"On the night before we all got the notice of the studio shutting down, Brian, Ross, and Destin were in there still trying to work out that deal. There were one or two points where neither side could budge. "I'm not exactly sure where the sticking points were, but in the logistics of business there's always some sticking point somewhere people just aren't willing to budge and I think that's where we ended up. "Things looked like they were going to go well and then things just kind of stopped going well," says Miller. And the company was optimistic enough about its future that it quietly began to ping select media outlets to discuss plans on how it would break the news once Paragon and NCsoft had reached a separation agreement. While Miller wasn't in the talks, he was briefed regularly. Negotiations started off pretty good between the parties. So, plan B, which I always thought was a great plan from the beginning was the management buyout." The buyer wasn't going to buy and NCsoft wasn't looking to sell. Suffice it to say that eventually the talks broke down. "So they actively sought another publisher to purchase Paragon Studios from NCsoft. really loved what the studio was doing and they really felt that the game still had legs," says Miller. The developers, arguably, loved the game more than the fans - and that passion led them to look for alternatives to a shutdown. (Miller says the game was more profitable as free-to-play than it was in the pay-to-play model.) Though the game launched in 2004, it still had an active community, which Paragon supported with regular updates - and even move the game to a free-to-play model in 2011.
![paragon game forums paragon game forums](https://i.imgur.com/p8EG94p.jpeg)
Paragon, which started as NCsoft NorCal, was given caretaker duties for the game when the publisher bought the property from creator Cryptic Studios. NCsoft management was planning some changes and they were ordered to begin planning for the end of City of Heroes. Clayton, Bales, and Borden were told things were not looking good for the studio. The sad saga of Paragon actually starts a couple of months before the doors were closed. We truly thank our fans for their years of support and we hope they understand the difficult position we were in when making the final decision." "Closing a studio and sunsetting a beloved franchise is never an easy thing to do for the publisher, the developer or the fans. "We looked to sell the franchise multiple times, however, we were unsuccessful in finding a suitable partner that we thought would support City of Heroes' fans in a manner they were accustomed to for years to come," the company said.
![paragon game forums paragon game forums](https://vgboxart.com/resources/render/13975_paragon-prev.png)
NCsoft, in a statement, said the decision to close Paragon and shut down City of Heroes was not an easy one, but ultimately, the company felt the action was best for its customers. It was business as usual right up until the last day." "We all were really working as if things were going to work out. "It was very much a surprise," says Matt Miller, former lead designer at Paragon, who had been brought in on the buyout plan. The deal looked like it would go through - but at the last minute, roadblocks arose that scuttled the negotiations, sealing the studio's fate.
![paragon game forums paragon game forums](https://i.imgur.com/XDp5tlS.png)
Paragon management - including general manager/co-founder Brian Clayton, director of product development Destin Bales, and director of business and marketing Ross Borden - actively negotiated with NCsoft to buy back the studio, which would have resulted in both the employees retaining their jobs and keeping City of Heroes alive for its core, but dedicated, fan base.
![paragon game forums paragon game forums](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/64JgYmkjYKY95a8xmbDJD7.jpg)
In fact, say Paragon veterans, up until the last minute, it looked like the company was facing a much different fate. But had history zigged instead of zagged, Paragon could still be around today. 31 closure seemingly came out of nowhere, affecting 80 employees - many of whom were just as surprised as the rest of the gaming world.