The Secret World

Cost reductions and forced leave in Funcom

Funcom N.V has initiated a program of cost reductions, reductions in head count and use of forced leave (permittering) to better align the Company's operations to the current marketplace

Around 20 % of the staff of the Company will be affected by headcount reductions or forced leave, mostly in the Company's Norwegian subsidiary.
The Company's development of the Age of Conan expansion pack and its preparations for launch in Korea will continue as planned, as will the preparations for the limited beta of its first free- to-play MMO scheduled to take place during Q4. The development of The Secret World will be some months extended due to the initiatives with even more focus on ensuring the delivery of a game that is fully in line with the high expectations amongst fans and gamers across the world.

For any further information regarding the above please contact:
Trond Arne Aas (CEO) + 47 2292 5900

The Three Factions

Just some basic cgi, screenshots and information from the up and coming 'secret' game from FunCom - The Secret World.

Players will start life as members of one of three factions, or rather Secret Societies - The Dragons (sneaky political types), The Templars (militaristic and religious nuts), and The Illuminati (greedy and decadent celebrities and power-brokers). You can take a goofy initiation test over at Dark Days Are Coming to see which Secret Society fits you best. At a later stage Initiates (if you sign up) will have a better chance of getting into the beta when it's ready. Could be anytime in the next year.

'A Girl with a Gun'

The game looks like it will be set in contemporary real-world setting with urban myths, the occult and conspiracy theories thrown in for good measure.

The will be no set Classes and instead will probably be skill-based. Magic, Swords and Guns all look like they will play a part of character progression as well as several Ranking systems covering a lot of content.

'Smoking Kills'

Funcom have had a couple of hiccups in the past and their last game Age of Conan was far from a blockbuster hit no matter how well it was hyped. But with the old school Anarchy Online still chugging along with new expansions and past epic games like DreamFall and The Longest Journey, hopes will be high for this one.

'Two straws would have been better'

Some 'in-game' Screenshots courtesy of Funcom, looking pretty neat already. Hopefully slower machines can handle it and look good at low settings.