Today NCsoft reported that it has settled all of their legal claims with Marvel Entertainment. This will allow its popular comic-inspired massive multiplayer online role-playing games to continue operations. Last fall, Marvel sued publisher NCsoft and developer Cryptic Studios, claiming the pair's highly successful City of Heroes MMORPG allowed players to create characters so close to Marvel properties that they constituted copyright infringement. NCsoft scored a partial victory in March, when a judge threw out many of Marvel's complaints. Terms of the settlement weren't disclosed, but NCsoft has said the character creation used in City of Heroes and the recently released City of Villains will not be changed as a result.
While the legal wranglings seems to be over with, the battle may soon be rekindled and expanded in the retail arena. In July, Marvel announced a deal with Microsoft to make an Xbox 360-exclusive MMO based on its universe of characters. The month before, Sony Online Entertainment snagged the rights to develop an MMO based on the heroes of Marvel's biggest competitor, DC Comics.
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