City of Heroes

This article is about the 2004 video game. For the heavy metal album by Michael Kiske and Amanda Somerville, see City of Heroes (album). For the comic book based on the game, see City of Heroes (comics). For other uses, see Hero City.
City of Heroes
Developer(s)Cryptic Studios (formerly)
Paragon Studios (formerly)
Homecoming Servers
Publisher(s)NCSOFT
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X
ReleaseWindows
  • NA: April 28, 2004
  • EU: February 4, 2005
Mac OS X
  • WW: January 8, 2009[1]
Genre(s)Massively multiplayer online role-playing
Mode(s)Multiplayer

City of Heroes (CoH) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game originally created by Cryptic Studios prior to the IP’s acquisition by NCSoft. Previously developed by the now-defunct Paragon Studios, it is currently developed by Homecoming Servers under a limited license from NCSoft. The game was launched in North America on April 28, 2004,[2] and in Europe by NCsoft Europe on February 4, 2005, with English, German and French servers. In the game, players created super-powered player characters that could team up with others to complete missions and fight criminals belonging to various gangs and organizations in the fictional Paragon City.

Twenty-three free major updates for City of Heroes were released before its shutdown. The final live update, "Where Shadows Lie", was released on May 31, 2012. On August 31, 2012, NCsoft terminated its Paragon Studios development team, ending all production on City of Heroes[3] with the last day of services on November 30, 2012.[4]

In April 2019, source code capable of running a City of Heroes server was distributed widely. This made it possible to create City of Heroes servers outside the direct purview of NCSoft[5] and revived interest in the game, which by then had been out of development for more than six years.

On January 4, 2024, NCSoft granted Homecoming Servers, LLC, who operated the rogue server Homecoming: City of Heroes an official license to host the game.[6][7][8][9]

  1. ^ "City of Heroes for Mac emerges from beta". Macworld. Retrieved 2024-01-17.
  2. ^ "City of Heroes". www.cityofheroes.com. Archived from the original on 10 June 2004. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference City of Heroes Shutdown was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Connor Sheridan (August 31, 2012). "City of Heroes and developer shutting down". GameSpot.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-01. Retrieved 2012-08-31.
  5. ^ Royce, Bree (18 April 2019). "The City of Heroes private server team has released its code [Update: The test server is live] | Massively Overpowered". Archived from the original on 2019-05-06. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  6. ^ Handley, Zoey (January 4, 2024). "City of Heroes: Homecoming is now, officially licensed by NCSoft". Destructoid. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  7. ^ Smith, Graham (January 4, 2024). "City Of Heroes' community-run private server gets official license from NCSoft". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  8. ^ Nunnely-Jackson, Stephany (January 5, 2024). "City of Heroes reborn: NCSoft licenses popular MMO to fan-run project Homecoming". VG247. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  9. ^ Peel, Jeremy (April 5, 2024). "With a near-unprecedented official license for its fan server, one of PC gaming's great MMOs has a vibrant future: 'Let it be shouted far and wide: City of Heroes lives again'". PC Gamer. Retrieved April 5, 2024.