Tag: Funcom

Tencent Wants To Buy Funcom


Tencent wants to buy Funcom. Thank you everyone, good night.

Okay there is more information. Funcom this week publicly revealed that Tencent, currently shareholder of 29% of the developer, intends to buy the other 71% from other shareholders. Funcom is claiming that there are no plans to change management, staffing, or structure following the acquisition, nor will Funcom deviate from supporting its current library of titles.

“We have had a great relationship with Tencent as our largest shareholder so far and we are excited about this opportunity,” says Funcom CEO Rui Casais. “We will continue to develop great games that people all over the world will play, and we believe that the support of Tencent will take Funcom to the next level. Tencent will provide Funcom with operational leverage and insights from its vast knowledge as the leading company in the game space.”

Thankfully players can look forward to nothing changing, since businesses are well known to keep their promise of not making gigantic cuts following acquisitions.

Source: Funcom

Funcom Quarterly Report Notes 10 Active Projects


Funcom has released their third quarter financial performance and the results are up and down. Revenue is down from $7.5 million last year to $5.4 million this year which can be blamed on Conan Exiles having a strong launch in Q2 and Q3 of 2018. Funcom did not launch a title in Q3 2019, however they did admit that Conan Unconquered has underperformed to Funcom’s expectations.

Funcom’s MMO library has been relegated to a tiny corner of their report, simply mentioning “community events” for activities encompassing Age of Conan, Secret Worlds Legends, and Anarchy Online (The Secret World isn’t referenced at all). The financial report also notes that Tencent recent acquired a 29% stake in Funcom over the quarter, offering no cash infusion to Funcom itself as the stocks were purchased from KGJ Capital AS.

“We are very pleased to see Tencent come in as the largest shareholder of Funcom. Tencent has a reputation for being a responsible long-term investor, and for its renowned operational capabilities in online games. The insight, experience, and knowledge that Tencent will bring is of great value to us and we look forward to working closely with them as we continue to develop great games and build a successful future for Funcom.“ Rui Casais

After quarter activities so far have included the launch of 2015’s The Park on Nintendo Switch, as well as the release of Moons of Madness on Steam. The report does not discuss sales figures, however Steamspy estimates 20,000 to 50,000 total sales and Steam charts show the game peaking at 519.

Funcom’s upcoming titles include a Dune open world title that is currently in pre-production, a cooperative shooter set in the Mutant: World Zero IP, Conan Chop Chop set for launch in Q1 2020, Moons of Madness releasing on consoles in January, and two unnamed titles in development by Games Farm and The Outsiders, a studio created by former Battlefield developers.

Source: Funcom

Play Funcom’s Conan Threesome Free Over The Weekend


If you’ve ever wanted to play all three of Funcom’s Conan games and not have to pay anything for the privilege, you’re in luck. Starting September 19 and running through September 23, you can download Conan Exiles and Conan Unconquered. You can also play Age of Conan which was already free to play, but just pretend that it’s one of those play now keep forever deals that you can play whenever and also keep.

So if your taste is MMO, tower defense, or survival sandbox, you’re in for a treat this weekend.

Funcom Q2 2019: Conan Exiles Strong, Unconquered Not So Much


Funcom this week published their second quarter results for 2019 and they are pretty much okay.

Funcom’s CEO Rui Casais referred to 2019 as a transition year for Funcom between the turnaround and growth phases of the company where those changes may not be immediately visible. Presumably he is referring to Funcom’s revenue and profit for the second quarter which despite boasting a 53% increase from last quarter is moderately over half of last year’s numbers. $8.9 million in revenue in Q2 2019 compared to $15.2 million in 2018 as well as $600,000 in profit compared to $5.8 million in 2018.

The numbers makes sense as 2018 brought in Conan Exiles and Mutant: Year Zero and Funcom didn’t have as big of a title to publish this year outside of Conan Unconquered which didn’t quite live up to expectations. On the plus side, the company has shed its $3.4 million in debt since last year and is in a strong, growing cash position.

With Conan Unconquered we saw an opportunity to experiment with a low budget game in a new genre for Funcom, “Real-Time Strategy”. We worked with a developer with a long track record in the genre to create a small game that isn’t a classical example of the genre, but a twist on it. Unfortunately, the reception from the players was not as positive as we hoped for. We are grateful for their feedback and based on that feedback we have made free updates to the game and have a larger update ready to go out soon. We are improving our processes based on this experience and we still believe in this genre, but it’s clear that the budget and quality of this game was not high enough.

