Though the publisher for City of Heroes/City of Villians has always been NC Soft, the actual developer stayed in the hands of Cryptic Studios… until recently.

A FAQ was posted on Cryptic Studio’s website outlining the specifics of the how and why of the finality of the sell and its complete creative control moving to the NC Soft developers.

How did Cryptic Studios arrive at the decision to sell City of Heroes and City of Villains to NCsoft?
When we considered the future of CoH/CoV and the future of Cryptic Studios, we had a difficult decision to make. We’ve invested a lot of time, effort, talent and passion into the games, and we care about them. But we’ve got a lot of other ideas we’re excited about too.

Ultimately, we decided that selling to NCsoft was the best and right thing to do for the CoH community. CoH/CoV will be in good hands at NCsoft, and the transition will be as seamless as possible. With this move, we now have complete creative freedom and the resources we need to develop new games.

To view the entire FAQ, click here.