Funcom to cut 20% of workforce;The Secret World to be delayed "several months"

[cinderboy]

Sauce



Norwegian developer Funcom has announced that it plans to cut 20 per cent of its workforce in order to cut costs, with the axe falling heaviest in its home country. The company, which created the Age of Conan MMO, will now have to delay the release of its next project, The Secret World, by several months as it reshuffles its pack.

Funcom, which currently employs around 300 staff worldwide, is attempting to shift the bulk of its workforce to Canada to take advantage of a 37.5 per cent salary reimbursement from the state of Quebec, and with salaries generally lower there the company could stand to cut around half of its wage bill.

According to reports, company management wrote to staff earlier this month to offer relocation packages. Last year Funcom's financials revealed a loss of USD 34 million, and while the company is currently running a loss of USD 1.2 million this year it's roughly in-line with expectation.

[Holypancake]

damn you economic crisis >.<!

[MrTingTing]

several months? that sucks man ._.

[Mordar]

this was expected, AoC was such a trainwreck that it affected everything regarding funcom

[leathel]

this was expected, AoC was such a trainwreck that it affected everything regarding funcom

This ^ But you know whats awesome. I didnt know the initial release date so meh.

Bad about the job cuts though 4 till i hope to be working in the industry i hope companies start getting back on their feet.

[Alivada]

There are plans to hire 150 more in the next 18 months. (So hopefully this will actually be true).
I actually like Funcom as a developer, AoC was pretty damn fun would of been better if it launched with 1.5 though.
Secret World looks nice, although TOR is my mosted antcipated MMO atm, it still looks pretty damn cool.

[boinker]

This was highly unexpected, oh well, I can wait several more months :3

[BlurPhoenix]

Looks like that Anarchy Online graphic update isn't going to happen.

[Princessdoll]

Oh nooooooooooo~ I'm expecting this game a lot!! T-T

[Imperidal]

Oh noess.

T_T

~(n.n~) (~n.n)~

[Nonsue]

This is good yet bad =.= gives me some more time to get a better computer but then even so they might start delaying more and it gits canceled D;

[Lightmgl]

Less interested in the Funcom part than I am in the part where Canada is paying them a ton of money to bring their workforce over. They are now the second major video game company to take advantage of Canada paying big bucks to bring in the video game industry.

They must really wanna bring the business in.... The US better watch out or it could lose a huge chunk of the industry. Thats quite a few billions of dollars.