Funcom faced drastic revenue losses in 2014 compared to the previous year. The reason is the aging MMOs and thus dwindling revenue from titles such as Age of Conan, The Secret World, and Anarchy Online. The Secret World is reportedly holding up the best. The hopeful candidate Lego Minifigures Online seems to be falling short of expectations.
Funcom has been in crisis for years. The last major game released was the dark fantasy MMO The Secret World. It was launched in July 2012 precisely between Diablo 3 (May 2012) and Guild Wars 2 (August 2012). Since then, they seek to transition to smaller titles across multiple platforms and, above all, save, save, save. However, this has not yet shown a significant effect.
The other live titles in Funcom’s stable, “Anarchy Online” (2001) and “Age of Conan” (2008), have long seen their best days. The age is also blamed for the lower income compared to 2013: The live games are aging, as they say. And the trend will continue, as we all know from our own experience: One simply does not get younger.
However, December 2014 is said to have been good – there were some events in the games, so they exceeded expectations in the fourth quarter and shrank relatively little compared to the third.
Anarchy Online and Age of Conan still make money … but who knows for how long?
There is no guarantee that these aging games will entertain for much longer. It is expected that their income will continue to decline. However, the financial report assures that they will be maintained as long as they contribute positively to the company’s overall balance.
Even though things went well in December 2014 for the MMOs, the whole year looks bleak. In 2013, revenue was still $21.4 million, but it fell to $12.6 million in 2014.
Lego Minifigures Online not the hit expected
The hopeful candidate Lego Minifigures Online seems to have led to greater expectations than what has come out so far. It is said that the initially set goals will not be achieved soon in 2015, requiring more time. An attempt to transition from microtransactions to a type of subscription (Unlimited Membership) has been well received by children and parents, which gives hope. They continue to work on the game and aim to bring it to new platforms in the first half of 2015.
Meanwhile, they continue to restructure the company, separating from the “Work for Hire” sector and believing they can reap the fruits in 2015.
