Shares of studio on Norwegian Stock Exchange fall dramatically since new subscription-based MMO game's launch on Tuesday.
The launch of Funcom's new massively multiplayer online role-playing game The Secret World this week was not a boon for the studio on the Norwegian Stock Exchange. Shares of the Oslo, Norway-based game company plummeted this week by almost 40 percent.
On Monday, July 2, Funcom shares were at a high point, selling for 17.4 NOK ($2.85). The shares then began to fall, hitting 16.4 NOK ($2.68) on Tuesday, dipping further to 15.7 NOK ($2.57) on Wednesday, and reaching a new low of 13.4 NOK ($2.2) yesterday. As of press time, Funcom shares have fallen further, down to 11.3 NOK ($1.85), an improvement over the day's low of 10.55 NOK ($1.73).
On the eve of the game's launch this week, Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas stepped down from his role at the company, remaining with the firm as a strategic advisor to the board of directors, as well as chief strategy officer.
As of press time, Funcom had not responded to GameSpot's request for comment.
Originally announced for the Xbox 360 and PC in 2007, The Secret World is a subscription-based MMO game that posits an alternate universe in which a modern-day world has been torn asunder by the reemergence of magic and other occult activity. Players will join one of three occult factions and battle one another for control of strategic locations throughout the world, including Egypt, New York, and Seoul.
[CORRECTION] An earlier version of this story reported Funcom share figures in DKK instead of NOK. GameSpot regrets the error.
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
Funcom made a bad MMO. Completely unexpected. I did not see this coming from miles away. I am genuinely angry and upset that after they delivered the masterpiece that was AoC, they come out with this crap. You would think that after they made AoC, a completely original, fun, and exciting game, they would come out with this. Just what has the world come to.
I had a chance to play the beta and I was not impressed at all. I MIGHT HAVE purchased this game if it wasn't for the sub commitment required to play. Ah well, nice try anyways, add another game to the ever-growing Pay To Win column when this starts to tank and goes F2P.
It kind of irks me that a game with no real history/franchise strength would get released with a subscription required.
1 Like @strayfiesFunny, the metacritic user reviews overwhelmingly disagree with you. Guess the part where you're actually required to think to solve quests was just too taxing, yes?
S'ok...there are other games out there with quests that will put cute glowy exclamantion marks over eveyone and everything so that you can get it all over with as soon as possible.
Originally announced in 2007.
Yeah; I waited all these years for disappointment.
Don't get me wrong. There's really good elements in the game, the story is very interesting, but the most important part of a game is the gameplay, and it's not fun at all.
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@SeaMan2ndClass The secret world is totally different, it has some similar things but for the most part strives to be it's own kind of MMO. Sorry but I have to disagree with you having played it, it is a different kind of MMO.
4 Like @SeaMan2ndClass I'm sick of these sub-par gamespot users that do nothing but saturate the comment section with ignorant comments.
So did the stocks fall simply because the CEO stepped down? I'm no fan of Funcom after Age of Conan but I heard this game was doing relatively well.
8 Like Look at all this drivel in the comments. Seriously...people are making comments, all kinds of comments, without any thought whatsoever. The so-called "fanboys" aren't the problem anymore, it's YOU lot...you band-wagonning, herd-following, meme-spouting drones. Do you people even like to play games anymore?
This isn't about brand loyalty; brand loyalty is the dumbest thing ever conceived of by mankind.
Let's see now, Bioware, Blizzard, Funcom, Electronic Arts, Bethesda, Id, Atari, Capcom, CCP, Cryptic...that's just a drop in the bucket, and according to you guys, ALL of those companies suck, blow, are ignoring, disrespecting, or scamming you, lied to you, should be hit with a class-action lawsuit, have slapped you in the face, and ruined their franchises. What the hell is wrong with you people??? Why do you go from zero to "WTF FAIL FAIL FAIL!!" on the complain-o-meter in less than 3.2 seconds?
This article is a perfect example. TSW has received good reviews so far, and all I read about it from players is "Ya know, this game..it's pretty damned awesome, I wasn't expecting this!"
But no..article about stock prices = the company sucks, the game sucks, "FAILcom", blahblahblah....
Lemmings.
2 Like I dunno about you, but I'm loving TSW. It's something different, not just an MMO that promises to be different and only manages to be different in title.
