Seven years ago today, NCsoft and Cryptic Studios released City of Heroes, providing fantasy-gorged massively multiplayer online gamers a new way to waste countless hours of their lives alongside thousands of their closest friends. Let's celebrate seven years of heroes and villains with a colorful infographic and nostalgia-laden anecdotes!
I fondly remember the day City of Heroes went live. I must have spent a dozen hours camped in front of my computer, soaking in everything Cryptic Studios had created. Then I finished creating my character and moved on to the game proper. It was nice enough, but damn if that character creator didn't keep calling me back.
Seven years later more than 42 million characters have been created (some of them not mine) and 15.7 billion experience points have been earned. The game has survived a Marvel lawsuit, a studio transition, the invasion of super villains, and the release of two competing superhero MMOs, including Champions Online, a game crafted by City of Heroes' original development studio.
NCsoft and Paragon Studios has a month of special events and sales laid out for City of Heroes players to help celebrate scratching seven years of the superhero itch. Head over to the game's official website for details.