Posts Tagged ‘Funcom’

« Older Entries

EA and Funcom to jointly publish The Secret World

Monday, January 10th, 2011

EA and Funcom have recently announced a co-publishing deal surrounding the anticipated MMO The Secret World. Neither company needs an introduction, and the combined forces of these two gaming powerhouses is sure to hold to new surprises for gamers. Funcom is reporting that thousands of eager gamers have flocked to the growing community surrounding the game’s launch, with many already becoming active members of the game’s three distinct secret societies: The Illuminati, The Dragon, and The Templar.

“We are tremendously excited to be working with what is undoubtedly the world-leading games publisher for the past decade, and it is also a great testament to the fantastic work of our development team,” says Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas in a statement. “The experience and the knowledge that Electronic Arts brings to the table will be instrumental in allowing us to realize the full potential of ‘The Secret World’.”

If you’ve not already familiarized yourself with The Secret World, the game is billed as a “next-generation” MMO that allows players complete and total freedom to advance their in-game characters. Previous MMO standards such as character class and level no longer apply; the game’s wide open. Players pledge their allegiance to one of three secret societies (hence, The Secret World), and battle for world domination via various landmark locations around the globe. And it’s not the fantasy world of planet XYZ, The Secret World is based on our own modern world, with players adventuring through Egypt, New England (home of Dan Brown), London, New York, and Seoul.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Funcom, one of the world-leaders in the development of massively multiplayer online games,” adds David DeMartini, Senior Vice President and General Manager of EA Partners. “We are very excited to be able to take part in the growing online gaming category with such a highly anticipated title as ‘The Secret World’.”

The way I see it, this is a win-win for both Funcom and EA. EA, who’s man-at-the-helm John Riccitiello has been driving down boxed unit sales in favor of digital distribution, now has an MMO to add to the EA distribution list, and Funcom, who’ve had their own issues in the past concerning MMO success, now has the backing and partnership of one of the oldest and most respected brands in the industry. While no release date, or format, has been given, my guess is that Funcom will leverage EA’s distribution channels, with EA gaining an anticipated, and how quality MMO to call it’s own (of sorts). And while The Secret World has been in development for some time now, this publishing partnership with EA is certainly a sign that the development phase is drawing to a close, and that we can most probably expect the arrival of The Secret World sometime in 2011.

Tags: ,
Posted in industry news | No Comments »

 

Age of Conan goes free-to-play. At least for the first 20 levels. For now.

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

Norwegian games developer Funcom has recently announced that they’ve opened up their MMORPG Age of Conan Hyborian Adventures as a free-to-play game, with caveats, of course. Players that download the client, register, and start playing what Funcom calls a ‘trial’ between now and January 1st, 2010 won’t have to pay a dime. At least not for the first 20 levels, which includes the Island of Tortage, the game’s first starting area. After which point, Funcom is banking on players enjoying the experience so much that they’ll be willing to fork over some cash for the subscription service.

“Our original seven day trial has been very successful so far,” says Morten Larssen, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Funcom. “But with the holiday season coming up this is the perfect time to shake up our trial offer a bit and try out something new. So everyone who downloads the trial before January 1st will be able to play the first part of the game for free, forever. We are confident that many of those taking advantage of this offer will choose to become permanent players, allowing them to experience all of what the game has to offer including all the additions and improvements introduced since launch.”

Ok, not a bad promo. Unless of course, you look at the less than stellar performance Age of Conan has seen since it’s launch. While Funcom bills the title as a “smash hit in retail,” looking at some of AoC’s past ‘achievements’ reveals a slightly different story. Remember, AoC is the same title that saw half of it’s servers shut down at the very beginning of the year. Only a few months later, Funcom’s financial report revealed that AoC was clearly not living up to the company’s expectations. Funcom then moved on to giving away virtual goods as a way to draw in more players, as well as initiating the ‘free trial’ program Larssen’s statement refers to. To top it all off, all of this Age of Conan activity has been taking place post Funcom announcing that they’ve got not one, but two free-to-play titles in the works.

