NCsoft, whose financial department is in big trouble, is on the verge of merging its United States and European subsidiaries into a new entity, called NC West, that is set to be headquartered in Seattle and that should handle all the activity of the company outside of Asia.

NC West will incorporate NCsoft studios NC Interactive, NC Europe, NC Austin and ArenaNet. Chris Chung will be the CEO of the new company; Jeff Strain will be the president of product development and David Reid the president of publishing.

Taek Jin Kim, who is the Chief Executive Officer of NCsoft, stated that “We are confident that by combining our subsidiaries into a unified global organization under Chris Chung’s leadership, NC West will become a more powerful force to be reckoned within the western MMO market”.

As the consolidation process takes place, the Brighton, United Kingdom and the Austin, Texas studios of the company are likely to suffer the most. The studio in the UK is rumored to have already stopped the development of the MMO that it had in the works and most of the employees are reported to be preparing to leave the company. It's unclear how the new project they have recently announced, titled Aion, will be affected.

NCsoft confirmed that it would lay off more than 21 employees from its Austin offices last month as its financial results are slipping, with a 42% downturn reported in revenues. NCsoft says it has also cut some staff from the team that is handling its Dungeon Runners game. The most important franchises that the company holds, Guild Wars and Lineage, are threatened by the launch, this fall, of MMOs like Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning and the Wrath of the Lich King expansion for World of Warcraft.

The company has moved too quickly in a desire to expand its operations, while failing to launch a hit game that would bring in the money needed to sustain this expansion. It's unclear how the new project they announced, titled Aion, will be affected.