The Secret World developer confirms lay-offs, restructuring

By Brenna Hillier

The Secret World developer Funcom has confirmed it is undergoing a major restructuring, but will not close any of its existing MMOs – quite the opposite, in fact.

Partially confirming rumours from earlier today, a Funcom representative told GamesIndustry that the company is being heavily restructured “through the closure and the consolidation of offices”.

Existing titles will not be abandoned, with Funcom promising to make them even more profitable “through providing more organizational focus and strengthening the competence of a joint central team that will continue to operate and enhance these games” – good news for current players indeed.

It’s not yet clear which offices will be closed and which will merely suffer lay-offs, although the firm’s Montreal team will survive, albeit in a reduced form.

“Our goal is for the studio to continue to exist although in a different form than today. As we’re currently in the middle of this process we can’t go into further details right now,” the representative said.

The restructuring is apparently a continuation of a process which began in August, issuing mass lay-offs and announcing Funcom’s intention to focus on smaller titles after enormous effort The Secret World failed to sell significantly. A new stock noticed reiterated Funcom’s committment, mentioning an upcoming Lego Minifigures game from the Oslo team as an example.

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