Secret World delayed by Funcom lay-offs News
MMO PC News by Oli Welsh
Age of Conan developer Funcom announced that it's laying off 20 per cent of its workforce today, with the result of a delay of "several months" in the development of its next MMO, The Secret World.
That's according to Norwegian business site E24, as spotted by GI and translated by Google.
The Secret World had no release date, although we expected to see it next year. A 2011 launch now looks more likely for the contemporary, occult, conspiracy-themed MMO by Dreamfall creator Ragnar Tornquist.
It's not clear what impact the job cuts will have on the release of the first Age of Conan expansion, Rise of the Godslayer - although this too had no firm date.
Funcom's Oslo HQ is hardest hit by the redundancies as the company transfers its development focus to Montreal, where it recently set up a new studio to take advantage of the tax breaks and lower wages on offer in Canada.
If you want to learn more, we recently previewed The Secret World, spoke to Tornquist and previewed Rise of the Godslayer.
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Latest Screenshots
18 August, 2009 [1]
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Comments: 1-15 of 15 in total
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actionfitz
29/09/09 @ 10:47
+1
Ouch.
That'll learn em to release half finished games. --- lol -1? got some AoC fanboys about here then?
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 29/09/09 @ 15:15
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Slipstream
29/09/09 @ 10:47
+2
It's sad that it had to come to this. But I guess there was no avoiding the damage caused by Conan's poor initial release. Sounds like it has improved since, but first impressions etc.
Further more they are in an unrelenting sector of the industry where, unless your product garners consistant attention, and you're unable to handle feedback from the masses, you'll be on that slippery slope for a while. Also slagging off the lead rival does nothing for your credibility either... Still, I hope they can pull through, secret world does look very nice indeed. I like the atmosphere it eminates. |
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hula hoops
29/09/09 @ 11:17
-2
AoC-WoW comparison
Yep, Funcom's Age of Conan is like uncooked and blodied raw steak compared to Blizzard's WoW chargrilled, properly seasoned MacDonald hamburgers. |
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0
"Yep, Funcom's Age of Conan is like uncooked and blodied raw steak compared to Blizzard's WoW chargrilled, properly seasoned MacDonald hamburgers."
Mmmm. Bloody steak. *drools*. So long as it doesn't still have a heartbeat that's the way I like it. (nothing to do with AoC or WoW. I just likes my steak basically hacked off the cow, waved over a frying pan and served to me. I wouldn't touch McDonalds with a bargepole, regardless of how "seasoned" it was)
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 29/09/09 @ 13:40
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+2
McDonalds seasoned? Dude, cooking Mcdonalds is like creating a them 2 minute noodle soups - it's not proper food. I haven't eaten McD for 5+ years, eating their burgers always made me more hungry - which is silly, food shouldn't make you more hungry. Also, they have spray-on grill taste. Seriously, if you need that then you are doing it wrong.
Heck, I'd rather take a raw bloody steak over a McD's any time. |
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iokthemonkey
29/09/09 @ 12:44
+6
Except in the case of AoC, the 'steak' is in reality a bull's cock stuffed with smegma and served on a bed of maggoty jism.
I feel sorry for the staff who've been laid-off due to bad top-end decisions, but the only thing I find surprising about this is that it's taken this long, to be honest. |
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iokthemonkey
29/09/09 @ 15:49
0
So they lay off 20%, delay their game and therefore put the entire company in jeapordy....anyone else see the flaw in their plan?
---- It's a standard business practice - usually encouraged by banks/financiers. Put simply, if you have X people and Y cash to pay their salaries, having X/2 means your Y cash keeps you going for twice as long. At least, that's how the backers see it, missing the point that a company needs those staff. |
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0
Put simply, if you have X people and Y cash to pay their salaries, having X/2 means your Y cash keeps you going for twice as long. At least, that's how the backers see it, missing the point that a company needs those staff.
---------------- The backers know how many staff are needed, but they want to get their money back. If they trusted Funcom to deliver in the long run then they wouldn't push for job cuts now. If they have forced the issue it means their backers have lost faith in Funcom's business strategy and are cutting their losses. |
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iokthemonkey
30/09/09 @ 14:53
0
The backers know how many staff are needed, but they want to get their money back. If they trusted Funcom to deliver in the long run then they wouldn't push for job cuts now. If they have forced the issue it means their backers have lost faith in Funcom's business strategy and are cutting their losses.
----- The problem is, all backers/financiers/bankers don't get that the company is the staff and when it comes to cutting costs, they don't think of them as assets but as liabilities and so look to shed them. But trust me, I don't have much faith in Funcom's abilities either... |
Comments: 1-15 of 15 in total
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