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Age of Conan creator axes staff

By Tom Magrino, GameSpotPosted Nov 25, 2008 2:02 pm PT

Funcom confirms "cost efficiency and reorganization of certain teams" has led to an unspecified number of layoffs.

The Hyborian Age was a turbulent time in Robert E. Howard's fantasy universe, and much the same holds true for the massively multiplayer online game created in its honor. Over the weekend, MMOG enthusiast site Ten Ton Hammer reported that Age of Conan developer Funcom had laid off up to 70 percent of its US workforce as of last week, with the cuts primarily coming from the customer-service and quality-assurance teams.

Funcom's towering ogre department also saw cutbacks.

In a post to Age of Conan's official message boards yesterday, Funcom corroborated in part TTH's report, noting that though some staff cuts had been made, the developer had also filled an undisclosed number of vacant positions.

"As some of you probably already have read on various websites over the weekend, Funcom has cut some of its staff," reads the post. "The reasons being cost efficiency and reorganization of certain teams and departments. This also includes hiring new people for opening positions in the organization. Such changes due to efficiency and performance initiatives are vital to any business and is to make sure that Funcom as a business stays on course. So this process was to re-adjust our cost base in some areas while increasing investment in others. This is a natural part of adjusting to the changing markets."

The Norwegian developer did not quantify its restructuring efforts in terms of head count, and had not returned request for further comment as of press time.

Since launching to solid reviews and commendable sales in May, Age of Conan has since hit turbulent winds. Notably, Funcom cofounder and Age of Conan game director Gaute Godager resigned his position in September, saying, "I have done my very best making this fabulous game, but I have concluded there are elements which I am dissatisfied with." Later that month, Funcom revealed plans to consolidate its North American and European servers to create "more healthy populations on each and every server."

94 Comments

  • stianrin

    Posted Feb 1, 2009 7:23 am PT

    Simply love this game. Been playing for a month now. Will be playing for many many more. Only problem is it takes up all my gaming time. Almost too good=)

  • dantcm

    Posted Jan 5, 2009 12:39 am PT

    Great game, way better than WOW.Superior graphics, sound, more realistic gameplay and the story itself make this game a winner.By the time i bought the game, the patches allready came and had fixed things up...I hope they will do something about those - 70% - we need all the support we can get...

  • HeavyMetalBard

    Posted Jan 4, 2009 2:32 pm PT

    This game had so much potential.
    They made it too easy with too many instances.

  • mortalsting

    Posted Dec 17, 2008 5:16 pm PT

    Finally AoC gets decent content and a lot of fun! Worth of coming back!
    Good job FC!

  • sirkel28

    Posted Dec 7, 2008 12:05 am PT

    This game is the biggest rip off I have ever played. Good example of advertising and deception selling a complete pile of crap. Hope Funcom goes out of business.

  • Chernnunos

    Posted Dec 1, 2008 6:58 pm PT

    This is all just smoke and mirrors to hide the fact that (and stay with me now): Age of Conan is NOT doing well. It's failing. Fast.

  • Rhubarb9

    Posted Nov 29, 2008 4:35 am PT

    "with the cuts primarily coming from the customer-service and quality-assurance teams."

    yeah Age of Conan definitely need less of that stuff!

  • juggalo

    Posted Nov 27, 2008 8:22 am PT

    only just picked it up....will be gutted if it goes offline!

  • bornej

    Posted Nov 27, 2008 7:07 am PT

    This is a great game. I hope it stays around.

  • duckduden

    Posted Nov 26, 2008 9:44 pm PT

    An other great game on its way down. It was over yped and that was its downfall.

  • jimkirk

    Posted Nov 26, 2008 9:32 pm PT

    maybe if they paid me $15 bux a month i may may come back nah never mind its boring

  • Ngeldu5t

    Posted Nov 26, 2008 8:44 pm PT

    The game is what it should have been at release,so I`m giving it a try...if there's still players around There's no need to powerlevel my toon.

  • dpunch

    Posted Nov 26, 2008 4:19 pm PT

    WOW, people really have no idea how great this game is. Yes it had a troubled beginning but it is SO MUCH different now. The game is where it should have been at launch, stable, polished, and LOADS OF FUN!
    I'm sure Funcom will give out a free month to those of you that currently own the game in the near future. I URGE YOU TO TRY IT THE GAME IS AMAZING!

  • fiskefyren

    Posted Nov 26, 2008 2:00 pm PT

    hmm... i've looked up something the other day and you know what? the most next played MMO is only 3 million away from wow
    and what was the with lineage 1 and 2 is only 50%? i think lineage 1 and 2 have 7 million gamers, so that is no 50% come again people, don't be tards.
    you should really look stuff up before you just say a lot of crap.

  • Sanchez

    Posted Nov 26, 2008 1:08 pm PT

    The game is fantastic and working well.. For those that spam hate based on playing a MMO for the first 2 months.. Learn to know what a MMO is .. A ever changing game. It's totally different to the release version now and is exactly what it should be.. very fun to play.

  • Petros957

    Posted Nov 26, 2008 12:54 pm PT

    When I was young the Conan novels were my favorites. So when this MMO was announced I was so stoked. I wasn't chosen for beta participation, but I still bought the game when it was released. Then reality set in... 1. The game wouldn't install correctly (I eventually got it to run, but I suspect that my DVD had serious errors). 2. As part of this process I had to download 15GB of content. (Which was truely tedious given it took 3 attempts to get the game installed so that I could play it.) 3. Then I was faced with the fact that Customer/Technical support was non-existent! Every attempt to contact them in the first 6 weeks failed. After which they were apologetic, but the Devs had begun their NERF fest. 4. The game eventually became unplayable. Each new patch increased my ping times to the server. And they weren't even trying to fix quest bugs.

    So after 8 weeks I quit. My experience was so negative that doubt I will ever play a Funcom title in the future. So despite this game having nice graphics, and a lot of cool ideas, it wasn't ready for release. Gaute Godager only confirmed this with his resignation. And I have no confidence that the rest of their "team" will ever turn this game around. They should just save themselves the time and money and Shut the Servers Down.

  • BloodMist

    Posted Nov 26, 2008 12:49 pm PT

    This game was just another one of those countless games that had huge hype, but didn't really deliver anything.Especially facing a juggernaut like WoW, you gotta really do some new and interesting stuff to differentiate, and other than really nice graphics , AoC simply didn't do that.Personally, i wasn't surprised, i always played a believe when i see approach.Certainly never saw anything special.

  • DPhunkT posted Nov 26, 2008 11:18 am PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    DPhunkT

    Posted Nov 26, 2008 11:18 am PT (hide)

    ... I could care a less about any Conan game, but you have to admit...that was a GOOD PUN!

  • BikerPunk

    Posted Nov 26, 2008 10:53 am PT

    this game had serious POTENTIAL, however, it just didnt reach that level. I think they had something very good here. Even with the lack of races, the concept was excellent. for those who thing more races are better....not everyone loves fantasy. I enjoyed the human on human wars. the Guild Battles...it was epic....until your PC crashed due to mem leaks, and you fell through the ground....and died....or when you fell through the ground and DIDNT DIE!!! then spent 3 horus running around trying to find a point low enough to jump back into the world...which happened to me.....GM response was horrid as well.

    i don think the game was bad. i think the support teams where bad. and to cut them, just means less support, less repairs/fixes/attention to user requests/demands. good game + horrid support = epic fail.

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