Again, with the talk of free-to-plays in development, combined with the proverbial flogging of the dead horse – calling a play from the Turbine handbook doesn’t seem too far off. Remember Turbine’s flailing Dungeons and Dragons Online? Almost banished to the depths of obscurity, Turbine made the move to convert DDO to a full fledged free-to-play, and has seem massive interest, action, and associated sales and revenue arriving via the in-game shop. Now if I were a betting man….I’d be playing an all in on 2010 seeing Funcom do the very same with Age of Conan Hyborian Adventures.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in industry news | No Comments »

 

Funcom lands grant to develop free-to-play snowboard title

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

As odd as it may sound, Norwegian games developer Funcom has recently been bestowed with a $260,000 (NOK 1.5 million) grant to develop an online winter sports title. Awarded by the Norsk Filminstitutt to develop On the Edge of the World, the grant aims to raise awareness and promote Norwegian winter sports. First on tap – snowboarding.

According to the Norsk Filminstitutt’s site (in Norwegian), the title will be a free-to-play game, playable on both Mac and PC, and has a projected prototype delivery date of December 31, 2010. And while snowboarding will be the first focus of On the Edge of the World, the Filminstitutt indeally wants a highly modular platform whereby various Norwegian winter sports can be represented (Alpine skiing, cross country skiing, etc.). With a projected total development cost of around $1 million, this influx of $260k means that the Norsk Filminstitutt’s grant will cover over a quarter of the development costs. Something the struggling Funcom could certainly use.

Slated to be directed by experience Funcom employee Jørgen Tharaldsen (Product Director for Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures), On the Edge of the World should also have cross media features that should be able to translate to film, television and the sports featured in the game.

As we’ve seen over the past year, Funcom, the one time heavily into massive games with their associated payment options, is, be it it’s own choice or not, slowly morphing into a free-to-play development studio. Back in May, buried amidst a ‘things are looking better….really…they are” report about the state of Age of Conan, Funcom slipped in that they’re also working on two separate free-to-play titles, each aimed at a unique demographic. Fast forward nine months, and they’re not working on another free-to-play? And this time with a grant from the Norwegian government?

Which brings to mind another issue. Wasn’t Funcom the developer that recently let 20 percent of it’s staff members go, while encouraging those remaining to move to it’s Quebec, Canada studios? Does that now mean those 20 percent might have their job back? Does that mean that the Norwegian government is literally trying to buy Funcom into staying in Norway? And with an annual loss of $34 million in 2008, can Funcom actually deliver?

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in industry news | No Comments »

 

Funcom to layoff almost a quarter of workforce

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

In an extremely short and sweet announcement on the Funcom corporate site, the news was announced that the company will be eliminating 20 percent of their overall workforce with, “headcount reductions or forced leave, mostly in the Company’s Norwegian subsidiary.”

funcomThese layoffs are expected to delay the what once had great promise and potential subscription MMO, The Secret World. However, and perhaps a now demonstrated shift in company philosophy and business model, Funcom has stated the development of the company’s first free-to-play MMO will continue, with an expected limited beta release during Q4. Likewise, the company will continue to develop the Age of Conan expansion pack, as well as the title’s Korean release.

After starting with much fanfare, Funcom’s main bread-and-butter MMO age of Conan has seen a rocky road to say the least. With waning interest, the Norwegian developer was forced to close over half the AoC servers. However, back in late May of this year, Funcom released a financial report that indicated an increase in in-game activity, and that the new customers/month ratio was on the rise. On the other side of the coin, this same financial report was the first indication that Funcom was getting on board with the free-to-play model, to be supported through in-game advertising and/or microtransactions, or a hybrid of both, and pointed at different age segments. So what gives? Has Conan seen another dramatic dip in interest? So significant a dip that the company is now forced to trim 20 percent of the workforce?

The game developer currently employs 300 people, and is expected to shift a majority of the remaining workforce to Canada in order to take advantage of lower salaries. Specifically offered in Quebec, employers receive a 37.5 percent reimbursement incentive from the Canadian Government. This move could halve the company’s operating expenses. Those that will remain with Funcom and miss the layoff round have already received offers of relocation packages, encouraging skilled workers to make the move to Canada.

Funcom’s 2008 financials showed a loss of approximately $34 million, owing largely to the money pit that is becoming Age of Conan, while this year shows a $1.2 million operating loss, which seems to be roughly in-line with expectations.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in industry news | No Comments »

 

DDO sets a date, and Age of Conan goes free-to-play (sorta)

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

Two exciting announcements came to light yesterday, Turbine’s anticipated re-working of Dungeons and Dragons Online (DDO) set a launch date, and Funcom’s Age of Conan is trying to reawaken slumbering former players with a free-to-play offer.

