Originally posted by Insane666

Originally posted by Whitebeards

Originally posted by Ambros123

Originally posted by FromHell

TSW is now profitable (source go google yourself)

TSW is not going F2P anytime soon (source go google yourself)

As a handful of people here you would like every title on the planet fail and go F2P - this one is not.

Even AoC is not F2P by the way, the expansions are the coolest content and that is not for free

They why ohhh why did their stocks plummet?  Why did their lead story writer which why many catered ot the game go somewhere else and became a "consultant"?  Why is it that they are being bought out now?  Why did they have layoffs, maybe even multiple layoffs if I recall right? 

If TSW was so successful then all these things would not have happened.  In several of my multi-MMOs guild has TSW been moved to active games which means small amounts of people of the guild play it.

All F2P MMOs typically charge for their expansions, look up Turbine's expansions.  It's not hard for MMOs to be profitable, the question is if it is profitable enough to the shareholders/execs.

Because FC doesn't make fast food mmos like WOW and GW2 for mass consumption. AO, AOC, TSW though had their problems but atleast FC tries not to make MMOS which are solely made to beat WOW.

I could care less who buys FC and if these MMOS didn't sell in millions because AO and TSW are brilliant and innovative MMOS which will always have its dedicated playerbase.

yeah, funcom always had a thing for doing something of their own, not just copy/pasting the flavor of the year game,, they always go for a unique setting ( ao was one of the very few sci fi mmos for a decade ), and while they simplified post ao they're still beating most games avaible on the market (imo),,,

 

just wish they'd finally finished the new engine for ao - from my personal subjective point of view, its the best fking game ever

Amen.

It was ahead of it times when it was launched and still is. I haven't played any MMo which offered such a challenging customization for characters. I have spent hours upon hours trying to fit in symbs and carefully spending points in my builds. AO is best sci fi MMO.

Funcom's problem isn't usually their actual game or ideas , it's their implementation of it.

They ruined any chances of AO being the hit it should have been with what many rank as the worst launch of an mmorpg.

Which is a shame because AO had great ideas and gameplay , but had people immediately leave the week of launch , and the bad press they got for that horrific launch doomed it to small numbers forever.

And  TSW should have been worked on another 6-9 months , gotten more features in at launch , better customer service , don't launch an mmorpg where chat breaks for a month after launch etc.

They could have launched AFTER GW2 had a few months or more of folks playing and people ready to look at something else  , AFTER the WoW expansion and with no major mmorpg launch on the horizon at all.

I honestly think they could have done much better but for whatever reason , launching not ready , a couple months before two mammoth mmorpg's were coming out in new and expansion form , it's another Funcom fiasco.

Originally posted by Odinthedark1
If they're bought out, would they still have the same horrible customer service? If they change the CS i just might give TSW a try.

Well, you clearly have no clue what you're talking about - TSW, when launched, had the industry's very best costumer service. They had a Live-Chat support open most of the 24 hours a day, which would give an answer in less than five minutes on average. Technical and generel email support, which usually took a little longer, since it was more complex tasks than the Live-Chat would manage. Support on the forums, both technical and generel - very fast responses. Ingame GMs, and plenty of them (unfortunately the ticket system was made though, so it wouldn't stay active, if you logged out). And just in generel good developer interaction. All in all, very impressive - and far, far better than Age of Conan, if that's where you last experience orign from.

When that's said, the CS isn't quite the same anymore, since they laid off 50%+ of the staff. Still though, it's definitely not too bad. So if that's what holding you back, you definitely have no excuse for staying away anylonger. Patch 1,4 just hit the servers - try it out! :)

The report is from October 22nd - so I'd imagine the review's results will be announced around November 23rd, when Funcom's Q3 results are released.  Could it be a bad thing?  Of course it could.  Could it be a good thing?  Yep.  Other than that, there's not much to say... there's already enough speculation on this thread.

In the meantime, I'll keep playing - and enjoying - TSW.