Conan Exiles continues to be the strong performer in terms of revenue and funding Funcom’s other projects. The report does note that the success of Conan Exiles showing the company’s strength in multiplayer games as a service, that the Conan single player game has been put on hold in order for the Oslo team to focus on continued content for Exiles as well as the Dune open world multiplayer game set to release soon™. The Funcom North Carolina team is working on a multiplayer shooter that they hope to bring to market in 2020, while the company is also publishing Moons of Madness and Conan Chop Chop, as well as other titles yet to be announced.

Dune is currently listed as in pre-production while the coop shooter based in the Mutant: Year Zero IP is in production. Moons of Madness, a game set in the Secret World universe, is on track for a Halloween 2019 release with Conan Chop Chop to come in 2020. Funcom is also engaged in joint operations surrounding the Kult RPG franchise, Solomon Kane, Mutant Chronicles, and Doom Trooper along with other lesser known franchises.

Source: Report, Presentation

Age of Conan Adds Don’t Die Challenge


Age of Conan is back on track with content updates. Today, Funcom has added in Unconquered mode. In Unconquered mode, you’ll create a new character and go through the game as normal. The goal here is to get as far as you can without dying, with your character receiving rewards the further they get in the form of vanity armor sets, weapons, and badges.

This isn’t hardcore mode, however, but closer to an achievement system found in Lord of the Rings Online. If your character dies, you’ll just stop receive the Unconquered rewards. Nothing else changes.

Create a new character, mark them as Unconquered, level up, and earn new rewards! The only catch:  If your Unconquered character dies, the run’s over.  You won’t be able to continue earning rewards with that character.

How long will you survive?

Source: Age of Conan

PSA: Conan Exiles Free Weekend Starts Now


Just a reminder to you multiplayer survival fans: Conan Exiles is hosting a free weekend starting now. You can pick the game up on Steam and play it until Sunday March 11.

The free weekend comes in alongside a host of balance tweaks, performance optimizations, and a new VOIP voice chat system. In addition, new purges, a new world boss, and other pieces of content have been added into the game. If you enjoy Conan Exiles enough to buy it, the game is also 50% off.

Source: Steam

Funcom Announces Next Title: Conan Unconquered


Funcom has officially announced their next title: Conan Unconquered.

Conan Unconquered is referred to as a “survival real time strategy” game that appears to be a mix between Age of Empires and a wave-based turret defense game. Players build their city and defend against overwhelming waves of people looking to bring you down.

Information about the game can be found at the trailer above, or at the official website. Conan Unconquered will be live Q2 2019.

Source: Official website

Funcom’s Mutant Year Zero Has Launched


Funcom today launches their latest title: Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden.

The title promises to combine the turn based strategy of XCOM with realtime stealth and exploration of a post-human world reclaimed by nature and mutants. In a world where nuclear war has not only wiped out the last vestiges of humanity, you take on the roles of several mutated animals and humanoids to find Eden, a legendary safe haven in the wasteland that is the post-apocalyptic Earth. Or it may just not exist.

Mutant Year Zero is available on PC, Xbox, and Playstation. Xbox Game Pass owners can get their hands on the game as part of the subscription now. willing to wait two days will find the game added to their library on December 6.

Funcom Q3 2018 Report: Highest Quarterly Earnings In Company History


Funcom yesterday posted its third quarter earnings for 2018, and the results are rather positive. Third quarter earnings amounted to $7.5 million, a 25% increase over last year, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization amounted to $4.6 million. The developer happily notes that not only has cash flow beaten the full year’s numbers for last year, which was the highest in Funcom histroy, but that the company is now free of interest-bearing debt for the first time since 2009 and holds a cash balance of $20.9 million.

On the road ahead, Funcom has six titles in its lineup including Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, Petroglyph’s Conan game set for the second quarter 2019, Rock Pocket’s Funcom IP game set for Halloween 2019, a cooperative shooter from Funcom North Carolina, a single-player Conan game from Funcom Oslo, and an open-world multiplayer game also from Funcom Oslo. It appears that Petroglyph’s Conan game will release on PC while Rock Pocket’s title is set for PC, Xbox, and Playstation. Funcom NC’s title utilizes a premium business model while both of Funcom Oslo’s titles are in pre-production stages.

Conan Exiles continues to be a strong seller for Funcom.

(Source: Funcom)

[Video] Funcom Reminisces On 25 Years


Funcom turns the big twenty five this year, and that means it’s about time for a montage. It’s hard to believe that Funcom got its start way back in 1993, but the developer that we all know from Anarchy Online actually got its start developing licensed and original titles for the Sega Mega Drive (Genesis for you Americans) with games like A Dinosaur’s Tale and Pocahontas.