I think the article is misleading as well. If you look at any company that had a CEO suddenly quit apparently out-of-the-blue, the market gets a heart attack (Hell, even if a CEO announces retirement and it's not handled perfectly the stock price will fall). Most of the stockholders will think the CEO knows something they don't, and they'll jump ship purely for that reason.
But, as you said... Lemmings. :)
CEO stepped down at the day it went public. I just don't see this game competing with WoW. As it is, that is the STANDARD of MMO; if a game convince you to sub for 2+ months it is a success other wise see you in the F2P section.
Funcom has been putting the "FU" in "fun" for a decade now. Any long time players of AO understand what I'm talking about.
@knightros I bought AO pretty close to release... needless to say, I never even made it to 'long time player' with the travesty of a release state THAT was in. People want to complain about unfinished games being shipped, that may very well be the worst example I've personally encountered.
1 Like Neither Steam nor Origin is required, you can get it directly from the official TSW website.
I admire Funcom for trying new things, but their business was already bogged down so not sure the risk was worth it. Either way I'm sure they bounce back.
@Halloll The fewer people who are suckered into buying it before then, the sooner that happens. Of course by then who'd want to? In fact, I think it would be a nice thing if gamers made a personal pledge not to buy games from studios who don't survive the release or post-release of the game. Even if it is the publisher's fault and not the developer, this sends a message to the ones in charge of the dough - not the ones who were used, abused, and discarded who did all the work.
Oh gimme a break. The truth is, all you 'tards want every single MMO to go "free to play" because you don't want to pay for it. You're not protesting, you're just cheap freeloaders.
I dare a developer explain that to the shareholders =P That their video game is not meant for everyone... I'd bail as fast as the CEO too.
What he's saying is that shareholders want to make money. Creating a game with the "same ole pattern" is a much safer investment (a.k.a. bet) than a game that tries to be different and isn't for everyone. I am sure there are shareholders who invest in innovative projects, but not solely for the sake of innovation. I assume those shareholders have taken a much higher risk than usual, hoping to be rewarded for it.
Disclaimer: This is not a reflection of my own beliefs.
So what developers aren't ever supposed to try something new? Just follow the same ole pattern of elves and dwarves huh? Exciting..
2 Like as with any MMO that has released since WoW, failure is inevitable... once gamers realize this then maybe a good MMO will come out once developers see that no ones buying their trash.
If the ceo resigned the day before the game launched, then he obviously didn't have faith that it would be a hit. Looks like he didn't want this potential failure to be on his watch.
1 Like @VodooAnother example of massive stupidity. "He stepped down the day before launch so that his record wouldn't be affected by what he saw as a failure". Stupid, stupid, stupid. The guy was there for the entire development time of The Secret World, but JUST BECAUSE HE LEFT BEFORE LAUNCH, you think he'll be able to claim "Who me? I wasn't even there when it went live, don't blame ME for anything that has to do with this game that was in development under my care for 5 years!"
Seriously, seriously stupid posters.
@Vodoo He stepped down but he's still with the company advising the board of directors and helping make a Lego mmo.
2 Like The game is a blast imo. The story elements/characters are so much mor einvolved then even SW:TOR. The atmospher eand everything is top notch. Really a breath of fresh air in your generic mmo world.
Game still has some of your generic mmo style " go kill x of these" and the combat isn't special, but the world, story, misions that aren't like that (IE detective style clue mi ssions) help make it a lot better.
If anyone here likes adventur egames (The jlongest journey, Syberia, Sanitariuj, etc) you'll likely enjoy this game.
I'm... actually quite surprised. This game avoided the "hype train" that helps to kill things faster like WAR and TOR. If anything I've only heard (mostly) good things from unoptimistic people who were pleasantly surprised.
@IgotEpixxI wasn't going to play this. I'd barely heard of it, so I figured it couldn't be very good. Now I don't even know if I'm going to bother playing Guild Wars 2 lol!!
1 Like Btw, the game is awesome. Combat is not so much awkward as it is different. You do need to learn a new style of fighting since you can't just stand there and mash buttons.
7 Like I would rather focus on the fact the shares tanked due to the CEO stepping down. Which is probably what happens to any company's stock when the CEO suddenly steps down. Its unfortunate that he did so RIGHT after the game launched which in my opinion makes him weak...
@hlmcpherson It sounds like he just wanted to torpedo Funcom or undermine them. Such a nasty move!