Originally posted by GR3NDEL

The report is from October 22nd - so I'd imagine the review's results will be announced around November 23rd, when Funcom's Q3 results are released.  Could it be a bad thing?  Of course it could.  Could it be a good thing?  Yep.  Other than that, there's not much to say... there's already enough speculation on this thread.

In the meantime, I'll keep playing - and enjoying - TSW.

Agreed.  As a side note on the speculation, the OP seems to have made it his life's mission to spell doom for the company, evidently due to struggles with AoC by the looks of his post history.  Nice job posting two identical threads on the day of a major update to TSW, btw.

And while I can sympathize with being disappointed in a game company...give it a rest, man -- it's not worth it.

Originally posted by Ortwig

Agreed.  As a side note on the speculation, the OP seems to have made it his life's mission to spell doom for the company, evidently due to struggles with AoC by the looks of his post history.  Nice job posting two identical threads on the day of a major update to TSW, btw.

And while I can sympathize with being disappointed in a game company...give it a rest, man -- it's not worth it.

Quite right... by now though, I don't even need to look at a posting history to tell who's in the 'I hate Funcom!' camp.  Kinda sad, but...

Of course it could be just asset stripping, buy the company at an all time low.  Liquidate straight away and sell off the assets for a profit.   With a poor economic climate and the overall bad management at Funcom I would of thought this must be highly appealing.  After all 'Funcom' the brand has next to no value at this point in time.

Sigh, I get into more trouble and time outs with posting my opion on Funcom that im real careful about posting anymore. Any company who buys them will be on my short list of folks who i may not buy games from. No. 1 reason would be selling Life-time subs and now talking about going F2p with TSW. Thats besides other things in there games that i do not care for.

Originally posted by FrodoFragins
I can't imagine anyone buying them.  The only marketable property they have is AoC and Conan isn't mainstream enough for a company to need to buy before the game shuts down or the license expires.

The dreamworld engine would be one good reason.

When it comes to MMO's it has grown and evolved to be a hell of a powerfull, MMO dedicated, engine and toolset!

The company buying Funcom, automatically also gets the rights to Longest Journey and Dreamfall series. Two PC games that were highly succesful and screaming for more to come. Which is actually already happening, as Ragner has started on working on it.

Originally posted by JeroKane

The dreamworld engine would be one good reason.

When it comes to MMO's it has grown and evolved to be a hell of a powerfull, MMO dedicated, engine and toolset!

 

I don't see this at all.  The only games running the engine are of Funcom in origin.  It has already been mentioned that couldn't get it to work for the current consoles.  So this to my mind only has value to Funcom. It would be different if it was being utilised by multiple companies to produce games, but it isn't.   Most game companies either utilise an off the shelf engine or develop their own because they have specific requirements. The Dreamworld engine could actually be a liability to the plans for a buyout.  After all you are reliant on in-house technical knowledge to move the company forward. 

 

The company buying Funcom, automatically also gets the rights to Longest Journey and Dreamfall series. Two PC games that were highly succesful and screaming for more to come. Which is actually already happening, as Ragner has started on working on it.

 

Ragnar has already licensed this from Funcom I understood. Hence Dreamfall Chapters and the new company he has setup.   So the rights have already been sold/signed away. You would need to see the contract/full details to see exactly what Ragnar/Funcom have agreed.  But I imagine Funcom as a company would only be looking at some sort of license fee or percentage until the term of the agreement with Ragnar ends.

Originally posted by FromHell

Originally posted by muffins89
im curious as to why you think EA or Activision would be interested

Because Funcom are the best and most innovative game developers on the planet, also they have the best MMO engine ever developed.

AoC is great, TSW is even better, Anarchy Online was the best SciFi MMO ever and gets a graphic update soon.

I´d buy them if I were Activision.

Or even better DISNEY should buy them, and give them a liscense to make a Star Wars MMO

hahahahahahah what?      you are either trolling or forgot to put IMO/share opinion after each statement lol

Originally posted by scotty899

Originally posted by FromHell

Originally posted by muffins89
im curious as to why you think EA or Activision would be interested

Because Funcom are the best and most innovative game developers on the planet, also they have the best MMO engine ever developed.

