FunCom made a recent press release that announced their recent capitol acquisition from some major European investors.  Interestingly the announcement states they are working on *three* MMO titles...hmmm :)  Here is the release:

Oslo, Norway - 27 April, 2004 - Funcom NV, a leading developer and publisher of computer and console games, announced today that it has secured a 4.5 million equity investment from a consortium of Northzone Ventures (3.5 million) and existing investors Teknoinvest and Stelt Holding. The investment enables Funcom to further increase the scope and quality of their future Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG), while expanding Funcom's sales and marketing capabilities globally. "We have already proven that we are a world leading MMOG developer with Anarchy Online" says Funcom's CEO and President Trond Arne Aas, and continues "Anarchy Online is today a highly profitable game. The financing from Stelt, Northzone and Teknoinvest will enable us to further increase our investment in the development of the next generation online games and to become even better at what we excel at; creating unique and immersive virtual worlds for a global market of consumers". Torleif Ahlsand, Partner in Northzone Ventures and new Chairman of the Board of Directors, said,: "The MMOG genre is currently the fastest growing segment within the expanding gaming industry, and offers several attractive attributes, including the monthly subscription revenue model, a global market potential, expanding demographics and low risk of piracy. We are impressed by the high calibre of the Funcom team, and feel confident in their ability to develop new world-class games". Funcom is now developing three MMOGs, one of them being the successful Anarchy Online which is the subject of ongoing development.

- MMORPG.COM Staff -

Nice to see there accually admitting that monthly subsriptions are revenue and not for upkeep.

Despite the horrific launch (and I was there...), Anarchy Online turned out to be a good game. If Funcom learned from their mistakes, they should do well in developing future games. I would like to see what they do.

re: monthly subscriptions -- I really don't mind that the companies behind the games make money from monthly subscriptions. These games aren't for charity, after all, and I think that you get better games, in the end, when the big money comes in to invest. Big money invests where the profits are. 

I love an underdog, and I love to see new games by new companies, but even those companies, if they are going to go anywhere, really need to keep their bottom line in mind, or they'll go belly-up at the top if the tank before too long. It is expensive. There are upkeep expenses. But it is profit that drives the whole industry. That's why they call it an "industry" and not an "interesting collection of hobbyists."

Eep... sorry to go off on a tangent. I have been around the site for a while, and the "Why Isn't My Game Free?!" question comes up very regularly, and people answer that it is because the games are expensive to maintain, when the real truth is that it is a business. You pay their fee, you get to play their game for a whole month, as much as you can stand. $12-15 a month is cheap entertainment, especially for All-You-Can-Play. 

~*~
neschria
Bludgeoner of Bunnies

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Nice to see there accually admitting that monthly subsriptions are revenue and not for upkeep.

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Well it's obviously both revenue and upkeep in most cases. They need a pretty set amount per month to upkeep everything, there may be some minor variations here and there in the upkeep costs from month to month but overall pretty stable. So the monthly subscriptions up to the point needed to pay that amount go to upkeep, after that they go to revenue.

The other two ? :

Fist some info I found at another site, dont remember which:

We took a look at the Norwegian developer's next major project at E3 2003.

We watched a brief movie trailer for Funcom's next project, an unannounced action game that the developer simply refers to as its "next big thing" (or "NBT," for short). The trailer opened with the pronouncement, in bold letters, that "Horror goes online." The trailer also showed concept-art paintings of various characters dressed in the kind of finery you'd associate with Victorian-age nobility.

And then, when browsing through some old bookmarks I found this:

http://www.worldofmidgard.com/

Playing: DAoC (again)
Wish beta and some Horizons

Hmmm...replying on my own post.

So. Anyone that have heard any news on what Funcom intent to spend 4.5 million on ? :)

Playing: CoH
Played: AO, DAoC, Horizons, Planetside, SWG
Tested: Lineage II, AC2

Favorite MMO so far: DAoC