Funcom layoffs not what you think... or are they?

by Shawn Schuster Nov 24th 2008 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Business models, Economy, MMO industry, Rumors

Last week, rumors were scattered all across the internet regarding massive layoffs at Funcom. Some of these rumors stated that the layoffs reached as high as 70% of Funcom's total empoyees, as many gamers and media outlets were quick on the draw to predict a coming death for Age of Conan. Although we can't help but shake our heads every time one of these rumors surfaces, developer layoffs and game closures are still a very real threat.

So when we heard today that the Funcom rumors were (partially) true, we got a bit worried. As we all know, the extent of these rumors could be complete bunk, or they could eventually pan out much as the initial NCsoft rumors did. The fact is though, all we know is what Funcom has released officially: "We did have some staffing cuts at Funcom this week as well as new positions opening in the organization as part of our ongoing cost based efficiency and performance initiatives that are vital to any business."

So is Funcom taking PR classes from NCsoft, or is this truly a harmlessly normal part of running their business?

Tags: age-of-conan, aoc, funcom, layoffs, rumors

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Gleb 70 Draka [A] said on 7:15PM 11-24-2008

This would be a shame..

While Funcom has some bad reputation with their AO and AoC Launch, I like how they have stuck with their games to make them much better

Conquests of said on 7:31PM 11-24-2008

The more games fall the better... the software houses need to understand that we're not console kids, who'll play anything they come up with as long as there's hype & tits.

And they need to understand that to be succesful they have to give something seriously deep and creative... and most of all, NOT WoW oriented.

Hot$auce_Magik said on 8:38AM 11-25-2008

Ya, but tits help.

m goode said on 7:35PM 11-24-2008

Oh man those rolling layoffs are no joke! That really cuts into people's buying power. Right now I've got the Motorola Krave at the top of my holiday wish list. It's got a slick touch screen display. (motorola.com/krave). I've been a huge fan of this thing ever since I started working with Motorola.

sixkilla said on 7:37PM 11-24-2008

"Rumor has it that Funcom fired about 70% of their U.S. Workforce today. Sources say that they were released this morning, the cuts are mostly in the Customer Service and Quality Assurance departments."

Large lay offs to QA departments are common in the game industry. Though they usually occur at a game's launch, it would be likely the Funcom saw fit to use them in the early stages of AoC's release, where bug's would still be rife.

The same could be said for Customer Service staff who would likely be more utilised in the turbulent times of an MMO release.

I see this more of an indication that Funcom are now confident with the stability of Age of Conan, rather than anything dire.

Jack said on 7:57PM 11-24-2008

I not known where Funcom is headed they make a big gamble with Age of Conan if there just where to go with Dreamfall the longest journey and complete the story...

It sucks see games end so bad as Dreamfall did and later the developer tell us to wait for Dreamfall 3 noting...

It was a great game with great backgrounds and I think a Dreamfall MMO had so much more content and story... Conan is ok but there had to buy the rights and are tie to the conan rules.... well they did own the the longest journey and they had a lot of more freedom...

Scaramanga said on 8:15PM 11-24-2008

I saw AoC at Target for $9.95 the other day. Not a good sign for them.

djpostman1 said on 9:06AM 11-25-2008

Really? well what part of the states are you in, i woldnt mind picking up a few more copies....thats weird too i live in the midwest where things are generally cheaper and it was still 49.99 and the game cards where 29.99.

nice try though

MightyIdle said on 10:40PM 11-24-2008

During these times, you see a lot of companies cutting costs and laying off some bloat. Companies grow fat during good times and trim down during bad.

I would say this is news if I didn't see it happening across the board at companies totally unrelated to the gaming industry.

Funcom may go belly up, there's always that chance, but I think it's too early to yell about the sky falling.

Tom-AZ said on 12:15AM 11-25-2008

There is only one layoff that every Age of Conan player wants. Erling Erlingson. That SOB is the one reason I will not play AoC. My own personal boycott. He is the chief of lies at that company. I am waiting to restart that game the second Erling is gone.

torak said on 12:22AM 11-25-2008

My opinion on Funcom and AoC....they shoulda did the graphic engine upgrade to Anarchy Online instead.

phobic99 said on 7:53AM 11-25-2008

Now see, there's a good idea. I bet a lot more people would've came back just to try it out.

Dottoriev said on 7:56PM 11-30-2008

I guess Conan is in full combined and Philip Ross in carb.

Anyway see ya on bs torakx.

And yes the tiny guys with big guns are the best

Mr. Digital said on 12:07PM 11-25-2008

I just started playing Age of Conan, and I have to say I'm very impresed. The graphics are good, the environments are very lush. It seems to have good storyline while still having a lot of character custimization. The game mechanics are fun and the setting is very enjoyable. It has some depth to it.

I personally prefer this over all the other MMORPGs I've played recently, so I hope the game continues on.

chriskovo said on 1:21PM 11-25-2008

Wait until you get to lvl 50 and you realize that there is only one zone from 50-60 that you must continually grind in to get anywhere and you will quit. Its what drove me away....

Mr. Digital said on 2:11PM 11-25-2008

From what I understand, they just added Ymir which is supposed to help take care of that.

Nmaster said on 6:44PM 11-25-2008

For the record, even at 70% of the company cut it would probably be a pretty small number of actual developers. It's mostly QA and CS getting cut on the Conan side of things. Less players and a lot less issues. They overhired on purpose after AoC released, the lay offs were destined to happened. Although they were much larger than expected, partially due to decrease in players, but more so due to general economic downturn I think...

KingJames said on 3:23PM 12-01-2008

I wonder if they fired Erling Ellingsen yet? I got banned on their forums for stating he looked like Francis from Pee Wee's big adventure, but by gosh he does. Either way Funcom just like NCSoft deserve what they get for misleading their customers. If we wanted to deal with lies and deceit we could politicians.