively.joystiq.com/2009/05/06/richard-garriott-blasts-ncsoft-with-24-million-lawsuit/
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^ Kim, Tong-hyung (July 30, 2010). "Garriott wins $28 mil. in NCsoft lawsuit".
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^ "Garriott wins appeal in NCsoft case". RICHARD GARRIOTT v. NCSOFT CORPORATION. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
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^ "Save CoH movement invites NCsoft execs to play, petition passes 20,000 signatures". joystiq.com. September 27, 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
References
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[18] and many used social media to promote their criticisms.
Closure of Paragon Studios and City of Heroes
[17].US$32 million, bringing the total damages awarded to Garriott to US$4 million Garriott again prevailed on appeal and NCSOFT was required to pay an additional [16] in damages. NCSOFT appealed the ruling.US$28 million federal court awarded him Texas On July 30, 2010, a jury in a [15]
Richard Garriott termination
On April 23, 2010, the Worlds.com case settled, but the terms of the settlement were kept confidential. On July 22, 2010, Worlds.com requested the case be reopened.
[13] in what he says will be the first of many lawsuits against MMO developers.[14] and targeted NCSOFT for patent infringement in 2008,[13]
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