Funcom publishes sharp revenue drop for Q3

by Rubi Bayer Nov 17th 2009 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, MMO industry, News items

Funcom has released its financial results for Q3, and it's not pretty. Revenue was down 68.5% to 5.7 million USD, and expected to drop even more in Q4. This time last year they were reporting a profit of $3.3 million, a strong contrast to the current $9.6 million loss. They see a few reasons for this drop, including some stiff competition: "The Company ran a successful re-evaluation campaign during July, increasing the number of subscribers to the game. However, the launch of two major competing MMO-games during Q3 led to a subsequent reduction in subscriber levels."

Funcom remains optimistic, though, thanks to numerous upcoming projects. The Secret World is reported to be "progressing well", Age of Conan is planning a launch in Korea, the "Rise of the Godslayer" expansion for AoC is on its way, and Funcom recently received a grant to create an extreme sports MMO.

The full report can be viewed here.

Tags: age-of-conan, breaking, financial-report, funcom, Q3, rise-of-the-godslayer, the-secret-world

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Scuffles said on 5:55PM 11-17-2009

Fun who ?

Seriously had no idea who or what, when or why you were talking about till I skimmed through to Age of Conan and only then did I vaguely recognize it, mind you not recognize "oh them!!!" more recognize "Oh ...................them......"

Which is sad because Secret world sounded interesting ...... but they lost me again at the concept for an extreme sports MMO.

xslipperyx said on 6:01PM 11-17-2009

Diluted project focus = lackluster game portfolio = loss of revenue

If you're not going to take a chance and make something new & revolutionary then focus on your game that's already out there and pump it full of content & fix bugs. Just because your company is busy with projects doesn't mean it's being productive. If you're going to make yet another disposable MMO then make it F2P or some other model.

mpdivo said on 10:07PM 11-17-2009

another company that tried to make another WoW and failed. No one will beat Activision at WoW.

Slippery is right.

If I would have been in charge of design - I would of at least targetted the GOR nuts in Second Life. Gave them some RP tools so they could have their own cities, homes, etc. They would of flocked to Conan in order to not only induldge in their perversions but engage in PvP and Nation building with each other.

Still blows me away that every company is going for the WoW model when they could be making so much money off the RPers (who have shown in Second Life that they will pay extra for land, housing, fur carpets, etc).

vista said on 6:03PM 11-17-2009

Well the game does blow...

Vulturion said on 6:24PM 11-17-2009

Aww; hope no job losses on the way.

danarchy said on 6:31PM 11-17-2009

Anarchy Online is far more fun than age of conan, by a huge margin. The problem is they released AO much like they did conan, full of bugs and lacking end game content. The bugs are the worst problem, everyone sees those right off the bat. End game content is only seen by the very vocal power leveler minority before the company has a chance to patch that in later. That type of gamer has the attention span of a 15 year old on too much sugar though so keeping them happy is as useful as bottling wind. If they had just made sure either game were bug free at release, and THEN focused on end game stuff like pvp etc, both would enjoy much more financial success.

Accordance said on 11:42PM 11-17-2009

I think a lot of people (myself included) have a hard time letting go of the anger we feel as a result of the sense of betrayal we felt when AoC was first released. With so many other companies out there producing MMOs or other games, it really doesn't hurt us to say, "Screw me once, I'm done with you." There really is no second chance for a good majority of us.

That being said, I think Funcom really has stepped forward and made AoC a very good game. The music is phenomenal, the graphics are gorgeous, the Tortage introductory campaign is in depth and very enjoyable. Unfortunately, once you leave Tortage, the game-play is boring. Your actions as a character have no impact on the world. In this regard, Tortage sets you up for failure. You'll expect the rest of the game to play similarly, but it doesn't. It ends up being just like every other MMO to date this way.

I think Funcom has learned a great deal from AoC, though, and I'm hoping that experience shows through in TSW.

nevin said on 10:27AM 11-18-2009

"I think Funcom has learned a great deal from AoC, though, and I'm hoping that experience shows through in TSW"

Funcom learned absolutely nothing from the disastrous launch of AO. When they came around to launching AoC they did all the same old AO launch screw ups and invented a load more. I learnt my lesson from AO however and didn't buy AoC.

The only positive is that they got rid of Gaute so at least he won't be at the helm of the next release. In addition Erling needs to manage expectations a whole lot better. He got way over his head.

Wild Colors said on 8:58PM 11-17-2009

Bug free? I don't know what games you're playing, but I've *never* played something that was bug free on release day.

Funcom actually has some great games. Anarchy Online is pretty good, but I'd recommend Longest Journey and Dreamfall. I have high hopes for Secret World and hope it makes it to release. The "extreme sports MMO" is, as far as I can tell, something they're doing on the side with national cultural grant monies. Essentially, Ragnar Tornquist turns out good games, and I'd highly recommend him.

Wjowski said on 9:14PM 11-17-2009

However good Anarchy Online is, there's little debate that it's disastrous opening day is legendary in MMO-dom. There's a difference between a game having bugs and a game being just plain broken.

Kaamos said on 9:20PM 11-17-2009

Funcom NEEDS to expand Anarchy Online into a game, Anarchy Online 2.
I know if they had the hero engine and created Anarchy Online 2, with alot of alterations to the game mechanics, the game would be a blast.

Still is, except for server lag, grind, useless items, lack of content at certain level ranges. They have overpowered classes and twinking as a system to level the difficulty in pve, which makes it so fun since your ability to tweak your implants/armor/weapons/nano's determines whether or not your fit to fight at your level, so much fun ><

Polish the game Funcom, and you'll make great benefit to Khaz... Funcom. ;p

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