Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

The end of Funcom

octaocta Member UncommonPosts: 245
The death knell has rung:


As the article states, Funcom is actively attempting to sell the company and its games.

I don't have much good to say about an organization that willfully released unfinished, broken, and in some cases absolute bait and switches to its consumers.  The Age of Conan marketing lies and its subsequent abysmal launch are a perfect example of their blatant practices in this regard.

I do not wish ill will towards the hard working employees who attempted to turn things around there but I am glad that the horrible management involved will be wiped away with the blight of its name.  Funcom will forever be remembered by me as the "cool idea but horrible execution" company.  Hopefully this serves an example to the industry that eventually, even if not immediate, that terrible anti-consumer practices will eventually spell the death of any organization.

I have harbored a long standing grudge against this company for the way it appalled and insulted me with the launch of Age of Conan.  I feel relieved today that justice was borne out in the end.  The world will be a brighter place the day the doors are locked on these scam artists.  

The relief may be short, however, as we see liars like Erling Elingson embark on a new endeavor.  I will continue to hold steadfast and vigilant wherever he snakes off to.  I ask all of you to do the same.

I will never forget. I will never forgive.
«1345

Comments

  • BillMurphyBillMurphy Former Managing EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 4,565

    Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.

    My Review Manifesto
    Follow me on Twitter if you dare.

  • Quazal.AQuazal.A Member UncommonPosts: 859
    either way i live in the hope that if someone does buy them out, will they buy them out for the games, and if so then you would then hope they would want them to make a profit from it, thus put in some development time, how knows AoC (still one of my biggest let downs, but the one of only 2 games i still hold a candle for {the other being LOTRO})
    So long term i might still be able to bring Quaz -AoC- Version back to life :)

    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

  • octaocta Member UncommonPosts: 245
    Quazal.A said:
    either way i live in the hope that if someone does buy them out, will they buy them out for the games, and if so then you would then hope they would want them to make a profit from it, thus put in some development time, how knows AoC (still one of my biggest let downs, but the one of only 2 games i still hold a candle for {the other being LOTRO})
    So long term i might still be able to bring Quaz -AoC- Version back to life :)
    The best you could hope for is some Chinese company buys it and gives it a server to run on.  No one is going to invest development into a 7 year old game.
  • Po_ggPo_gg Member EpicPosts: 5,749
    But... just think about it, if they'll close, you won't be able to post the annual "x+1 years and this abomination is still alive" thread... =)
  • BraindomeBraindome Member UncommonPosts: 959
    All I will miss is Tortage.
  • octaocta Member UncommonPosts: 245
    Po_gg said:
    But... just think about it, if they'll close, you won't be able to post the annual "x+1 years and this abomination is still alive" thread... =)
    The anniversary of that debacle always weighs heavy on me.  I can only hope that the eradication of this blight of a company will assuage my frustration and anxiety when the date approaches in the following year.  I post every year as a cathartic release of these feelings; I look forward to not needing it!

    Truly, I get physically sick in my stomach thinking back to that launch day 7 years ago.  We were lied to, manipulated, and taken advantage of.  They almost got away with it. 

    Shakespeare said it best:

    "He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
    Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
    And rouse him at the name of Crispian."
  • Loke666Loke666 Member EpicPosts: 21,441
    SOE was sold but are still kinda around, this isn't neccesarily the end for FunCom but things will most likely change one way or another. It is too early to predict doom just yet though, people said that FunCom should close down any day in 2008 as well.
  • laseritlaserit Member LegendaryPosts: 7,591
    edited August 2015
    octa said:
    Po_gg said:
    But... just think about it, if they'll close, you won't be able to post the annual "x+1 years and this abomination is still alive" thread... =)
    The anniversary of that debacle always weighs heavy on me.  I can only hope that the eradication of this blight of a company will assuage my frustration and anxiety when the date approaches in the following year.  I post every year as a cathartic release of these feelings; I look forward to not needing it!

    Truly, I get physically sick in my stomach thinking back to that launch day 7 years ago.  We were lied to, manipulated, and taken advantage of.  They almost got away with it. 