DDO Unlimited

Turbine gave the official announcement yesterday, setting August 6th as the ‘we’re open for business’ date. VIP folks, those paying an optional monthly subscription, will be able to get their dungeonmaster on two days before the non-paying peeps, with a green light on August 4th.

As a free-to-play revival of the somewhat dead former subscription only MMO, the game will be supported primarily through microtransactions. We’ve run through the DDO store pricing and options here.

This relaunch isn’t your standard fair either, with a boatload of new content arriving on Eberron shores shortly. Players will have access to a new character class, Favored Soul – a monk/priest/cleric type hybrid. New adventure packs, level cap, and an improved combat system are all on tap.

“The DDO Unlimited Beta has been a huge success and we want to thank all of our players who have participated to help us make this the best free-to-play game on the market. On August 6th we are going to change what it means to be free-to-play with the most immersive, action-packed and full-featured MMO that provides players with a choice in how they play and pay for the game,” says DDO Unlimited executive producer Fernando Paiz.

Age of Conan

Oh Conan. What can we say about you that hasn’t already been said? Starting back at the beginning of the year, Funcom’s Age of Conan more than halved the number of servers supporting the title from 49 to 18. A few months later in March, the Funcom financial report saw Age of Conan coming up short, both on revenues and player expectations. Fast forward one month, and Funcom is now offering a free trial program as well as tossing in a few virtual goodies to sweeten the deal.

Another three short months later, it looks like Conan is falling back to some of his old tricks, by now offering inactive players two free-to-play weeks, should they decide to come back and see what’s changed.

“For anyone with an inactive account who ever thought about giving it another try, this is your chance,” says Morten Larssen, Vice-President of Sales and Marketing at Funcom. “After the hugely successful launch last year we immediately started working on updates that would make the game better and provide more content for players, and that is what we have been doing this past year. With the most recent update just out the door, this is the time to ask players to come back and see the results!”

“It has been quite a journey for the entire team getting to where we are today,” says Game Director on ‘Age of Conan’ Craig Morrison. “I think that players have always seen the great potential in ‘Age of Conan’ and we have put a lot of effort into realizing that potential. The game has improved tremendously since launch and we look forward to having players come back and seeing the changes for themselves!”

The free-to-play campaign being offered to closed account players is valid only between July 8th and July 22nd. Funcom’s offer comes on the heels of a new expansion announcement, as well as bug fixes and client updates.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in industry news | No Comments »

 

Funcom’s Age of Conan looking better, and talk of not one but TWO upcoming free-to-plays

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

Things are starting to look up for the Norwegian publisher and developer.  After being dragged through the mud regarding their lack of interest in Conan and server closures, the company initiated a free trial marketing program that looks to have helped stop the leaks.  In addition, the companies’ latest financial report talks about not one, but two upcoming free-to-play titles, with a nod to the fact that we should expect more where that came from.

Age of Conan

age-of-conanThe report states that the number of new customers/month has been on the steady increase, and is significantly higher in 2009 than in late 2008.  Funcom also points to the early trial marketing as a key contributor.  Maybe everyone’s reached their level 80(s) in WoW?  Funcom also reports that in-game activity levels are significantly higher than in previous periods, with a solid, stable customer base Jan-May 2009.

As with any major MMO, most customers anticipate, if not expect major updates and enhancements to their current game.  Funcom acknowledges this and has plenty of goodies in store for dedicated Conan fans with a major change and improvement to the overall RPG system, as well as expanded guild and social features.

Conan as also celebrating his official one year on the market birthday, and will be rewarding players in-game.

“We are very pleased to see that more players are experiencing ‘Age of Conan’,” says VP of Sales and Marketing at Funcom, Morten Larssen. “The team has been working diligently on improving the game since launch, with several major updates that in addition to improving technology and client stability, also have added hours of more content, new gameplay features, and more. The fact that we are now also seeing longer average subscription periods is a testament to the fact that ‘Age of Conan’ is just getting better and better, and with the launch of the recent trial campaign there has never been a better time to check out the game than now!”

Free-to-play

picture-1The Funcom report is the first mention of not one, but two free-to-play titles that Funcom has in the works (or at least that I’ve heard about).  Are the Norwegians biting off more than they can chew, or moreover, self saturating their own market?  Not really, as evidenced by the report, one of the free-to-plays will be browser based, while the other is being developed as a Java based MMO.

The Java based MMO is being aimed at a “Young demographic” (think CampFU, Club Penguin, etc.), has a 17 person team working day and night on it, and is currently conducting focus testing and game play tweaking with a vertical slice due this summer.

