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2014 Funcom financially (and TSW) not doing so great?
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Member Posts: 52
http://www.funcom.com/investors/funcoms_fourth_quarter_financial_report_for_2014
Looking at the quarterly for Q4 2014, it's not looking good. Funcom made less profit this year then last year, operating costs exceed revenues for 2014 but they stated they can last for another year.
(On a sidenote, LEGO hasn't been making much money either for Funcom, which i can kinda understand since LEGO Minifigures is just a cheap knockoff of LEGO Universe).
Anyone fearful what the future may hold for Funcom? It's clear that people are still buying items in TSW and Age of Conan, but they can't hide the fact it went down a lot.
Anyone care to discuss?
Comments
Before tsw Age of conan had the most unbearable low pop you could imagine besides ryzom.
It looked like the game was gona die any minute And yet, It still went on and i played for many year(s).
The secret world last time i played was doing "fine". The population was stable but small and you could go about your business knowing there was enough players to support what ever that may be. The population never went to the level age of conan was/is.
So i'm doubtful that any of these funcom titles will get dumped even with the financial situation they are in. The most likely doomsday scenario is that they revise for a more aggressive micro transaction system, and reevaluate the content production for tsw.
TSW - AoC - Aion - WOW - EVE - Fallen Earth - Co - Rift - || XNA C# Java Development
The Lego game is actually pretty fun - or at least it was during beta. After beta they first added a paywall and then the requirements to enter new worlds. Even if you as new player are willing to pay up you will be rewarded by grinding the first world over and over again until you have enough characters to enter world 2. Rinse and repeat from there on.
I don't know how serious the financial problems are but I know that both Lego and TSW offered lifetime subscriptions last December.
Losing TSW would be a shame - the combat is clunky and dull but the atmosphere is pretty much unique in MMOs and it still makes me log in regularly.
Fearful?
Well, I'm Norwegian, so is Funcom, which automatically makes me want to see them succeed - it's our only MMO company, we're not a major game producing country.
On the other hand, I don't like their games, so I'm not sure if I should even care.
I can't remember when last Funcom's financial reports "looked good".
It seems like every year they say the same thing: "Things are worse than last year, but we should be able to survive for another year". How they do it I don't know...
They live on loans, thats how, if they dont pick up like right now it wont last forever.
This was what I was thinking as well.
What if instead of AoC and TSW they had put their resources into a new Anarchy Online?
I think AoC and TSW were the last games Funcom will produce. They had some great ideas and they did try to innovate in many ways. For that alone, I want to see them succeed. I've had my issues with them, but not with to the extent that I would want to see them fail.
they should following other game companies and offer P2W stuff in cash shops ,just follow current trend F2p games,
Or start KS ,crow founding for new contents,early access cash grab ... they should to be tricky and more corrupted on mmo's market.Players love those trends and spend money on pixels , unfinished product,paying for testing ... etc ...
Sadly I feel the reason they are not showing good numbers is because they are not screwing customers on the cash shop like most games.
Combine that with the fact there are so many lifetime accounts with TSW that never have to spend a dollar on anything not even expansions and you run into cash flow problems.
So basically as punishment for treating the customers well they suffer.
Considering that they recently announced that TSW's game director is being moved to another project, the future for TSW doesn't look bright. It's a shame, really.
From what I've been able to glean he was moved because of his successes with AoC and TSW. And by glean I mean he said, "TSW has been going from strength to strength lately - all of the live games have - and my moving off is actually more of a consequence of that success."
I'm not going to say that TSW is doing amazingly or anything like that, but I'm not willing to go all doom and gloom on it yet either.
Funcom went in the wrong direction
they made AO a pvp game still alive okey the number are great but that graphic is all and all i am surprise it survived
then they made a semi-pvp game it would be still going much better if they didnt turn it in a pve-grind game
then they made funcom totally pve game (with after though pvp) and is the one losing most money
they still don't get it... everybody can do pve they are good at it but not enough to make a player do the same quest 23536357645 times...
they got it with AO a game with pvp can last much longer but they wanted the big number so they went pve i guess but nowday u wont survive focusing only on PVE unless u have the strenght to pull out new content every month and they never had that and if they think they did i would fire whoever made that assumption.
I think it is great that Funcom is out there making niche MMORPGs.
I only wish TSW combat were less clunky. I love the concept of the game, but every time I log in I am like "bleh" and have to log out again quickly.
TSW has a wonderfully "Lovecraftian" atmosphere, a compelling story and beautiful graphics. Unfortunately, we spend 90% of our time in modern games fighting NPC's and the combat system is meh at best. Boring and unengaging at worst. Even more disturbing is a recent interview with the lead developer who claims that combat feels just fine to him. Look anywhere that people are discussing TSW, and most people have the same exact primary complaint about your game; the combat is terrible.
AoC is one of the best games ever crafted around an IP. The combat is brutal, engaging, easy to learn and difficult to truly master. Unfortunately, development for this game is glacial. Many classes are in desperate need of balancing which will never come. Updates that were promised years ago are still promised to this day.
Worse, Funcom decided to add features such as the achievement system which no one asked for and isn't remotely necessary in a game that's seven years old. We get remixed dungeons, tedious world bosses and useless fluff rather than class revamps, crafting updates and true Tier 5 raids.
If Funcom does understand what their player base wants, then they must not have the funds to implement those changes. If Funcom does have the funds to implement those changes, then they must have no clue what their player base wants.
One of these statements is true. I'm just not sure which one because if they have the funds and understand what needs to be changed, then they are either incompetent or purposefully spiting the player base... which I can't bring myself to believe.
Same here. I love AO and TSW. Play them both (TSW more than AO) and at least a subscriptions worth every month in the cash shop on top of my GM.
Will play TSW until it closes down most likely. The RP Cabal I'm in is the best I've been with across any game I've played, truly it makes the game better than anything else out there.
It's nice to show some dedication, but really, from a normal consumer point of view, why would someone pay for a subscription other then supporting the game? Is it worth the purchase?
I am quite aware of the fanbois that are present in the game and defending it tooth and nail, I am just posting realistic facts to bypass all the troll propaganda and get to the gritty.
Funcom's profit for 2014 is still going down and operating costs exceed the revenues. You say you will play TSW untill it closes down, which is pretty dark.
Does that mean you expect TSW wont be able to stand on its own feet only a few years after launch?
Yes, it's worth the purchase. The subscription gives me monthly bonus items, game-store cash to buy the expansions and a discount on any purchases, and an XP booster item.
Sad Really... To this day AoC is still one of the most beautifully crafted MMOs out there. the range of the zones, the innovation on the combat, the killing etc..
Heck even boobies
Sadly AoC was their pinnacle for me, but they suffer what a lot of companies do a bad release for me had they released AoC successfully it would be still one of the biggest games around, but sadly people come, people see then people go and never come back, for me it ruined Funcom and their rep and it was my reason as to why i didn't play TSW
This post is all my opinion, but I welcome debate on anything i have put, however, personal slander / name calling belongs in game
where of course you're welcome to call me names im often found lounging about in EvE online.
Use this code for 21days trial in eve online https://secure.eveonline.com/trial/?invc=d385aff2-794a-44a4-96f1-3967ccf6d720&action=buddy
I have never seen the expansions, but back then in the original game the zones where all square and not very large. Did they change that with the later zones?
This post is all my opinion, but I welcome debate on anything i have put, however, personal slander / name calling belongs in game
where of course you're welcome to call me names im often found lounging about in EvE online.
Use this code for 21days trial in eve online https://secure.eveonline.com/trial/?invc=d385aff2-794a-44a4-96f1-3967ccf6d720&action=buddy