City of Heroes Already at 100,000 Plus Subscribers, Lineage Service Hits More Than 60K

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 12, 2004--NCsoft® Corporation (KSE: 036570.KS), the world's leading developer and publisher of online computer games, today revealed that its two recent releases, City of Heroes™ and Lineage® II, already have reached more than 160,000 subscribers combined since they launched simultaneously in North America on April 28. City of Heroes has more than 100,000 subscribers and the Lineage service has moved past 60,000 subscribers. The numbers were reached in less than two weeks and were attained with what some are calling one of the smoothest commercial service launches in the history of massively multiplayer online games.

"We're obviously pleased with the early results of these launches," said Robert Garriott, president of NCsoft North America. "Perhaps what's most gratifying is the virtually flawless launch we had for both products. Having one smooth launch for a massively multiplayer online game is practically unheard of and we had two in one day. Since April 28 our servers have been stable and we're adding more customers every day."

Others agree and believe NCsoft's dual North American launch has set new heights in the games industry.

"Launching a quality massively multiplayer game is an incredibly difficult task," said analyst David Cole of DFC Intelligence. "NCsoft's release of two top-notch online games in one day is unprecedented and shows they are one of the true market pioneers."

Both City of Heroes and Lineage II will be on display this week at the Electronic Entertainment Expo taking place in Los Angeles.