The Secret World – Page 2

Funcom Fined For 2011-2012 Irregularities

It’s been a while since we last reported on the allegations that Funcom breached disclosure requirements and misled investors in the months leading up to the launch of The Secret World, and the results of said investigation are finally in. Following a raid on the offices in January of last year, Funcom yesterday announced that it has accepted a fine of 1.5 million NOK from the Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime. The fine relates to market manipulation and lists of persons who have access to insider information.

The announcement does not mention anything specifically about ex-CEO Tron Aas, who is under investigation for offloading stocks just before the launch of The Secret World, leading many to speculate that he knew that the game would not be initially well received.

(Source: Funcom)

Grab The Park For $9.99

The Park is Funcom’s first return to single player gaming since Dreamfall: The Longest Journey in 2006. Launching October 26th, The Park is a self-contained story in the universe that players have been exploring in The Secret World. Players take on the role of Lorraine, a mother looking for her lost child, as her story unravels over the course of the game.

Amusement parks are happy places, filled with the joys of childhood and the exhilarating rush of fantastic rides to be dared. That was the vision of eccentric business man Nathaniel Winter when he opened the doors to Atlantic Island Park in 1977. Unfortunately, the park’s history turned out to be one plagued by tragedy and drama. Its freak accidents, grotesque killings and ghostly hauntings have inspired many a sensational headline, and locals worry the park is far from done claiming innocent lives.
For Lorraine, it’s where her worst nightmare began.

The entire experience promises to be short, just an hour or two. Those who pre-order will be able to get their hands on exclusive items for The Secret World, including the Chipmunk Killer costume and a set of talismans.

For those unwilling to throw the money down, MMO Fallout will be covering the game post-launch.

(Source: Steam)

Funcom Revoking Fraudulent Steam Keys

If you purchased The Secret World through grey market resellers like G2A or similar websites, you may log in to find that your account has been disabled and your key revoked. Funcom has joined the growing list of developers fighting back against fraudulent purchases, announcing that keys that are purchased with stolen credit cards or purchased and then charged back are being disabled. In an announcement posted to the forums, Funcom suggests that affected customers contact their seller or go through their financial institution to dispute the charge.

If your account has been closed due to making purchases from these resellers, please contact that reseller and request a refund for the charge. If this doesn’t work, we suggest that you contact your financial institution and dispute the charge from the reseller. Please be careful when making purchases with digital retailers; purchasing directly from Funcom, Steam, or Origin is always suggested to help protect our customers.

Accounts that are disabled due to a fraudulent key can be reactivated with a legitimate key through Funcom’s customer support.

(Source: Funcom)

Funcom Extends Issue Pack To Current Players

If the last month has taught us anything, it’s that current players don’t take kindly to being cut out of lucrative deals. Funcom’s announced sale of the base game plus four additional issues for $20 ruffled more than a few feathers when it was revealed that the sale was for new accounts only.

Thankfully the outrage has been heard and Funcom has extended the sale to everyone. Up until March 31st, you’ll be able to get your hands on Issues 5-8 for $20. This sale is completed through the Funcom account management page and not through the in-game store.

(Source: The Secret World)

The Secret World Letter Focuses On User Experience

Joel Bylos is back to deliver the February Game Director’s letter for The Secret World. If you haven’t been following recent events, the Funcom team has been focusing on improving the new user experience as well as the upcoming launch of Issue #11.

The revamped experience has expanded slightly in scope by improving the tutorials in the beginning and smoothing out the difficulty curve. When we go back and change things, we also find other ways of improving the early game experience.

Foremost, Funcom is addressing the long kill-times once players leave the opening Kingsmouth area, from 7 to 25 seconds according to their statistics to kill a standard enemy. In addition, the team is reducing population in some of the more crowded areas. Mission rewards have also been reconfigured and streamlined, with the story mode now appropriately handing out goodies up until the end of Transylvania in which the player will receive their first epic weapon.

Also in the works is Issue #11, set to be the finale in the Tokyo storyline. Players will learn more about the Orochi, fighting their way to the top of a randomized tower with secret floors to discover along the way.

You can read everything at the link below.

(Source: The Secret World)

Funcom Revenues Drop In 2nd Quarter

Funcom has released their second quarter finances and the results are disappointing to say the least. Revenue dropped to $3.19 million USD from $3.83 million last quarter while operating costs rose to $3.67 million in the same quarter. During the second quarter, Funcom initiated several marketing campaigns to increase traffic activity in their games. Traffic for Age of Conan and Anarchy Online were relatively stable, while The Secret World saw increased activity over the summer with the launch of the latest content update.

Lego Minifigures is still on track for release in October this year, with open beta ongoing and reportedly receiving a positive response from testers. In the third quarter, Funcom expects operating costs to remain consistent with revenues continuing their downward trend.

(Source: Funcom)

MMOrning Shots: Cthulhu Slumbers Again

Today’s MMOrning Shot comes to us from The Secret World, where I’ve managed to make my way past the core game content and into Issue #1 without ever finishing the first dungeon. Call me lazy, but I’ve always found The Secret World’s grouping system to be a major pain in the rear. Couple that with the fact that I don’t always play during peak hours and the admitted lack of players queueing for early game dungeons, and today was the first chance I had with qualified healer.

I’ll be heading back to Transylvania to deal with the king of all vampires, and by that I mean Luis Suarez. Get your blood drained by MMOrning Shots every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

The Secret World Second Anniversary Kicks Off

The Secret World has kicked off its second anniversary with golems once again invading the world, as well as new world bosses in Tokyo. Yes, I said Tokyo.

Many hours of new content is also introduced with a new mission pack for the Tokyo game zone called Side Stories: Love & Loathing. Here players get to fight off the demonic invasion of Tokyo or try their hand at complex Origami in a deep Investigation Mission, among many other challenges.

All players will enjoy double experience, extra tokens, and free membership for recruiting.

(Source: Funcom press release)

Less Massive: Origin Sale Up To 70% Off

Electronic Arts has announced a giant sale on Origin with prices up to 70% off. The sale runs until June 16th and covers a wide variety of games and DLC packs, including both Titanfall and Battlefield 4 for 50% off their regular price. You can even get The Secret World for 50% off, so what are you waiting for?

Check it out.

Black Watchman ARG Falls Short of Goal

The Black Watchmen was an experiment set up to become the first permanent ARG, set to launch in September and crowdfunded through MMORPG.com. Unfortunately, the drive came short of its $100,000 goal, and as a result all donations will be refunded.

To all agents,

We managed an incredible mobilization here, we’ve raised $ 54,362 with a common goal: to create the first ever Persistant ARG. Hopes where high when a couple of players, through word of mouth, helped us to get nearer our goal from 35% to 39% in ONLY one night. We had the chance to meet people as dedicated as we were to the project and we wish to give a big thank you to everyone who stood by our side until the end.

We also wish to give a special thanks to Robert Bannon and the Paradigm Symposium; who pledged $5,000 for a real life mission and to also offer a booth so we could recruit player at the next convention
Unfortunately, rules are rules, and we will start the refund of all pledges. In the next 7 to 10 days, you should expect a full refund if you were with Crowdtilt, and a small fee (2.5%) deducted from your refund if you pledged via PayPal.

(Source: MMORPG.com)

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