City Of Heroes Celebrates Its Third Birthday As Content And Player Stats Continue To Grow
Friday 27th April/...This weekend gaming fans will be celebrating the third birthday of City of Heroes, the massively multiplayer game that continues to be one of the most successful comic book-based PC games on the market.
City of Heroes, developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCsoft, was released on April 28, 2004, and since then, the game has expanded substantially by building a loyal and growing player base while adding huge chunks of free content to subscribers. In the coming weeks, NCsoft will release another major, free expansion to City of Heroes, marking the ninth such expansion along with the release of the companion game, City of Villains. City of Heroes has set new standards for MMOGs with a break from the traditional medieval fantasy setting and providing character customization that is unmatched in the gaming industry.
During the first three years of the game, more than 24 million characters have been created in City of Heroes and City of Villains with more than 102,000 of those characters reaching level 50, the game's top tier. The game is also renowned for its ease of cooperative role-playing, resulting in the creation of more than 654,000 super groups, and the building of more than 66,000 super group bases.
Additionally, NCsoft has determined that of the 24 million characters created:
· 27 percent of the hero characters created were blasters, making it the most popular hero archetype.
· 26 percent of the villain characters created were Masterminds, making it the most popular villain.
· 32 percent of the characters with travel powers chose flight, followed by super jump at 28 percent, super speed at 25 percent and teleport at 14 percent.
Fueling the game's economy is the more than 3 trillion influence (the game's currency) in circulation, which will play an important part of the new crafting system and auction houses being added with the upcoming release of "Issue 9: Breakthrough," the game's next content expansion.
NCsoft has recently released a new retail game pack, the "Good Versus Evil Edition" which includes both City of Hereos and City of Villains and is now available at retailers across North America.
For more information about City of Heroes go to www.cityofheroes.com.
About NCsoft Europe
NCsoft Europe (NC-E) is headquartered in Brighton, England and is part of Korea-based NCsoft Corporation, the world's leading developer and publisher of online games. NCsoft has already successfully established itself in North America, Japan, Taiwan, China and Thailand. NC-E began operations on 1st September 2004 and serves as a central hub for all NCsoft sales, marketing and distribution operations in Europe, via its European distribution network. NC-E launched Lineage® II in November 2004, City of Heroes® on 4th February 2005, Guild Wars on 28th April 2005, City of Villains® on 31st October 2005, Auto Assault® on 13th April 2006, Guild Wars Factions on 28th April 2006 and Guild Wars Nightfall on 27th October 2006. More information about NCsoft Europe can be found at http://eu.plaync.com.
NCsoft, the interlocking NC logo, PlayNC, Lineage, Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions, Guild Wars Nightfall, Auto Assault and all associated logos and designs are trademarks or registered trademarks of NCsoft Corporation. Jumpgate and NetDevil are trademarks or registered trademarks of NetDevil, LTD. City of Heroes, City of Villains and all associated logos and designs are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cryptic Studios, Inc. and NCsoft Corporation. Cryptic Studios is a trademark of Cryptic Studios, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.