City of Heroes game developer NCSoft has given the fan-led Homecoming private server a license to continue operating and developing the game via a player-funded server, even after City of Heroes officially shut down in 2012.
City of Heroes, which launched in 2004, was a superhero MMO where you could play as your very own hero and defeat monsters, villains, and criminals while exploring the vasts of Paragon City. At the time, the 3D environment, the scope of the campaign, and the graphics made this an incredibly popular game. But, like with all games, the playerbase eventually died down, and with time, the graphics and systems are no longer seen as quite so revolutionary. Due to restructuring and several publisher issues, City of Heroes had its servers shut down in 2012. But one private server, Homecoming, has kept running, and as of today, it has now been handed an official license to keep operating the fan-funded server, as reported by Kotaku.
If you’re a member of this server or interested in playing City of Heroes, you may be wondering what the official license deal between Homecoming and NCSoft entails. Basically, the Homecoming devs can continue running the private server with the license and even develop the game. However, this is subject to the conditions and limitations in the contract between the two. Neither party has yet confirmed what the exact limitations and conditions are.
We do know that because of the license, the fans will need more funding to keep the Homecoming server alive and because of their licensee commitments. NCSoft can still request them to shut the server down whenever it wants. So, while it’s incredible for Homecoming to get this license, there are a few drawbacks.
Hopefully, the clearly very dedicated Homecoming devs can now make more significant changes to City of Heroes and keep this superhero MMO going even longer.
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