The browser based MMO in comparison will be targeted at the “Gamer demographic”, and the 14 person team is currently developing the MMO technology with a combat milestone due this summer.

picture-2And now, if that wasn’t enough to get the free-to-play crowd jazzed, Funcom also chucks in one extra header and four bullet points:

  • Casual MMOs in Funcom
  • Synergies on technology and competence
  • Smaller budgets and faster development
  • Business models with combination of microtransactions, subscriptions and advertising

They also go on to highlight growing market trends including utilizing Facebook as a gaming platform, the growth of free-to-play database games like Travian, Gameforge etc., and the continued growth of casual online games

Do with that what you will, but the way I’m reading that is – hang on to your hats folks, ‘cause we gotta whole lot more in the free-to-play/microtransaction stable, and we’ll be letting the horses out soon.

So while I’ll admit, perhaps my own coverage of Conan’s pending demise may (note the italics?) have been a bit harsh, it looks like Funcom has taken the punches, learned from their mistakes, and are charging ahead.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in industry news | No Comments »

 

Big Stage scores big with an additional $2.7 million

Thursday, April 16th, 2009

Los Angeles based Big Stage Entertainment, Inc. has recently received an additional $2.7m in series B funding from their original investors, Mission Ventures, Selby Ventures and TechCoast Angels.  This round of funding brings Big Stage Entertainment’s total raised to a healthy chunk of change at $10.6 milion.  Presumably, Big State will use this new injection of funding to further advance and accelerate their research and development and sales and marketing for its 3d photorealistic facial avatar modeling technology.  Outside investors still have a shot at getting in on the action, with and additional $3.3 million still remaining in series B funding, open until June 8th.

As reported back in December, Big Stage uses a 3D facial modeling system that renders 3D versions of a person from 3 digital photos taken from different angles.  Now known as @ctors, the entire setup and processing method should take users less than two minutes, making creation easy for even the non-technical.  Third parties can integrate Big Stage Entertainment’s proprietary PortableYou 3-D facial modeling system seamlessly into video games, virtual worlds, Web sites, mobile apps, kiosk-based systems and more. The BackStage white label product offers a turnkey solution to partners who want to leverage the same 3-D face modeling technology as part of high impact participatory experiences under their own brands, with the added benefit of easy-to-use social sharing tools to maximize viral effect.

The company grew out of an advanced stereo reconstruction technology R&D project at USC funded by the CIA and other government grants.  Big Stage Entertainment’s initial round of funding raised $7.9 million from investors Mission Ventures, Selby Ventures and Tech Coast Angels.

“Big Stage Entertainment offers the most realistic 3D facial avatar-creation technology that’s accessible to consumers today. Our service is built on a hub strategy to provide consumers a single online location for the projection of self into digital life,” said Phil Ressler, Big Stage Entertainment CEO. “With this investment, we will continue to push the limits of participatory media to meet the evolving needs of brands and content owners who recognize the immense potential of enabling audiences to star in media experiences created by themselves or others.”

“Big Stage Entertainment brings the deeply personal phenomenon of projection of self to mainstream consumers, breaking new ground in interactive entertainment,” said Robert Kibble, managing partner, Mission Ventures. “Mission Ventures led this Series B investment out of recognition of the huge long-term opportunity in helping Big Stage Entertainment realize its full potential.”

This new influx of cash should keep Big Stage right on track, and delivering top-notch products to current and future clients.  At the present time, Big Stage counts some high level clients amongst their roster including Sony BMG, Lionsgate, Funcom, Intel, Stephen J. Cannell Productions, GGL Global Gaming, The Venue Network, Icarus Studios, Virtual Space Entertainment and Splash News.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in industry news | No Comments »

 

Funcom eyes free-to-play as Age of Conan comes up short

Monday, March 2nd, 2009

Late last week, Funcom released their financial report and presentation for Q4 2008.  While there’s plenty of info about Age of Conan not living up to expectations (see below), there is a silver lining to be found in the Sturm und Drang.  In the report, Funcom revealed that they have two, count ‘em; Two free-to-play titles in the works.  Both are MMORPG’s that will monetize via a combination of microtransactions, in-game advertising, and subscriptions.  Both are yet-to-be-named, but one is a Java based MMO aimed at a youth market, while the other is a browser-based MMO targeting a more general, all encompassing market.  Funcom’s Java product has a team of 17 dedicated devs., and the browser based MMO gets 14 of Funcom’s brilliant minds.  These numbers sound good, but – to put things in perspective, Funcom’s upcoming subscription (only) based title; The Secret World has a dedicated team of 80.  Am I on the only one raising the ‘what?’ flag?

