The MMO studio Funcom is facing financial difficulties and could be on the brink of bankruptcy. The studio operates the MMOs Anarchy Online, Age of Conan, The Secret World, and LEGO Minifigures Online.
As reported by the Norwegian site Hegnar, the struggling Norwegian MMO studio Funcom has slipped further into crisis. The weakness of LEGO Minifigures Online, the latest game, is to blame. It simply isn’t bringing in as much money as was expected, even with the relaunch to a Buy2Play model. Sales on PC are below target, while it’s doing somewhat better on iOS, but still not good enough. LEGO Minifigures Online has received little press attention and mixed reviews.
Due to the weak sales of the LEGO MMO, it will not be possible for Funcom to cover its ongoing costs and liabilities due in June 2016.
As CEO Ole Schreiner of Funcom states, bankruptcy is a possible outcome of the situation. But they have been in the game development business for 20 years and plan to stay through hard work for many more years. They have taken steps to avoid insolvency and will leave no stone unturned to avert the bankruptcy scenario.
MMO studio in crisis for years
The MMO studio Funcom has some older ongoing games in the market, such as Anarchy Online, Age of Conan, and The Secret World, which were not blockbusters at their respective launches, and are now generating less and less revenue year by year, as can be seen from the financial reports.
In recent years, they have pursued a strict austerity course and have shrunk. After The Secret World, they did not want to rely on individual large projects anymore, but on smaller ones like LEGO Minifigures Online, into which they had high hopes.
