AEG to produce COH CCG
In the "I'm not so sure about this one" category comes the announcement from Alderac Entertainment Group that they've picked up a license to produce a collectible card game based on the popular massively multiplayer online RPG - City of Heroes.
I guess my main problem with this idea is that they will essentially be competing with the VS (Marvel/DC) game which has turned out to be incredibly popular with a game with something that only people who play the MMORPG will really care about.
You have to applaud the City of Heroes guys for doing a fantastic job of getting their name into everything that they can. There's already an RPG in the works from Eden Studios, a comic book, a breakfast cereal... okay, there's no breakfast cereal. But the point is that NCSoft is doing a great job of expanding their brand outside of just the one game. I'm just wondering if any of us gamers who AREN'T playing CoH are going to care.
posted by Jay Adan @ 9:04 AM
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Yeah I can definately see this conflicting with the V.S. system by upper deck. Players of the V.S. system get to use cards with names and faces of familiar characters from both the Marvel and the D.C. worlds.
I'm not too familiar with the COH settings so I'm not sure if names or faces will catch peoples eyes.
Well, they obviously HAVE a setting, but nobody outside of the players of the MMORPG know anyting about it.
You can think of it this way though - they have a LOT of players so if a decent chunk of them play CCGs as well they they could do well with it. I don't think that there's that much crossover though.
Now the tabletop RPG that's coming from Eden could do pretty well... for a roleplaying game anyway.
I don't think they're really in competition with VS system. Not even in the same ballpark. Either you have insanely recognizable characters or you don't. Just about every American with electricity knows who Superman and Spiderman are. Nearly noone knows Mr. Destructivetendencies from X server on the internet. Alderac can say a prayer of thank$ every time COH gets mentioned in the same sentence as VS system.
As far as longevity once a player's discovered the game, VS system has a lot going for it beyond near 100% familiarity. Their game's pretty solid--no small part due to following in Magic's footsteps. The players I hear yapping about it, sound alot more like Magic players than comic book readers. Actually that's part of what's turned me off from VS. It overnight became all about combos, deck-building and "drops." The idea of storyline, flavor and comicbook style behavior never stood a chance.
If Alderac makes as solid a game, it will stand a small niche chance, but never near the same easy, fruitful path Upper Deck has enjoyed.
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