Funcom's Financials Rebound Following Age of Conan Subscriber Increase
DateTime:9/27/2009 11:20:23 AM

Age of Conan and Secret World developer, Funcom, reports a strong first quarter following a dismal end to 2008 that had financial boffins writing the firm off. Driving an eight-fold increase in revenue was a significant increase in Age of Conan players, and a greater retention of existing customers through the continued addition of extra game content. The MMOARPG, which now has one hundred and twenty full-time associated employees, excluding customer service representatives, also reported an increase of in-game time per player and a stabilisation of subscribers, meaning those who were on the fence have left, and those remaining are loyal, long-term customers. Hoping to increase subscriber retention further, Funcom intends to release "significant additional enhancements" in the coming months. Additional revenue was accrued from localised launches in Poland, Russia, and South Korea.

Funcom also reported that the first Secret World trailer has been viewed by around one million gamers, and that the level of interest in the game is higher than Age of Conan received at a similar stage of development.The company's other major project is Ragnar T?rnquist's The Secret World. Funcom reports that the development team now numbers one hundred and that a significant milestone was completed on May 7th. Included with said milestone was the first iteration of the game's combat system, the character creator, the game's first dungeon, eleven near-complete game areas, content development tools, and the MMOG's first, all-important cut-scenes. Developed on Age of Conan's Dreamworld engine, technical risk is said to be reduced, and enhancements developed by each team can be rapidly shared to the benefit of both. The aforementioned upcoming improvements to Age of Conan include three new dungeons; the House of Crom; Tarantia Commons outdoor zone; greatly expanded Guild and social features; an improved item system; an improvement to general role-playing; and further rendering and graphical enhancements.