Funcom has called an "extraordinary general meeting of shareholders" for the 28th of August. That meeting was announced around a month ago, so it's not breaking news. But given the state of company finances, this meeting is not surprising. FC would have had a good idea of TSW's launch revenue a month ago, and all indicators are that it was substantially less than what was needed.

The meeting on the 28th might even be to present a takeover bid to the shareholders, or to ask their support in fighting it off.

There have been many rumours this year that Nexon is sniffing around the market looking to buy a western game development company...

funcon admit that they are prepare for the f2p mode of tsw  and tell it will be similar to Aoc  in payment method,and will have few limitation and of course buy option ,and sadly it happening the same whit terra.

En Masses Entertainment, the publisher of TERA North America and the subsidiary of developer Bluehole Studio, has started axing employees from its payroll. This is according to the TERA's former community manager, Evan "Scapes" Berman's Twitter.

hope they dont blame gw2 for this ^_^.

Seems to kinda be missing sales and subs for TSW, as it is too new to have metrics for it, and I know I bought it, and am paying a sub...a dollar is a dollar....OH well, I like the game, it just suffers from what themeparks have a problem with, unless you make some daily gear treadmill of repeated stuff and call that content (Ala Rift, TOR, etc....).

Leveling could of been slowed down maybe, A lot of people complained as it was, and I think it was way too fast.

I am paying a sub, because I appriciate the effort put into the game, and more originality than most newer mmos show.  I will play it here and there, but I also will have GW2 to play, so hopefully between the 2 I will be good for my gaming time (with a little of Civ IV and LoL thrown in).

Originally posted by wyldmagik

Oh I did some digging...

The OP was just released from funcoms employment lol.. bitter much :)

That would explain it ..

Guess the OP wont be happy with this link:

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Video-Games-PC-Hardware/zgbs/videogames/229575/ref=zg_bs_nav_vg_1_vg

No 2 atm ..

I've pretty much come to the point where I just play the game and enjoy it while it lasts.  That may be 3 months or 3 years or longer.  People are going to pick and prod and predict doom for whatever reason they may have. 

I love the game, therefore, I support the company that made the game. 

End of story.

Originally posted by z4oslo

Originally posted by wyldmagik

Oh I did some digging...

The OP was just released from funcoms employment lol.. bitter much :)

 

That would explain it ..

Guess the OP wont be happy with this link:

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Video-Games-PC-Hardware/zgbs/videogames/229575/ref=zg_bs_nav_vg_1_vg

No 2 atm ..

 

It's #2 because the box was 50% off over the weekend, which in of itself is a rather bad sign for a game that is so new, and likely an attempt to make the investment report look better.

Unfortunately, that will mean that this quarter's report will be considerably less useful. Numbers of subs one month from now will be a much better judge of retention rate than any information we could get today (not that they're likely to share) as the surge of sales from 50% off will be past their 30 days and GW2 will have been out for 3 weeks. MoP won't have come out yet at that point but WoW explansions and how they effect the market are more of a known factor at this point.

Originally posted by fallenlords

Interesting post, I think it's blatantly obvious to anybody that looks at Funcom as a company that they are in trouble.  Whether they can pull themselves back from this I don't know, they have had similar trouble in the past and managed to continue.  But the whole gaming world was different then and more robust.  We have an average decline in video game sales as whole.

 

Overall TSW seems a little like a 'marmite' game, you either love it or hate it, and there isn't much in between.  I don't think that bodes well for the game at the moment with initial subs.  I also don't think Funcom have learnt anything from AOC, they have just gone away and made a game that they wanted to make.  That takes guts I will give them that,  but it also is a bit misguided. 

 

The only thing that does concern me is I don't think there has been enough marketing.  After playing Darksiders II yesterday and watching TV, up comes a TV advert for the same game.  TSW has never been 'in my face' with regards to knowing of it's existence.  Apart from an email from Funcom and adverts on this site, I don't think I have seen anything else.  Black Ops II every other day I get something related to that game, and it will just ramp up from now until release.    Skyrim fostered lots of interest in the game prior to release, I was seeing live action trailers and all sorts.  With TSW I have to search for information about the game. Perhaps their problems are just down to bad marketing because the people that like the game seem to really like the game.

Last article I read for video game sales as was retailer only(and not secondary sales, just initial) as well as not including any digital downloads.  It only spelled doom and gloom which has been continuing tread, but I would like to see something showing the whole projections and not one shrinking market of video game sales.

Originally posted by z4oslo

Originally posted by wyldmagik

Oh I did some digging...

The OP was just released from funcoms employment lol.. bitter much :)

 

That would explain it ..

Guess the OP wont be happy with this link:

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Video-Games-PC-Hardware/zgbs/videogames/229575/ref=zg_bs_nav_vg_1_vg

No 2 atm ..

 

Yes and failed games don't get high sales numbers ... well, that is if you ignore Age of Conan lol. Sorry, means squat. AoC sold more and faster... So while I'm sure you had a point I don't think this means as much as you want it to. 

Originally posted by GrayGhost79

Originally posted by z4oslo

Originally posted by wyldmagik

Oh I did some digging...

The OP was just released from funcoms employment lol.. bitter much :)

 

That would explain it ..

Guess the OP wont be happy with this link:

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Video-Games-PC-Hardware/zgbs/videogames/229575/ref=zg_bs_nav_vg_1_vg

No 2 atm ..

 

Yes and failed games don't get high sales numbers ... well, that is if you ignore Age of Conan lol. Sorry, means squat. AoC sold more and faster... So while I'm sure you had a point I don't think this means as much as you want it to. 

ive been one of the negative regarding the stock itself, as it was clear that it didnt sell as much as wel all hoped. There were lots of signs, like the lifetime sub, xfire numbers, lack of new dimensions just to name a few.

