NCSOFT

NCSOFT is a South Korean-based game developer and publisher. They are well known for their work in the field of MMOs, with their Lineage series in particular.

NCSOFT was originally founded on March 11th, 1997 by Tak Jin Kim, author of a Korean word processor program called Hangul, a business software developer. One of the company's first products was NC HTML Editor. In September 1998, NCSOFT launched its first and most popular game, Lineage. The success of this game helped the company expand to locations in Taiwan, China, Japan, and the United States.

The company established a US subsidiary called NCSOFT Austin (based in Austin, Texas) as a partnership with Richard Garriott's Destination Games in April 2001. Jake Song also moved to Austin in order to stimulate development. The branch developed MMORPGs and acts as the home to NC Interactive, NCSOFT's division for support in North America (which had been established in May 2000).

NCSOFT developed Lineage II and released it in South Korea on October 1, 2003, and in the United States on April 28, 2004. NCSOFT is also the publisher for Guild Wars (developed by their subsidiary ArenaNet) and the MMORPGs City of Heroes and City of Villains (developed by Cryptic Studios).

Launched in July 2004, NCSOFT Europe is a wholly owned subsidiary with its main office in Brighton, England. They brought City of Heroes to several European countries on February 4th 2005 and have announced Lineage II for a later date.

Upcoming Titles
At the Taipei Game Show on February 2006, NCSOFT announced Dungeon Runners. In addition, City of Heroes has an upcoming Korean launch under the title of 'City of Hero'. Also, Auto Assualt, developed by NetDevil, is entering the final stages of beta testing and will likely be released in a number of months. Finally, Tabula Rasa is currently under development by Destination Games.

Game Titles

 * Lineage (September 1998) - MMORPG
 * Lineage: The Cross Rancor (Asian)/Lineage: Dark Conquest (North American) (August 2003) - MMORPG
 * Lineage II (Korea) (October 1st, 2003) - MMORPG
 * Lineage II (North America) (April 28th, 2004) - MMORPG
 * City of Heroes (North America) (May 1st, 2004) - MMORPG
 * City of Heroes (Europe) (February 4th, 2005) - MMORPG
 * Guild Wars (April 28th, 2005) - MMO
 * City of Villains (October 31st, 2005) - MMORPG