NCsoft Opens Orange County Office, Caneghem Departs

Author: by David Jenkins, Simon Carless

Officials from South Korean-headquartered massively multiplayer online game developer and publisher NCsoft have confirmed, in a statement to consumer site GameSpot, that that the company is to open a new office in Orange County, California. The development team there has already been formed and is working on a new, as yet unannounced, MMO project. It's believed that staff from the company's former Glendale office, which was largely administrative, have been consolidated into this new office. This news came as reports spread across the Internet that NCsoft had acquired a number of developers from fellow MMO developer Blizzard, makers of World of WarCraft, and whose Blizzard South offices are also located in Southern Calfornia. However, no confirmation of the developer make-up of the new NCSoft California office has been released by the company. NCsoft now operates offices in Seoul, South Korea; Austin, Texas (currently Richard Garriott's home for Tabula Rasa); Seattle, Washington (the offices of ex-Blizzard developers and Guild Wars creator ArenaNet); Taipei, Taiwan; Tokyo, Japan; Shanghai, China; Bangkok, Thailand; and Brighton, England. The company also publishes notable titles from San Jose, California-based Cryptic Studios (City Of Heroes/Villains), and Louisville, Colorado-based NetDevil (Auto Assault). In other NCSoft-related news, Jon Van Caneghem, the New World Computing founder who originally created the Might & Magic series, and had been hired by NCSoft to work on a new MMO title from the company's Texas office, has left the company, according to online reports. Website Celestial Heavens reports an official statement from an NCSoft representative indicating: "[Caneghem] has left the company to pursue other interests, and we wish him all the best."