With Funcom working on an expansion to Age of Conan, as well as the upcoming The Secret World, and the engine change to Anarchy Online, I admit I was both surprised and concerned when the announcement came that Funcom’s new division, Sweet Robot, would be working on a kid’s MMO: PetsVs Monsters. After playing Pets Vs Monsters: The Beta, the concern has relegated itself to my lower intestinal track.
But who knew? The same company that brought us layoffs and greatly lowered revenue is also bringing us more casual titles! Granted, this is nothing new. Back in a time when Ritual Entertainment made great first person shooters, they were gobbled up by Mumbojumbo and are now creating casual titles. Funcom announced that they have even more casual kid MMOs planned for the future, with Pets Vs Monsters in open beta currently.
Luckily for those of you who enjoy the Funcom of yonder, the current titles won’t be going anywhere. Funcom still looks to support their current and upcoming titles, be it Age of Conan, Anarchy Online, or the upcoming Secret World. Don’t think of it as forgetting your core fanbase, think of it as exploiting the money-filled tween demographic, and using those funds towards more breast enlargement spells. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since Funcom apparently plans to use the casual sector to fund their more hardcore titles.
More on Funcom’s plunder into the casual sector as it appears.
MMO Fallout 