Aion could be plausible, but I think they're past the losses on that, as far as affecting CoX goes. GW2, if anything, seems to have vastly exceeded their expectations, going by the strain it's put on their systems. If there's cost overruns on producing it (possible), I'd venture to say that a little bit of accounting juggling could get that squared away.

But the licensing hypothesis? Given that the end date is end of November, that makes a great deal of sense. If that's true, then it's likely there was some attempt to work out an extension or what-have-you, and it fell through at the last minute.

"Mathematics brought rigor to economics. Unfortunately, it also brought mortis."
- Kenneth Boulding