Pets Vs Monsters – MMO Fallout

Funcom: Going Casual

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.

Continue reading “Funcom: Going Casual”

Funcom, For Kids!

It’s been a while since I talked about Funcom, almost a month! It’s good to see that Funcom continues to stride through whatever low points life throws its way. Slashing 20% of the company’s workforce, dropping 68.5% of revenue, and a loss of subscribers due to recent MMO releases, is just a flesh wound. Not only has Funcom opened a subsidiary, SweetRobot, but said subsidiary has been working on a free to play MMO for two years!

Set to go into open beta later this month, and pictured above, is Pets Vs Monsters. PvM, not to be confused with the popular MMO term, is…I’ll let Funcom explain it to you, but after the break.

Continue reading “Funcom, For Kids!”

Funcom: Revenue, Outsourcing, and More Dissappointment…

If Funcom's money was gold-backed... — If Funcom's money was gold backed.

It has certainly not been a good few months for Funcom, and according to the company, the situation is expected to get worse. After September’s notice of layoffs of 20% of the company’s workforce, we received further news that the upcoming MMO, The Secret World, would also be delayed by at least several months. Age of Conan and Anarchy Online are allegedly unaffected by the downsizing.

Age of Conan, alongside several other titles, is in the middle of a furious campaign to gain long term subscribers to their title (Because, as I say time and time again, it’s all about retention rate), bringing in heavy discounts for multi-month packages, veteran rewards, and more. Age of Conan has an expansion pack in the works, while Anarchy Online has its major graphics upgrade.

More after the break…

Continue reading “Funcom: Revenue, Outsourcing, and More Dissappointment…”