Crom Was Not Happy

Posted on February 23, 2009 by Scott Jennings| 22 Comments

Funcom announces $23 million loss last quarter based on $22 million depreciation of Age of Conan expenses, CFO resigns.

Shortly after Age of Conan launched, Funcom saw subscriber levels of 400,000, which rocketed up to 700,000 within a few months.

While Funcom’s cash position remains robust at USD 39.4 million, the company reported a full-year net loss of USD 33.8 million. According to estimates by DnB NOR Markets, subscriber levels for Age of Conan are below 100,000, reports E24.

However, revenues in the fourth quarter of 2008 rose to USD 8.7 million, up from USD 1.2 million year-on-year, due to subscription revenues from the MMO.

This entry was posted in Age of Conan, Funcom, Industry, _. Bookmark the permalink.
  • Trevel

    That’s really a shame. Age of Conan had some neat things that made it quite fun. The basic combat I enjoyed a lot more than most other games — the idea that I was meant to be fighting a few people at once instead of one-on-one gave it a heroic feel that WoW lost for me.

    Which kind of explains why I left, too — I quit when I started running against elite mobs that I couldn’t take on 1:1. As a solo player — that’s not much fun.

  • octopaganini

    WAR will follow before this corpse even starts to stink.

  • Bleaktea

    I wouldn’t count WAR out yet, I’ve had some friends drifting back to it now that the shine is off WotLK (mind you, what I hear back from them is mostly “the UI makes me want to choke people, but I can’t because there is nobody to fight”). Anyway, it may be buoyed by some WoW Tourists between now and when Ulduar shows up.

    Shame about Conan; I guess Blood, Tits, And Evil Wizards isn’t enough anymore. Elves or GTFO?

  • http://simple-n-complex.blogspot.com Openedge1

    I would not jump so fast to conclusions just yet…

    http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/224601

    “The CEO of FunCom, Trond Arne Aas, bought 250 000 FC stocks before Oslo stock exchange closed today.”

    Something is up…

  • InterSlayer

    Yeah, they’re announ

    @Openedge1

    Yeah, they’re about to announce the sequel, AOC2 lawl.

  • http://simple-n-complex.blogspot.com Openedge1

    @Interslayer

    You got me (ouch)…that was a well thought out, and well worded rebuttal.

    Thank you!

  • Iconic

    AoC: Perfect example that a nice milkshake will bring the boys to the yard, but it won’t keep them there.

    Start with a great concept for gameplay, and you may end up with a great game. Start with something else and you never will.

  • Trevel

    I honestly thought AoC had a great concept for gameplay. I enjoyed basic combat on it far more than on any other MMO I’ve played.

  • http://ve3d.ign.com/ Apache

    It’s still a fun game and holds up well because the graphics are top shelf.

  • Jeff

    @octopaganini

    I tend to concur, though they may get a bump from their so called “expansion.” Most people I know that played tend to sum that up as “too little too late”, or “smells like this was content cut from release”, but I do know a few people at least willing to go back to try it.

    I never did play AoC, but it is sad to see another MMO die slowly. Hopefully Funcom, along with “Talk Much, Say Nothing” Jacobs and “Burn the Heretics” Barnett learn a lesson from all this. When it comes time to decide to release your MMO, it’s Polish or Perish.

  • Derella

    @Apache
    The graphics are probably one of the major reasons it is tanking. Because of the high specs, it ran terribly for many people, and excluded many, many more from ever even trying it.

  • Gx1080

    That game is tanking because is divided in Tortuga(region of all awesomess) and everything else(region of brown and mute lame stuff). That and class balance, and that in updated computers it was still laggy

  • http://ve3d.ign.com/ Apache

    No, it’s tanking because it launched without endgame content. They sold over a million boxes. Problem was that 90% of them cancelled after a month because there was nothing left to do.

  • InterSlayer

    @Openedge1

    My bad, I was trying to quote and build on what you said, not make a pointed response to you personally. Noscript + late to a meeting can do this!

  • http://crymore.de EpicSquirt

    At least Funcom fires the responsible people. Should buy 10 copies tomorrow just because of that.

    Hello Mark Jacobs.

  • Vetarnias

    As others said, Conan wasn’t that bad. I did leave for a combination of two reasons, grind and performance issues, but it still struck me as superior to Warhammer with its stupid cries and “waaaagh” (what is it, Bugs Bunny?) and its “choppas” and “stickas” that for some reason always make me think of ebonics.

    So I certainly hope Funcom will be able to turn Conan around as they did for Anarchy Online, and that we will be proved wrong for all that use of the past tense when referring to the game. But to be honest, Conan brought a lot of its current woes on itself by just peddling a game without all the advertised elements in it.

    Not that the whys and wherefores matter, for meanwhile, in WoWland: “Now for those doing the campaigning of Wow hate these days: Wow just passed its point of no return.
    I think they passed it somewhere at the end of 2007. No matter what comes out, the mainstream is Wow now and nothing is stopping the juggernaut, because …
    … it is now out of the hands of MMORPG players. (and glad I am).
    Not one guild, not 100 guilds, not a 1000 guilds will stop the world juggernaut in future years.”

  • http://mikedarga.blogspot.com Mike Darga

    Iconic :
    Start with a great concept for gameplay, and you may end up with a great game. Start with something else and you never will.

    I like this quote, although I’m not sure what you’re insinuating that they started with instead. Their focus on the “mature” IP? I haven’t played it, or it might be more obvious to me.

  • VPellen

    23 million? Ouch.

  • dartwick

    The end game paled compared to both promises and WOW.

    In MMOs that battingf .00

  • Dana

    8 million a quarter you say! Kids these days. Why, I remember time was when you built an MMO and a few thousand people played it and you made enough money to pay the light bill and keep a bakers dozen of your buddies employed for going on 8 years now and you were happy with that!

    Here’s a tip to all you failing fat cats out there in MMO dev land. You are doing it wrong. Before you go spending 40 million dollars on your next titanic, try spending 3 and see what you come up with. You might just get that awe inspiring “sustainability” achievement unlock. Wouldn’t that be something to write home about.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Robert-Howarth/553522696 Robert Howarth

    Enough people already have the game. The trick is to figure out how to get them to play again. I suggest spending copius amounts of advertising dollars.

  • Vetarnias

    Robert Howarth :
    Enough people already have the game. The trick is to figure out how to get them to play again. I suggest spending copius amounts of advertising dollars.

    I suggest Funcom buying me a new computer.