City of Heroes, is set to have its servers, as well as the development team behind the game, shut down by November 30. Originality released back in 2004 by Ncsoft and developed by Cryptic Studios (though future development would later be handed off to Paragon Studios), CoH broke out of the standard MMO setting by having the game take place in a comic book world where every gamer thrives to become the next great superhero!  The game would later get expansions to the franchise, City of Villians (2005) and City of Heroes: Going Rouge (2010), as well as going free to play last year to compete against other superhero themed MMO’s like DC Universe Online. Sadly even going the F2P route could not save CoH from its demise.

Here’s a Word from Paragon Stuido’s Community Manager Andy Belford:

“Farewell, from all of us at Paragon Studios

This morning we announced that Paragon Studios will be taking to the skies of City of Heroes for the last time.

In a realignment of company focus and publishing support, NCsoft has made the decision to close Paragon Studios. Effective immediately, all development on City of Heroes will cease and we will begin preparations to sunset the world’s first, and best, Super Hero MMORPG before the end of the year. As part of this, all recurring subscription billing and Paragon Market purchasing will be discontinued effective immediately. We will have more information regarding a detailed timeline for the cessation of services and what you can expect in game in the coming weeks.

The team here at Paragon deserves special praise for all that we have accomplished over the last 5+ years. These developers are some of the most creative and talented people in the gaming industry. By now, we’ve all been given this news internally, but to anyone who may be reading this message after the fact; know that your hard work and dedication has not gone unappreciated or unnoticed. To any potential studios looking to grow your team; hire these people. You won’t regret it.

To our Community,

Thank you. Thank you for your years of support. You’ve been with us every step of the way, sharing in our challenges, encouraging us to make City of Heroes better, more than everyone else thought it could be. We couldn’t have come this far without you. I implore you all, focus on the good things of CoH and Paragon Studios. Don’t dwell on the “how” or the “why”, but rather join us in celebrating the legacy of an amazing partnership between the players and the development team.

Thank you, and I’ll see you in the skies, one last time.

Andy Belford

Community Manager

Paragon Studios. ”

Once again NCsoft plans to shut down both City of Heroes and Paragon Studios November 30.

On a personal note, coming from a gamer that has played this game for 3 years it is very sad news.

Source: Paragon Studios