AoC is great, TSW is even better, Anarchy Online was the best SciFi MMO ever and gets a graphic update soon.

I´d buy them if I were Activision.

Or even better DISNEY should buy them, and give them a liscense to make a Star Wars MMO

hahahahahahah what?      you are either trolling or forgot to put IMO/share opinion after each statement lol

Not necessarily trolling, I too agree with the AoC is great, TSW is even better part. IMO :)

Originally posted by Po_gg

Originally posted by scotty899

Originally posted by FromHell

Originally posted by muffins89
im curious as to why you think EA or Activision would be interested

Because Funcom are the best and most innovative game developers on the planet, also they have the best MMO engine ever developed.

AoC is great, TSW is even better, Anarchy Online was the best SciFi MMO ever and gets a graphic update soon.

I´d buy them if I were Activision.

Or even better DISNEY should buy them, and give them a liscense to make a Star Wars MMO

hahahahahahah what?      you are either trolling or forgot to put IMO/share opinion after each statement lol

Not necessarily trolling, I too agree with the AoC is great, TSW is even better part. IMO :)

Did not like Aoc much but playing TSW since headstart and still like the game a lot. I too think that FC is a good company, making good and innovative games. FC just lack resources. 

Originally posted by Elsabolts

Sigh, I get into more trouble and time outs with posting my opion on Funcom that im real careful about posting anymore. Any company who buys them will be on my short list of folks who i may not buy games from. No. 1 reason would be selling Life-time subs and now talking about going F2p with TSW. Thats besides other things in there games that i do not care for.

Erm... who's talking about going F2P with TSW? The only people who talk about that are people on forums. The last statement from a Funcom-employee I heard was "We've got the tools set for converting it into a freemium model" as an answer to a question about the possibility that it goes F2P. Hence, this answer doesn't say "Oh, we're planning to go F2P in XX months.", it says "Wether we go F2P with TSW or not, we have the tools ready to make the conversion.". Kinda like "Is it possible that you'll write a letter soon?" - "I don't know, but if I'm going to write a letter, I've got a pen and some sheets of paper right here, so I'm prepared to do so if I want to."

Oh, and btw... the life-time sub people won't have anything to fear in a freemium model like in AO and AoC. They'll be handled like they were subscribers in the freemium model, with free item shop points (like the subscribers already get), all of the content available, etc. pp.

Originally posted by TheSedated

Erm... who's talking about going F2P with TSW? The only people who talk about that are people on forums.

+1. As I interpret that interview (and my english is not flawless, so I could be wrong) they said it's doing quite well, not that much as expected, but they're good with it, and don't plan any changes.

Which is the right decision I guess, TSW isn't aiming the average ex-wow players :) Funcom would gain nothing from going freemium, at most a lot of "what's the code at the chuch" spam, and whining about the combat animation and the pvp faction balance :)

Originally posted by Kuppa
I know many around here think the game won't go f2p, they use the same logic they use to say other games are failing "I still see tons of people in game!". But regardless of personal anecdotes, numbers don't lie and TSW has a very small player base an FC's stock is pretty much tanked. They are bound to either change the business model to get some cash or sell.

Not a very small playerbase, just not the number they expected. But that playerbase is very solid ("Funcom is pleased to see that gamer satisfaction is high, with user score of 8.4 out of 10 and higher on www.metacritic.com and other sites like mmorpg.com"), so there's no urging need to change anything in the game.

TSW is not the game which will have millions of players, ever. Its design aiming only a narrow audience (fans of Ragnar, fans of adventure games, of well-designed story and world, or just want something new and seeking that in an mmo). Those people already playing, or at least tried it with the trial, a freemium change wouldn't bring in much more players. On the other hand it would generate some bad press (lol, look it's already f2p, what a fail -kinda bad press :) )

The other boost of switching to freemium would be the cash shop. TSW already has a cash shop...

So I'm with Randayn, it has a very slight chance that TSW will be f2p in the near future.