Funcom, the studio behind The Secret World, Age of Conan and Anarchy Online, have released a press statement in which they give details of the success of The Secret World‘s change of payment strategy from subscription to “buy-to-play”.
Amidst corporate jargon relating to “streamlining of internal processes” and “core products and technology”, lay some encouraging signs for the continued health of the pioneering development studio.
After a difficult 2012, in which Funcom suffered the ignominy of having to lay off staff and subsequently restructuring both their organisation and the payment model for their lead MMO, there is finally cause for optimism for fans of their MMOs.
A section of the press release, dated 10 Jan 2013, reads;
“The Company is especially pleased with the successful re-launch of ‘The Secret World’, after switching to a buy-to-play business model in December 2012. Activity levels in the game have increased by over 400% as original players have returned joined by thousands of new players. After its re-launch, ‘The Secret World’ has sold more than 70,000 units in the last four weeks alone, which is close to 30 percent increase in total sales. The Company will continue to build on this initial success in the months to come.”
Ole Schreiner, Funcom CEO said, “With a restructured organization, we will have a joint team of the best-of-the-best working together to expand our existing online worlds and to create new, exciting and memorable online experiences…”
There was also mention of their “LEGO Minifigures game” which is currently in development at their Oslo studio. The press release ends with a statement about taking “full advantage of the exciting opportunities that face the games industry as it steps into 2013 and beyond.”
Source: Cisionwire (via Massively)