    Shakespeare said it best:

    "He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
    Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
    And rouse him at the name of Crispian."
    How the heck do you live with your Government?

    edit: grammar

    "Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee

  • octaocta Member UncommonPosts: 245
    Deekins said:
    octa said:
    Truly, I get physically sick in my stomach thinking back to that launch day 7 years ago.  We were lied to, manipulated, and taken advantage of.  They almost got away with it. 

    May seriously want to consider counseling if you get physically sick from the launch of a game... Something seriously messed up there. It's a game. Let it go.
    It is also hope, promise, faith, and achievement - all eradicated at the whim of a malignant corporation more concerned with its bottom line than the quality of its output.  We should not be OK with anti-consumer actions no matter the product.  Stand up for what's right!
  • Mondo80Mondo80 Member UncommonPosts: 194
    I'd love to see the reaction from you guys if PWE buys them :)
  • BraindomeBraindome Member UncommonPosts: 959
    Mondo80 said:
    I'd love to see the reaction from you guys if PWE buys them :)
    In all honesty, as strange as it may seem, PWE is actually kinda the good guys these days. They have saved many a floundering/failing MMO. Shows you how far the industry has come when you are calling PWE "the good guys".
  • HarikenHariken Member EpicPosts: 2,680
    edited August 2015
    Sad Anarchy Online was my first mmo in 2000. But i'm not shocked by any of this. All their games have pockets of genius in them along with some of the most annoying combat i've ever played. It would be great if AO got picked up by someone that cares about the game. The other games i don't care about.
  • Asm0deusAsm0deus Member EpicPosts: 4,389
    Did you guys notice Age of Conan on the Aeriagames.com site?

    http://www.aeriagames.com/playnow/aocus

    Brenics ~ Just to point out I do believe Chris Roberts is going down as the man who cheated backers and took down crowdfunding for gaming.





  • OhhPaigeyOhhPaigey Member RarePosts: 1,517
    They have 0 good games.

    Good riddance.
    When all is said and done, more is always said than done.
  • bauhau5bauhau5 Member UncommonPosts: 13
    So my question is why are they still promoting active upcoming content for The Secret World. If things were so dire wouldn't they be more transparent and halt production on their current games? 
  • Loke666Loke666 Member EpicPosts: 21,441
    Deekins said:
    octa said:
    Truly, I get physically sick in my stomach thinking back to that launch day 7 years ago.  We were lied to, manipulated, and taken advantage of.  They almost got away with it. 

    May seriously want to consider counseling if you get physically sick from the launch of a game... Something seriously messed up there. It's a game. Let it go.
    Well, I did get annoyed myself when they as reply to the huge thread in the beta forum about waiting 3 months with the release until the worst bugs were ironed out replyed talking about their "miracle patch" that would fix everything the week before launch. 

    That isn't the same as physically sick but the bosses of FunCom probaly got sick when they realize what not listening to the beta testers advice cost them, they lost millions due to that. AoC was a pretty good game that lost most of it's players due to a really crappy launch just like Vanguard did. And we beta testers warned them of this, trying to help the game was our reason for testing it after all, and there were a huge numbers of testers saying the same thing.

    FunCom would be in a far better place today if they just listened to us. AOs launch was even worse but things were different back then so it was nowhere near as bad as AoC.
  • ZoeMcCloskeyZoeMcCloskey Member UncommonPosts: 1,372
    Anarchy Online was my first love as MMOs go.  Age of Conan I liked, but I wish they had stuck to the original planned classes.  I always wanted a Priest of Set who was like the original plan, knives, poison, light armor, stealth, so on.  I currently still play The Secret World but only 2-6x a month, just random times myself and a couple friends feel like it and have the time.  I think TSW is quite underrated.