royal-failAnd now for the bad news: Age of Conan – fail.  Most of Funcom’s report focuses on how AoC has not lived up to previous hype, and how this will affect Funcom’s future.  Their Q4 gross revenue topped out around $8.7M, which was in fact within the expected parameters of between $8-10M, but obviously, board members were hoping closer to 10 than 8.  In comparison, Q2 saw $12.2M line the coffers, while Q3 really brought home the bacon with $18M.  And while it’s true that Q4 revenues represent a $7.5M increase YOY from 2007, most of this was generated by Age of Conan players’ subscription fees.  Whether or not these players remain or return to play is yet to be seen.

Funcom notes in the report that subscription retention rates were lower than expected.  One key factor was players’ dissatisfaction with the game.  They claim that retention rates are stabilizing and that player activity is on the rise, but are “uncertain” about future usage levels, and how the product will be able to successfully attract new players moving forward.

Given that Funcom recently pulled the plug on over half of Age of Conan’s servers, one can only wonder what metrics they’re using to justify ‘increased player activity’?  Sure, if you remove half the available options, any activity is going to look like increased activity.  And lest we forget, in late 2008 Age of Conan director Gaute Godgar called it a day with Conan, citing his dissatisfaction with the title’s quality.  And to add just a bit more icing to the cake, Funcom’s CFO Olav Sandnes resigned after a $23.3M loss (what was that about following the money?).

While Age of Conan may have been the third best selling PC title of 2008 (World of Warcraft and Spore took the top two spots, respectively), DFC Intelligence reports that Age of Conan put less coinage in the bank than Warhammer Online and Lord of The Rings.  And now for the kicker: AoC was out-earned by several free-to-play, microtransaction-based titles including Runescape, Maple Story, and Club Penguin.

Funcom’s now investing in two free-to-play’s after what come might consider a disastrous year.  Coincidence?  I think not.  The report says that both of Funcom’s free-to-play’s are expected to be in beta status by Q4 2009.  While they did not disclose details as to when development had started on these projects, 9 months to turn out 2 free-to-play, microtransaction driven titles with just 31 people involved?  Sounds like a rush job to me.  Remember, Funcom’s upcoming subscription based title; The Secret World has a team of 80 concentrating on it.  One might think that after devoting so much time and development work to a title that’s delivered ‘Meh’ performance, wouldn’t it be time for Funcom to take a second, look in the mirror (and the balance sheets) and refocus their efforts on products that can really make an ROI?

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in industry news | No Comments »

 

Funcom’s Age of Conan servers to be halved

Thursday, January 15th, 2009
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures

Funcom has just announced their list of planned server merges, with over half falling by the wayside.  Of the current 49 servers in action, post mergers, funcom’s MMO Age of Conan will be reduced to only 18.

While European servers will see the least drastic of the changes, with 12 servers remaining open due to the language variety (Age of Conan is currently available in English, French, German, and Spanish), the North American and Oceanic regions will be hardest hit.  The current 24 servers operating in these areas will be reduced to six, with only one PvP, and two PvE servers remaining open in the United States.  Each of the 3 servers will combine populations of the six or seven currently operating servers.

Funcom tested this move last week, with a successful merger of the Oceanic servers, and is expected to roll out the US and European mergers this week.

This is a significant point in it’s own right, as this is the first quasi-indication from funcom on how AoC’s numbers have dwindled since launch.  The silver lining in this cloud is that dedicated fans, and even those that may be new to the game will see a much increased server population, thus leading to much player-to-player interactions, and naturally a boosted in-game economy (man, I can’t WAIT to see prices on the Auction House explode).

Funcom says that they’re pushing forward with the high level and end game content (a comment we heard directly from funcom representatives at the Leipzig GC), as well as the first expansion pack.