6 Like Stock drops don't mean something is wrong. It's probably Algorythm's from prop trading firms selling the stock en mass because certain criteria are met. Creates down ticks. News outlets should really get a clue about the financial markets before publishing idiocy.
4 Like @Janpieterzun If there's anything that the Market doesn't like, it's surprises. The CEO's sudden resignation, regardless of how TSW did or does, is something the Market will at least temporarily punish the company for.
2 Like I'm sure the two events (launch and stock drop) are unrelated. That said, I am really enjoying TSW. We can debate whether it's single player or multiplayer, whether it should be called an MMO, whether it should have be f2p or subscription and they are all valid discussions, but at the end of the day I only care about one thing...does the game draw me in. This one does in a way no other game has because most other games tried to be WOW and only WOW can be WOW. Star Wars blatantly ripped off everything WOW and stuck a light saber in your hand and said, "$15 a month, please". TSW doesn't copy WOW in any meaningful way, which is why I think it has a chance to be successful. Maybe not as a big mega million subscriber game, but certainly as a niche game at the very least. I'm really enjoying it so far.
No developer ever caters a game to a small niche circle. Its everyone or the game is a failure. No company spends millions and it only has 2mill sub with a 50% drop off after each month... that means the game sucks. I'm sure the game is fun, but lets see how many people stay after 1 month... two months?
That's a lot of absolutes. No developer ever does this, everyone has to like it or it's a failure (by that definition WOW is a failure). If a game only has 2 million subscribers, it sucks. etc. etc.
All the above absolutes may be true in your world, but in the business world plenty of game companies and/or MMOs succeed on sales of 2 million copies/subscribers or less. The fact that you believe that a game is only successful if more than 2 million other people like it is simply that, your belief. That doesn't make it true, and in fact it's not true.
Many games are profitable with a niche audience (and when I say niche in MMO terms I'm talking somewhere in the 500,000 to 1,500,000 player/subscriber range. I'm glad that not everyone thinks like you or the only game we'd have is WOW and everyone else would stop making MMOs. As you can see by the VERY large number of active MMOs (all of which suck by your definition) there are plenty of smaller, niche MMOs that are doing just fine and offering people like me who don't let the masses decide what sucks and what doesn't (I prefer to decide for myself) choices and options to play something other than WOW. I enjoy The Secret World and that's all I need to say it's fun, if you think it sucks because it doesn't have 10 million subscribers (6 million of which are Chinese and paying less than $2 a month $US) like WOW, then we'll agree to disagree.
By the way, it's not that difficult to be profitable with an MMO with hundreds of thousands of subscribers or as a free to play. If that weren't true then why is there DDO, Star Trek, Star Wars, EVE, Champions, DC Comics, Aion, Guild Wars 2, and dozens and dozens of other f2p MMOs out there still going strong?
2 Like @jgalt You can always tell a person's first MMO. WoW was nothing more than a well-marketed, Warcraft-themed version of Dark Age of Camelot, which was nothing more than a combination of Spellbinder and EverQuest, which was nothing more than a well-marketed graphical MUD, which were just multiplayer versions of Zork. ;)
@DrYnot It's nice that you're trying to be clever and snide at the same time, but you really don't know what you're talking about.
1 Like Evil, you are correct sir! WOW was in fact my first commercial MMO, and I enjoyed it for 2-3 years until it just became an endless grind. I also played all the Zorks and still remember them fondly. Watch out for Grues!
1 Like I'm pretty sure "niche" product isn't what any MMO company aims for; either it appeals to the masses, or it changes subcription system and hang in for a rough ride. That said, in my humble opinion, this may be some good news. Funcom needs a change in management if they are going to compete in the upcoming MMO market; because frankly, in the state they are in, they aint' goi'n no where.
Another it needs to have 10 million subscribers or it's a bust post. I don't agree and the market doesn't agree as there are literally dozens and dozens of MMOs from companies large and small with only hundreds of thousands of subscribers that are still active. That said, I'm sure everyone dreams of being "the next WOW", just as people dream of being the best pro football player. However, even if you don't make it in the pros, being a star in college doesn't suck. So even though dozens of games have tried to emulate WOW's success and nobody has that doesn't mean the other games suck nor does it means they were unprofitable. I am glad most developers don't agree with you and the others that say only millions of subscribers equals success because it would be a boring WOW only MMO world if that were true - and thankfully it's not true....
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