    I know many people hate Funcom and I can see the reasons why but my experiences were mostly good.  They were always very fast on customer service and saved me from bugs in AO many times.  Yeah I was there day one of Anarchy Online for that fun, lol.  I hope Funcom doesn't die off but if they must I hope someone will take over their games and move them forward right.

    image
  • TyranusPrimeTyranusPrime Member UncommonPosts: 306
    octa said:
    I will never forget. I will never forgive.
    This is sort of how I still feel about the Mass Effect 3 ending.. Heh..

    On a more serious note though.. I do remember my days playing Anarchy Online fondly.. I hope that Funcom's employees and IPs find a new happy home.. Its always a shame when any MMO dies..

    ..because we're gamers, damn it!! - William Massachusetts (Log Horizon)

  • rojoArcueidrojoArcueid Member EpicPosts: 10,722
    Asm0deus said:
    Did you guys notice Age of Conan on the Aeriagames.com site?

    http://www.aeriagames.com/playnow/aocus
    AeriaGames have been publishing it for a very very longtime now. AoC has been on their website for, i believe, more than 2 years now.




  • IselinIselin Member LegendaryPosts: 18,719
    The puzzling thing to me is how companies with lesser games and lesser IPs can keep going as independent entities without all the financial turmoil Funcom has been under.


    I see this more as management and staff bloat problems than IP ones.
    "Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”

    ― Umberto Eco

    “Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” 
    ― CD PROJEKT RED

  • 13lake13lake Member UncommonPosts: 719
    AoC had the best raids :(, and tsw classes and system is true GW1 spiritual successor, and not to mention my favorite adventure game series :(

    I hope nothing happens to Funcom, they're the only mmo company making good story mmos, with awesome combat and class systems.
  • octaocta Member UncommonPosts: 245
    13lake said:
    AoC had the best raids :(
    Do you mean now?  Even a year after launch it was all tank and spank bullcrap and the gear progression was awful and broken.
  • DeasantDeasant Member UncommonPosts: 198
    Torval said:
    Braindome said:
    All I will miss is Tortage.
    I don't think the games are going anywhere and Funcom has been trying to find a buyer/merger for a while now. However, if they did close it I would miss Tortage the most. The game after isn't bad, but somewhere around the mid 50's it sort of loses its traction with me. Monotonous is too strong a word but that's the general idea. The Conqueror is one of my favorite melee classes of all time though. It was a blast to play.
    So for those of you that never hit 80 and played end game in AoC, you missed one of the best MMOs ever. To this date it is still top notch. The raiding, the solo options, the group dungeons. Khitai and the post 80 content and the raids are more than half of this game. It truly is an example of the game beginning at level cap.  The Alternate Advancement. Not to mention the class diversity 
  • H0urg1assH0urg1ass Member EpicPosts: 2,380
    octa said:
    13lake said:
    AoC had the best raids :(
    Do you mean now?  Even a year after launch it was all tank and spank bullcrap and the gear progression was awful and broken.
    I nearly choked on my drink.

    Not even Tier 1 is tank and spank.  Vistrix has to be turned at just the right moment or her breath will wipe everyone but the tanks.  Yakhmar will stun the entire raid if anyone uses even one point of fire damage on him.  Kyllikki can't be out DPS'd until her healing choirs are killed.

    In fact every single raid boss in Age of Conan except one has some very technical details that have to be done correctly or the entire raid will wipe.  The only raid boss in the game that is pure tank and spank is Sebazios, but that's only because his adds will overwhelm a raid very quickly unless you position him in just the right spot and then unleash full DPS on him.

    Chatha, Thoth Amon, Hathor-Ka, The General, The Zodiac... hands down the best raid content of any game I've ever played.  Good grief, the Zodiac alone is mind blowing.  Most technical boss fight I've ever seen in any game and it's pure adrenaline when you get him down.
  • GestankfaustGestankfaust Member UncommonPosts: 1,989
    octa said:

    I will never forget. I will never forgive.
    I truly hate and disagree with this attitude in gaming. To hold a grudge that big is asinine. If a company makes a great game after you "never forget, never forgive" you will not play the game? Even if it's totally to you tastes and is done very well as well as supported very well?

    "This may hurt a little, but it's something you'll get used to. Relax....."

This discussion has been closed.