Funcom's product manager speaks out on Gaute Godager's departure
by Shawn Schuster 
Sep 19th 2008 at 7:30PM
Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Interviews, MMO industry
With the recent news of Age of Conan's Gaute Godager departing Funcom so suddenly, many players want to know what happened exactly. As an original founder of the company and through 16 years of employment at Funcom, one can only wonder what this says about the company. So MTV Multiplayer was able to sit down to a short interview with Funcom's product manager Jorgen Tharaldsen concerning this sudden departure of Godager.Tharaldsen is understandably positive about the new direction of the company under replacement game director Craig Morrison. He praises Morrison's work as a community manager at Funcom and as a game director for Anarchy Online. Yet he also touches on the legacy of Godager and what he has meant to the history of MMOs in general. Not much else is said about the reasoning behind Godager's departure (besides what Godager has already said himself), but Tharaldsen seems optimistic about the future of the company and Age of Conan.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
george said on 8:46PM 9-19-2008
Little tooooooooo late Funcom..... WAR has already won, sorry... :-\ You shouldn't have failed your customers like you did.... You are a crappy and pathetic company from the way you treat your customers.... >:-|
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Jess said on 10:36PM 9-19-2008
Too little, too late Funcom. Conan could have been an industry powerhouse but with plummeting stock, fleeing subscribers and the Game DIrector resigning, the future is bleak to be sure. WoW, WAR and to a lesser extent, LOTRO, will be the "big three" for a long time now.
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crsh said on 12:55AM 9-20-2008
Honestly, it's too bad, but we all saw that one coming. Remember that Godager hasn't made any interventions in AoC since late July, Funcom instead put all the weight on Ellingsen's shoulders (ie. the used car sales guy).
Given AoC's "progress" (sic) since launch, and Funcom's stocks completely collapsing, he sure as hell won't be the last one to leave.
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