City of Heroes Fan Server Now Officially Licensed by NCSoft

ign.com:

City of Heroes is making an official return as a fan server dedicated to keeping the superhero multiplayer game running has been granted an official license by publisher NCSOFT.

Revealed in a forum post, a representative of the fan server, titled Homecoming, announced their hard work paid off. City of Heroes was shut down more than a decade ago in November 2012, but fan servers kept players entertained and now its biggest has officially revived the massively multiplayer online role-playing game.

"We’d like to thank you all for your patience over the past few years, and we’re incredibly thrilled to announce that it’s paid off," the post said. "NCSOFT has officially granted Homecoming a license to host City of Heroes."

Aware fans would have many questions about the change, the post made the most important points clear: players accounts and characters are safe, new content will continue to be developed, and it will remain free and run through donations. More details will arrive in the coming months.

"Realise your comic book dreams in this MMORPG that is home to an entire universe of super-powered heroes and villains," reads the game's synopsis. "Build your own unique hero from millions of possible character combinations and venture into Paragon City to discover all the danger, wonder and excitement that await you."

In our 8/10 review from 2004, when the game debuted, IGN said: "City of Heroes is fun. It's exciting, it's colourful, it's cute, it's brutal, and it's a great realization of comic books in MMO form. It seems like a great place to start for those that have always found MMOs intimidating."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.