Funcom has released its Q2 2012 investors' presentation. The document indicates that The Secret World has sold only 200k units at the time of writing and that the company is reducing costs through layoffs and other money-saving measures. The report also looks to the future with a new focus on "system-focused games with a high degree of community and player interaction".

• Funcom will in the future direct its resources towards smaller, more focused online games.
• With the proprietary Dreamworld engine the company has some of the best tools and expertise available to build and these games on time and on budget.

Check out the full report on Funcom's site.

Originally posted by Onecrazyguy

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I don't recall anyone ever saying TSW would be a WoW killer, especially when GW2 was right around the corner at release.

But it looks like they're done with the MMO market after this one. That must have been really disappointing for them. But really, I don't know how they expected it to do very well with such limited content, mediocre combat, and most of the resources going towards the great story -- which just isn't as important in an MMO as in a single-player RPG, as has been proven with both SWTOR and TSW ending up as they have. 

Only 200k that is rly bad, guess game is going F2P soon or gonna shut down, som uch about monthly updates.

Also guess we can say this game has been financiaal FAIL so far, lets see if it can change.

Originally posted by Coolit
I think timing was TSW biggest problem, if it had launched in a quarter without GW2, MoP etc they would have done much better.

Actually my thought is that it had limited appeal.

Now, I like TSW and still have a sub. But not everyone is going to be interested in this type of setting, espeicaly when words like mystery solving and metagaming are being thrown around.

They could start by not fleecing what's left of their loyal fan base.
You TSW players will find out what I mean soon enough. When the game has to shift into a new profitability model to save itself, Funcom will do what Funcom does. It will turn to it's existing player base in an attempt to get more money out of you than your basic sub fee.

If FC tried to make a game based on making a good quility fun game (GW2) rather than about the money as they always seem to talk of, maybe they would have more success.

No matter when a game is released or what is released along side, if its good people will buy and play it.

Originally posted by Coolit
I think timing was TSW biggest problem, if it had launched in a quarter without GW2, MoP etc they would have done much better.

Sort off, but i think the big problemwas that, not only was it a niche game from the start, it had very little adverstising. Most people don't seem to even know about, compared to something like even TERA, much less TOR and GW2.

No wonder it didn't sell much, IMO.

And sorry about Funcom. Alot of people are going to lose their jobs i bet.

Originally posted by Onecrazyguy

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Get a clue when peopel say a game is a WOW killer makes me laugh, WOW was made when there where NOT that many MMo's and WOW was design around all gamers to enjoy, TSW was design for a set type pf gamer( Niche) style game, and just because a game has 3 million subs does nto make it better. Gamers today make me laugh to with this attitude we need a game to kill WOW, wow will never die, unless Blizzard says so, there are way to many games that people like to beat those kinda of subs, SWTOR come close, and they still made a ton of money and i'm sure there are happy, and when it goes free it will make even more money....

People don't realize when a game  goes F2P they make alot more money than when its sub based because gamers today don't have a clue and think there getting it for free when clearly they are NOT. All companys know they will prolly go F2P because of the market, I make games all the time and make them F2P and make more money than I did when I sold them because of how people think today... I perfer the sub based games for MMO's because you get eveyrthing for 15 bucks with F2P you end up paying way more for what you could of got for 15 a month.....So you gamers do this to your selfs. 

Originally posted by coxyroxy

If FC tried to make a game based on making quilia good ty fun game (GW2) rather than about the money as they always seem to talk of, maybe they would have more success.

No matter when a game is released or what is released along side, if its good people will buy and play it.

Yeah, i bet Anet is more interested in making you happy than getting your money.

That...that is surprising.

I knew it was low, but I didn't think it would be that low.

Originally posted by coxyroxy

If FC tried to make a game based on making a good quility fun game (GW2) rather than about the money as they always seem to talk of, maybe they would have more success.

No matter when a game is released or what is released along side, if its good people will buy and play it.

I think they did try make a good quality game with TSW and they seem to have succeeded. The fact and the problem is that the game has a limited appeal. It is not a mainstream fantasy game with a cookie-cutter gameplay.

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No one has said ever that this was going to be a WoW killer!  Pretty much everyone knew this would be a niche game based on it's setting and theme. So you're just trolling! /Facepalm

And someone saying it's the best MMO ever, is his/her personal opinion of this person thinking it's their best MMO experience so far.

And only 200k units sold shouldn't have come as a suprise really, seeing there was hardly any money spend on advertisement.

They were relying too much on mouth to mouth and viral marketing.... which unfortunately didn't work out for them well enough.

Doesn't mean the game can grow from now on, as it's a good solid game that can only get better over time.

I myself I am enjoying this game immensly together with Guild Wars 2.

GW2 is free, so I only pay one sub fee for TSW. No bad deal for me. :-)

Originally posted by Coolit
I think timing was TSW biggest problem, if it had launched in a quarter without GW2, MoP etc they would have done much better.

 

By the way TSW also like any sandbox attracted certain people and that was the plan, so GW2 was not much competion, and so far GW2 launch has been a failure , ridden with bugs, lag and hardly and spots for members to get in the guilds that want, and the social aspect so far is a joke. Full of trolls as bad as WOW, TSW had a great community ...  So far not impressed w2ith GW2 and its so called community and bug ridden game, hell you can barely invite people to a guild, do upgrades and more... Horrid..TSW had a great launch They will do fine, as I said most sandbox's always sell less because its a niche style game and sucks in only certain type  of players, I hardly seen any trolls or annoying people in TSW. Where GW2 is full of them. I think funcom in the long run will be fine. So will TSW, if they go F2P thats fine, because that only means they will make more money if they do it right. Unlike SOny they do it wrong, they need to follow when turbine does with F2P models.

Originally posted by JeroKane

Originally posted by Onecrazyguy

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No one has said ever that this was going to be a WoW killer!  Pretty much everyone knew this would be a niche game based on it's setting and theme.

And someone saying it's the best MMO ever, is his/her personal opinion of this person thinking it's their best MMO experience so far.

And only 200k units sold shouldn't have come as a suprise really, seeing there was hardly any money spend on advertisement.

They were relying too much on mouth to mouth and viral marketing.... which unfortunately didn't work out for them well enough.

Doesn't mean the game can grow from now on, as it's a good solid game that can only get better over time.

I myself I am enjoying this game immensly together with Guild Wars 2.

GW2 is free, so I only pay one sub fee for TSW. No bad deal for me. :-)

 

Agreed my guild is gonna continue both games and enjoying TSW, we just hope GW2 fixes some annoying bugs..

No one ever called TSW a wow killer. What we called it was a sub based game that will have a very specific Demographic and small community.

so in the end we were right. Box sales, Subs, Population mean nothing to us. we care about playing a game we like, not trying to topple Olympus.