With Cryptic's rather cryptic sale of the City of Heroes and City of Villains franchise to the series publisher NCSoft - the rumor mill has begun churning - is Cryptic trimming down to focus on an MMO for the Xbox 360?

Cryptic Studios announced the sale of its intellectual and proprietary rights to the City of Heroes and City of Villains franchises to the series Publisher NCSoft.  NCSoft even gets usage rights for the engine technologies for use in future games.  City of Faceless Consumers maybe?

Cryptic was quick to ensure fans of the series that this would in no way mean a disruption in their tights and cape wearing fun:
“City of Heroes and City of Villains players should be assured that Cryptic Studios will be working closely with NCsoft to ensure a smooth, seamless transition,” said Michael Lewis, President and co-founder of Cryptic Studios. “City of Heroes was Cryptic’s flagship product and we are proud of this title and the many millions of characters that have entertained over a million people worldwide. The decision to sell the franchise allows us to focus resources on our soon to be announced first-party projects.”

The rumors around those 'soon to be announced' projects have already started flying. Let's just say it wouldn't be such a stretch to imagine that with Cryptic's expertise, and some recent strong support from Microsoft Games Studios, that a new IP, perhaps even an MMO (?) could be making it's way to the Xbox 360.  Sound tasty?  We thought so too. 

If it comes to be - you heard it here first