Ive been positive about the game itself however, and its good to see that the game still sells, last i checked it was no 17 on steam.

But this thread has nothing to do with the game. Its written by a person that really hope that funcom will go bankrupt, and it seems that quite a few posters hope that as well.

Well that would be a damn shame. This is one of few companies that dares to try something new with every game they make. Sometimes, they fail, sometimes they fail hard, but they have a little gem in TSW.

Can they get and hold 250-300k subs they will be profitable. Thats certainly not mission impossible.

IDK if the situation is really that bad for Funcom, but it's safe to guess that TSW isn't doing as well as they've been hoping. 

I'm a bit surprised by this. 

Despite Funcom's tarnished reputation, TSW is a fair attempt at a different MMORPG.

I could never get into the horror genre, but from what I've seen and managed to play, the game has many innovative/unusual and interesting features, funny dialogues and NPCs, plus it's geared toward a more mature public. Not to mention that from the interviews it was clear how Tørnquist, for example, really poured a lot into the story and the basic concept. It also looked like Funcom wanted to avoid the mistakes they made with AoC, and there was no major backlash at release.

I honestly thought the game would garner a bigger response.  

This year we had some expensive games coming out, each of them bringing something different to the table, something that should attract players, but still many of these games are struggling. 

SW:ToR (innovation with how the story is conveyed - cutscenes + popular IP, popular developer); Kingdoms of Amalur (originally meant as MMORPG, changed into a single-player game before release), which negatively affected also Copernicus (cancelled, studio bakrupt); TERA (action combat, beautiful surroundings, eroticized character models); TSW (horror, modern setting, mature content, skill decks). 

Maybe it's true that the stance of MMORPG playerbase is shifting, but with so many games failing, it's everyone's guess into what it's shifting. 

It looks like many veteran players, at least based on the forums, have been disappointed too many times and are now jaded, bored "grasshoppers,"  or "marriage proposal" players ("I like it, but will it last me my whole life? I can't afford to have my heart broken again. :(") Then there's the "nostalgia syndrome" ("But in the good old days things were meaningful and exciting. Nothing new compares to that. Nothing is as good. And youths nowadays are spoiled.").

If a game challenges the traditional model, it's not good because it misses feature this and that from popular MMORPG this and that, but if it follows the traditional model, then it's "boring, nothing new, WoW with a different skin."

Some may say these failures are a good thing, because now companies will stop underestimating their playerbase, and stop releasing unfinished games with the same traditional mechanic, or that themeparks are finally over.  (I agree that in over a decade there wasn't a enough change/evloution in the genre. And innovative games didn't have enough polish to succeed.) 

But it may also make investors more wary of putting money into a project that takes years to develop, burns a lot of money, and in the end might not even cover the costs. There is no "safe bet" for investors in the genre. Even to the people outside the genre it's clear by now that WoW's succes is an anomaly for MMORPGs, not the norm. 

And while having everlasting and polished content would be ideal, it's good to remember that these are not the 90s. Games, especially MMOs, need significantly larger resources to be completed and polished. Just having a great idea, a vision, is not enough.

Unless you want to make FB and Iphone games. I hear those tend to have a great investement/return ratio, and need a small budget to get started. Plus, they attract the non-MMO crowd too.

All in all, I'm not sure if the current situation is good for MMORPG players. 

Ideally, the more types of MMORPGs are succesful, the more we, players, can choose from.

I'm curious how GW2, ArcheAge, PS2, NW (the Foundry has potential)...will fare, but I'm sad that the newly released MMORPGs are struggling. Working on such an extensive project for years sucks the life out of developers and other staff, and then often leaves them unemployed soon after release. 

I don't approve of the greed and false advertising made by developing companies and publishers, but on the other side it's like many players refuse to acknowledge that there are limitations when developing a game. 

TL;DR:

TSW isn't my cup of tea, but I was sincerely hoping it would be a success.

In the last years, there seems to be a shift in the expectations of MMORPG players, but it's difficult to guess what precisely gamers want. 

Polish costs. Innovation is a risk. Copying traditional features doesn't secure success. 

When expensive games release and turn unprofitable one after another, investors may think twice if they want to put their money into the next MMORPG project. 

IMO MMORPG players would profit the most by a diversified offer of MMORPGs, but I doubt we'll get that.  

Also, sorry for the long post. Sometimes lurking around here brings out the worst in me. 

Edit: Format

Very good post gama.

Thanks mate!

Originally posted by Ramanadjinn

Originally posted by Rasputin
Time has run out for theme parks.

 

what a beautiful dream.

i hope it comes true.

 

This is how lobby games win...

You know, you can be a rabid fanboy of TSW but still look at REALITY about the company.

April 16th 2012, Funcom stock was valued at $23.90

Right NOW, this SECOND 8-20-12 at 10:25am it is selling for $3.25

Do the math...

It does NOT MATTER how much fun you are having in TSW, the COMPANY is next to worthless because of its failure. You CAN stop and blame it on the COMPANY and not the game itself you know. Funcom has been a craptastic company for over a DECADE, their IDEAS are OUTSTANDING...their ability to make that game reach that potential is HORRIBLE. Anarchy Online, Age of Conan...and yes, The Secret World all could be the greatest MMOs ever made...if Funcom wasnt in control of them.

Those first 2 games never reached their potential because of Funcoms decisions...I mean look at AoC...the game LOOKS unbelievable...its combat potential, including PvP with its guild cities...never reached...even the companies ideas for the shops are TERRIBLE.

An expac, orignally sold in stores for $39...sold in the shop after going F2P for $70...come ON!

There is no choice but to fail with decisions like that.