One of City of Heroes’ multiple spiritual successors, Ship of Heroes, has come out with a statement of its own following yesterday’s confirmation that a secret player-run City of Heroes server has been in operation for the last six years.

“With the surprise news yesterday that a private server for City of Heroes may have been operating for years, possibly with hundreds of players, we just want to reiterate that Ship of Heroes is developing full-steam, and that we will launch as planned on the schedule we have announced,” Heroic Games’ Casey McGeever writes on the game’s official site. “Ship of Heroes is the next step in superhero gaming with a completely unique setting, new story and missions, new engine and graphics, and infinite room for future game expansion. Our goal is to provide a gaming home to all of those who want to continue to experience the positive community that we have already assembled on our forums and in our Alpha tests. After all the support we have received, doing anything else would be a betrayal. Please show your interest by continuing to support Ship of Heroes.” (It was several thousand players, for the record.)

Ship of Heroes is due to launch into beta at the end of the year and is marketing itself as a game for “the WHOLE community.” The shade. We’ve been covering it since the end of 2016 when it was first announced.