In a sad and surprising Friday announcement, Paragon Studios community manager Andy Belford announced Friday that his company will be shutting its doors and with it, the City of Heroes online role playing game will cease:

“Effective immediately, all development on City of Heroes will cease and we will begin preparations to sunset the world’s first, and best, Super Hero MMORPG before the end of the year. As part of this, all recurring subscription billing and Paragon Market purchasing will be discontinued effective immediately. We will have more information regarding a detailed timeline for the cessation of services and what you can expect in game in the coming weeks.”

City of Heroes has been around for Windows PCs since 2004, though in 2008, its developers contracted TransGaming to develop an OS X version as well. It’s a massively multiplayer online role playing game set in a world populated by costumed superheroes and supervillains.

Belford cited “a realignment of company focus and publishing support” as the reason for Paragon’s closure. Paragon and City of Heroes are owned by NCSoft, which recently released the hotly anticipated PC MMO Guild Wars 2.

The news comes as a shock to many City of Heroes fans.