GamesIndustry.biz is featuring a pair of articles about Funcom and The Secret World. The first is an interview with new CEO Ole Schreiner who speaks about Funcom's financial issues, the possibility of TSW going F2P and about the future of MMOs in general. The second deals with alleged insider stock trading by former CEO Trond Arne Aas.

With regard to The Secret World's possible future as either a hybrid-subscription model or a full on free to play title, Schreiner said:

That said we definitely have the tools to turn The Secret World into a free-to-play game - or even hybrid - should we decide to do that somewhere down the line. We did that with Age of Conan with significant success. We all know that trends and expectations in the gaming business, and perhaps particularly the MMO genre, is evolving quickly, and we're regularly re-evaluating our business model against the changing currents of the marketplace and our own player base as well. Not only in terms of The Secret World, but also our future games.

According to Norwegian financial sources, Aas is being investigated for possible insider trading violations:

In doing so, he was struck from Funcom's "primary insider list", which allowed him to trade his stock without reporting it publicly on the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE). Citing an anonymous insider "familiar with the situation," The Escapist claims that Aas then attempted to sell 1.5 million shares, though he only successfully sold around 650,000.

"His sale was discovered by another shareholder that subscribes to other shareholder lists, and when Trond's sales became public, Funcom's stock price tanked," the source said.

Both MMORPG.com and Massively have these articles as headliners today.. Sucks..

I enjoy most my time with TSW but I can see how they are financially in trouble enough to consider these things. They'll have to accomidate those who have gotten lifetime subs big time.

Throwing 200 dollars down and seeing the game go free to play within it's first 6-12 months would make me infuriated to say the least..

Does not bode well that this conversation is already coming up from Funcom..

A "hybrid"? No thanks. We all know exactly what that means...

Sub + Item Shop. Oh! Wait! That's what I think you have now....

#1 turnoff for me.

That said we definitely have the tools to turn The Secret World into a free-to-play game - or even hybrid - should we decide to do that somewhere down the line. We did that with Age of Conan with significant success.

No you didn't AoC crashed and burned with your F2P model. Too many restrictions, too expensive item shop. You don't know how to do F2P properly. AoC is your proof so why try to cover our eyes and lie.

Originally posted by Opapanax

Throwing 200 dollars down and seeing the game go free to play within it's first 6-12 months would make me infuriated to say the least..

It shouldn't infuriated you, he mentioned f2p like AoC :)

As much as I like them, Funcom has faults, and one of these faults is the crappy f2p of Conan. If they'll make something similar in TSW, then it still will be a better option to subscribe. So then a lifetime sub remains a great deal. I guess. (or at least I hope :) )

No surprise there. Adding too few cosmetic/appearence items with creation and dropping them to a cash shop does open F2P options. With low box-sales & subscribers, F2P comes even closer.

But I still wonder why FunCom decided to make TSW subscription based and not B2P. I think with B2P and cash shop as it is now (or a bit more extended with time-speedup items) TSW might have been a bigger success. I for one would have bought it if it was B2P...

Originally posted by Po_gg

Originally posted by Opapanax

Throwing 200 dollars down and seeing the game go free to play within it's first 6-12 months would make me infuriated to say the least..

It shouldn't infuriated you, he mentioned f2p like AoC :)

As much as I like them, Funcom has faults, and one of these faults is the crappy f2p of Conan. If they'll make something similar in TSW, then it still will be a better option to subscribe. So then a lifetime sub remains a great deal. I guess. (or at least I hope :) )

Oh I'm sure Lifetimers will automatically be converted into lifetime premium accounts. It's just disheatening, the game had a lot of promise. A few misses here and there and the unfortunate timing however didn't give TSW the time it needed to mature.

I really enjoy the game and I hope its around for sometime. I want to see the world grow and have a chance to provide all those different little things that make it really unique to more players once they get the desire to try it out. If F2P is that way then I can't complain.

I'm only a monthly subscriber myself. I know how MMO's come and go and I knew that TSW would need a few months to see where she was before I could give into any type of lifetime subscription.

Well that didn't take long . Funcom were very greedy with thier EU subscription prices . I don't know why they thought they could charge more than any other game . It all seemed a bit of a mess at the start . The game itself was OK but these companys have to be realistic about the product they are selling . TSW was another game that would have done well with a buy to play model . Instead of that we have another mmo that will go free to play in a market flooded with free to play games .

