Joint City of Heroes/City of Villains Fee Announced

NCsoft issued a press release earlier today announcing a single subscription rate of $14.99/month to play both City of Heroes and City of Villains.

NCsoft Unveils Single Subscription Rate for City of Villains and City of Heroes Players

City of Villains and City of Heroes Customers Can Play Both Games for the Single Subscription Rate of $14.99 Per Month

ALCATRAZ ISLAND, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Oct. 6, 2005–NCsoft® North America has announced that customers will be able to subscribe to two of its massively multiplayer online games, City of Villains(TM) and City of Heroes®, for the subscription price of one. Subscribers to City of Villains and City of Heroes will have only a single subscription fee of $14.99 per month to have full access to both games.

City of Villains, a stand-alone sequel to last year’s hit, City of Heroes, is expected to be released on October 31, with a subscription price of $14.99 per month. The pricing plan means that current City of Heroes subscribers need only purchase City of Villains to play and enjoy features from both games. The games were developed by Cryptic Studios(TM).

Along with the value of being able to play the two games for $14.99, players will receive four additional character slots per game server, and access to crossover areas from both games such as player-versus-player zones in City of Villains. Additionally, City of Heroes’ players who subscribe to both games will have access to the base building and base raids featured in City of Villains.

“This single subscription rate for subscribers to City of Villains and City of Heroes represents a great value for our customers and demonstrates our efforts to put our players first,” said Robert Garriott, CEO of NCsoft North America. “We expect City of Villains to have a major impact on the PC games business, and this pricing structure should help continue to bring in new customers to the online, multiplayer game market.”

“Both games can be played on their own and will provide satisfying and exciting online adventures,” said Jack Emmert, creative director for Cryptic Studios, “By keeping the cost to $14.99 for subscribers to both games, we are encouraging players to use all of the functionality we built into the games. We created a heroes game and a villains game and we figured it is a lot more fun to have good guys and bad guys tangle without charging double for the opportunity to do so.”

The announcement of the pricing structure was made at a City of Villains preview event on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco.

For more information about City of Villains, go to: www.cityofvillains.com.

About NCsoft

NCsoft North America is headquartered in Austin, Texas and is part of Korea-based NCsoft Corporation. NCsoft, with its own development and publishing offices in Texas and California, also works with subsidiaries and third party developers throughout North America to develop and publish innovative online entertainment software products. The company launched two massively multiplayer titles on the same day last year, Lineage® II and City of Heroes, and in April of 2005 the hit game Guild Wars®. In the coming months, NCsoft is poised to launch two more massively multiplayer titles: City of Villains(TM) and Auto Assault(TM). More information about NCsoft can be found at http://www.PlayNC.com.

About Cryptic Studios

Cryptic Studios(TM), Inc., located in Los Gatos, California, was established in July of 2000 and is an independent developer of massively multiplayer online games for the PC and next generation consoles. Its first game, City of Heroes, launched in April 2004. The game takes place in a virtual world where thousands of people play simultaneously, take on the role of super-powered heroes, fight villains and help create a dynamic story in a visually-stunning, 3-D graphical world.