News

Funcom closes Beijing office, MMO live teams moved to North Carolina
Posted: 25.01.2013 15:48 by Simon Priest Comments: 8
Funcom's restructuring has started to come into effect as Funcom Beijing is to be closed down. The Chinese-based studio team did a lot of art and animation work for The Secret World.

Meanwhile the live teams for Funcom MMOs are being rehomed at Raleigh, North Carolina. This moves most live devs from Montreal, which will focus more on unannounced mobile projects.

The developer's Norwegian office is mostly administrative, but also has some operations capacity with LEGO Minifigures being worked on, apparently. Job losses are to occur.

Employees will be let go from Funcom's Montreal and North Carolina studios. The live teams cover Anarchy Online, Age of Conan and The Secret World. In December Funcom turned The Secret World into a free-to-play model after it failed to secure much of a subscription base. The move injected much needed new life into the MMO.
Source: Eurogamer

Comments

By djole381 (SI Elite) on Jan 25, 2013
djole381
Secret World is Free-to-Play? I thought it was Buy-to-play...
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Jan 25, 2013
nocutius
I missed the Secret world going f2p as well.
By djole381 (SI Elite) on Jan 25, 2013
djole381
Just checked their website. No mention of Free-to-Play, just Buy-to-Play.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Jan 25, 2013
herodotus
That's right djole. USD $29.99 comes with 1 month free play, but with F2P now brought in that one month probably just adds a few perks.
It IS however, Buy-to-Play, just like "Guild Wars 2".

"PAY ONCE. PLAY FOREVER. SUBSCRIPTION IS NO LONGER REQUIRED."
By djole381 (SI Elite) on Jan 25, 2013
djole381
Then a "No Buy" from me. If there were a free trial, I might reconsider, but without it, NO. I have no idea what's the gameplay like, so naturally I'm hesitant. Last MMO I played was TOR and I just couldn't go on playing it and eventually I gave up. The story alone wasn't enough for me to keep playing.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Jan 25, 2013
herodotus
It's still pretty cheap, which of course means at Sales times it drops even further.
By Hammerjinx (SI Veteran Member) on Jan 25, 2013
Hammerjinx
I'd imagine it's like all MMOs. If you make friends then you're in, if you don't you get sick of it after a while and quit.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Jan 25, 2013
herodotus
Pretty much Hammer, as it is specifically targeted at PVP and Group actions.