I feel sorry to those that spent money on a lifetime subscription .

I wonder if there advertizers feel like they were taken advantage of or were stupid, cause this will question there investment in this game.

I can't see anywhere in this article that they have made it clear that they will go free to play..They say they have the tools to do it..Or did I miss something ?

Infact they even mention that TSW is now profitable after all the cost reductions ;)

Originally posted by thark

I can't see anywhere in this article that they have made it clear that they will go free to play..They say they have the tools to do it..Or did I miss something ?

Infact they even mention that TSW is now profitable after all the cost reductions ;)

i agree

i read the article as a PR piece of what the new CEO thinks funcom is able to do

he is not embracing ftp like Smed of SOE, but he recognizes ftp as valid business model

Is there still money to be made in big subscription MMOs?

Ole Schreiner: I believe there is a market for free-to-play, subscription and hybrid business models. What's most viable for your project depends on what sort of game you're trying to make, what your focus is and how you're going about putting it together. I do think that as that as free-to-play offerings keep raising the bar in terms of quality and longevity, it's becoming more and more difficult for subscription games to live up to player's expectations. If you're demanding a monthly fee from someone they obviously expect more value than they get from a similar free-to-play offering. There is no way getting around the fact that a growing number of gamers expect MMOs to be free-to-play, or at least buy-to-play (such as Guild Wars 2), so building a successful subscription-based MMO is becoming more challenging.

Originally posted by thark

I can't see anywhere in this article that they have made it clear that they will go free to play..They say they have the tools to do it..Or did I miss something ?

Infact they even mention that TSW is now profitable after all the cost reductions ;)

 

If you're really not seeing it and aren't just being a blind fan at this time; the kicker in the article is that this subscription model game with optional lifetime offer is discussing the possible implementations of a F2P model within the first 2-3 months of release..

No, they aren't coming out and stating..

"Hey we'll be going Free-to-play in another 6-8 months be warned.."

But at this point they really don't need to..

If they were absolutely and convicingly confident in their current monthly model then the question would of been moot to them and not even worth discussing. They would've denied they even had a model set up that was free-to-play. That is not the case here, we already know about the content delays, layoffs and the current insider trading issue of a former CEO.

The writting is on the wall unfortunately and as a fan of the game I can't help but feel that The Secret World is on the same course as another game that is currently in a transitional state; Star Wars: The Old Republic. I don't think it's because these two games are heavy on story that they have had lesser than steller profits since their releases, they are very different titles and there are more things that seperate them than make them alike.

However, us as consumers can not stand to be this shallow on the facts in our faces. We might not know all of them or which ones are of worthy concern, but as constant consumers of these products we should by now have an educated enough view of things to be able to tell when something positive or negative has validity..

Originally posted by Zeus.CM
P2P cannot survive anymore. WoW wil be the last one.

 

what about EvE,I playing since 2005. sometimes 3-6 months  paying 3 accounts, i had ingame money(isk) but newer  use plex for pay

If I  like game i ll spend my money for paying sub.

Curently ,I  playing in same time TSW & EvE with 2 account, i dont care for b2p or F2P mmorpg's.

TSW is great game but Funcom is very bad company ,it is sad

Originally posted by MeGaTronPower
Yea i knew tsw woudl go free to play, i heard the content in that game is shallow compare to swtor. I wasnt suprised at all.

They should have just sold it as a singleplayer game with COOP. They would have made a LOT more money if they'd just been honest and not tried to squeeze a monthly fee into it.

Originally posted by Zeus.CM
P2P cannot survive anymore. WoW wil be the last one.

 

No, P2P game with no longevity can't survive anymore. Rift is actually doing better than most F2P/B2P actually, to my full surprise.

Anyway, this isn't suprising. The game idn't even "get off the ground" with so low sales. Making it F2P IMHO won't change much. They'll probably make more cash off the shop, but will lose the box reveneu which is alot. I continue to wish FC the best, but most where seeing this after the total numbers. It will probably work like AOC, i guess.

This is actually somewhat good for me. i definitely was interested in checking the game out eventually ifi i droped the box price more. Now i may get to play it  sooner.

Edit: Yes, one must keep in mind that they're not going F2P yet, but, i do think it'll happen.