NCsoft to Publish Cryptic Studios’ City of Heroes

NCsoft to Publish Cryptic Studios’ City of
Heroes

World Wide Launch Planned for Highly
Anticipated Superhero Massively Multiplayer Online Title

AUSTIN, Texas, March 11, 2002 – NCsoft(TM)
Corporation, the world’s largest independent online game company, announced
today that it will publish one of the most anticipated online game titles
currently in development, Cryptic Studios’ City of Heroes(TM). The game will
bring the concept of superhero role-playing to the massively multiplayer (MMP)
genre and add yet another impressive title to NCsoft’s growing list of online
games.

City of Heroes is a 3-D superhero-based
massively multiplayer online role-playing game. The game is set in Paragon City,
a modern day metropolis full of super powered villains, alien invaders and
underground monsters. Players take on the roles of Paragon City’s superhero
defenders and will be able to create their own hero, choose statistics, skills,
and powers and design their own superhero costume.

"We’re delighted to have City of Heroes in
our publishing family," said Robert Garriott, CEO of NCsoft’s Austin, Texas
subsidiary. "The online world has been waiting for a game based on comic
book-styled superheroes. Cryptic Studios has assembled a team of incredible
talent to deliver a game that will have far-reaching appeal." "NCsoft is exactly
what we were looking for in a publishing partner," said Cameron Petty, Cryptic
Studios(tm) CEO. "The company has a proven track record in launching
subscription-based online games in a global market. NCsoft also has a clear
understanding of online content development and we’re excited about working with
them to make City of Heroes the best it can possibly be." Plans for a City of
Heroes public beta test will be announced later this year. NCsoft and Cryptic
Studios will be showing City of Heroes at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in
Los Angeles, May 22-24. More information about City of Heroes can be found at <http://www.cityofheroes.com>.
.

About NCsoft
Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, NCsoft Corp. is the world’s largest
independent online game company. Established in 1997 as a systems integration
company, NCsoft has leaped to become Korea’s and the world’s leading online game
software company. In Korea, its blockbuster hit game Lineage commands a 47%
market share and attracts the greatest number of concurrent users in the world.
Earlier this year, NCsoft announced plans to provide service for Sony Online
Entertainment’s massively popular EverQuest® in Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Currently NCsoft is positioning itself to fund online titles for worldwide
distribution, and is now actively recruiting more subscription-based online
titles for publishing in Asia and other territories. NCsoft is a public company
and is traded on the KOSDAQ Korean stock exchange. In fiscal 2001, NCsoft posted
revenues of 124,735,958,000 Korean won or approximately US$95 million. More
information about NCsoft can be found at <http://www.ncsoft.co.kr/default_e.html>.

About Cryptic Studios
Cryptic Studios, Inc., located in San Jose, California, was established in July
of 2000 and is an independent developer of massively multiplayer online games
for the PC and next generation consoles. Its first game, City of Heroes, is
currently in development and will launch a virtual world where thousands of
people play simultaneously, take on the role of superheroes, fight villains and
help create a dynamic story in a visually-stunning, 3-D graphical world.

###

NCsoft is a trademark of NCsoft Corp and
Lineage is a trademark of NC Interactive. Cryptic Studios and City of Heroes are
trademarks of Cryptic Studios, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of
their respective owners.