In some ways I’m a bit taken back by this, in other ways, not.  Funcom’s Age of Conan made a lot of noise prior to the launch, won Voodoo Extreme’s MMORPG of the year 2008, and who could forget Keaira’s playboy appearance?  I personally have only spent a few days with Age of Conan, but found the gameplay and graphics to be stellar.  As noted above, I did hear it directly from funcom reps that the biggest problem they’d experienced with the AoC community were complaints about not enough end-game/epic materials and dungeons.  The last I knew, they were working on this content last summer, but weren’t giving out any definitive dates as to when the content would be released.  Another fact to consider is AoC/funcom’s timing.  When AoC was first released, we knew that Blizzard was rapidly moving forward with the WotLK, but hadn’t given any indications to it’s release date.  Funcom nailed the AoC release date; in so much as WoW players (myself included) had cleared a number of heroic dungeons, collected their purples, and were, well, to be quite honest, a bit bored.  Age of Conan fit the bill and filled the void.  Given the massive numbers that Blizzard is yet again reaching with Lich King success, could many others like me have simply moved AoC down the list again?

Related articles
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in industry news | No Comments »

 

Age of Conan getting some GOOOOOOD updates!

Monday, June 16th, 2008

It looks like Friday the 13th wasn’t so bad. Funcom, publishers of Age of Conan announced that a whole new horsecart is gonna be pulling into the station soon with a booty full of goodies.

You can have a read of AoC’s official newsletter here, or…sit back and let me give you the highlights:

Decent, as we’ve come to expect it, none of this schoolboy baby business, PvP implemented. Yay! For anyone that’s accustomed to playing PvP roles as opposed to PvE has come to realize that AoC is lacking a bit where others make PvP pretty darn close to white knuckled combat.

One tiny little jab at Funcom if I may? There’s one sentence that sticks out like a sore thumb in the newsletter:

“Following the launch of Age of Conan we sat down immediately and started fleshing out some ideas for what we wanted to do with the PvP (player vs. player) features in the game, and now we are ready to reveal it to you.”

Ummmm. Following? I mean, I don’t mean to sound like a jackass here but uhhh…wouldn’t you want to map out the PvP strategy and development BEFORE you launched the game? Call me crazy….

Colors! Yes, color codes. A new fugitive system is being implemented whereby a color coded system will correspond to the appropriate wanted status of each character. This is based on how many lower level players they’ve killed. The basic David v. Goliath scenario is set here, as there are greater PvP rewards for killing a more wanted player. Theft of items and money will be awarded to death of the player with the highest fugitive status.

Awwww yiy….LOOT baby! The AoC loot system is being retooled. In case you haven’t noticed, loot in AoC thus far has been…well…almost insignificant. Funcom is changing this presumably to make loot a more integral part of character progression. The AoC street sweepers union is rather happy about this.

Powerpoint FTW! No, thankfully you’re not going to have to sit through a 32 slide presentation in order to play. Powerpoints refers to the new achievement system being put into place. These are points earned primarily during endgame play, but…you can continue to receive them in a steady influx provided that you keep your subscription status active. Powerpoints are pretty much, more or less similar to WoW’s Marks of Honor, and can be spent on special abilities and/or gear. Fear not…Funcom’s been tracking you, and these Powerpoints will be applied retroactively once launched. In other words, all the time you’ve already spent ingame has been tallied, tabulated, and will be waiting for you once the patch is applied. And in this slide, you’ll see our productivity vs. cost and performance is increasing due to….(sorry, I couldn’t resist)

Chit Chat. Ummm…yeah. Funcom. Funny that the name com (as in communication?) is part of the brand’s name, but yet, communicating ingame should provide an achievement award in itself. A completely new chat interface will be hitting your UI soon.

Strap your seatbelts on riders, as all this a few more improvements are heading your way in late June/early July.

All in all, I’ve been OK with AoC. Funcom’s latest offering gets the OK seal with a bit of trepidation. It’s got a lot of things going for it, and I’m almost pulling for it like the little engine that could. Graphically, the game is stunning, sound is not so bad, but there’s also that nagging suspicion in the back of my head that just keeps saying to me “They rushed it to market, they rushed it to market….”. Does this sound familiar with any of Funcom’s other offerings. Yes. Me too. Ok, I’ll say it: Anarchy Online. Do it with me now….roll eyeballs….groan. Yes, it was bad. Very bad. But…on the other side of the coin, Funcom got their $H@& together might fast, and within a year the game was actually pretty decent. The Shadowlands expansion pack changed the whole face of the game, and if you hadn’t been in on the original release (or lived on rocks and never read forums) it might have even passed as a good game. I have the very same hopes for AoC. It’s got good bones, and hey let’s face it, even market leader World of Warcraft wasn’t perfect when initially released upon the world.

Zemanta Pixie

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in industry news | No Comments »

 
« Older Entries