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Doing fine - Now hiring
openedge1
Member Posts: 2,582
And some great positions.
Even more amazing is during this period of economic downturn, we have a company who can afford new employees. Not doing to bad at all.
Cheers
Comments
I would not read to much into this - considering the PR stuff Funcom has become known for. Its easy to make such a bull post on Forums and then not hire anyone. Belive me - Funcom has done alot more for the sake of PR.
Secondly - Most of the staff that was working on AOC is now working on The secret World in a last dich effort to save the company from going bankrupt. Its for all to see now that AOC will not be a goldmine and most likely will be getting minimum amount of new content in the next year. Bugfixing yes... new content no.
everyone knows the economy didnt hit gaming much at all anyway so this is a nonpoint, but way to go baghdad bob.
Right...talk about wasting time ...especially the Game Director (you know, the one who is fixing the game?)..why post something he does not need.
Dude, you are just a little TOO paranoid.
Do you even read the news? Go read about EA, Capcom, Mythic, SOE etc...then come back and correct your massive error..
Even if they are hiring it doesn't mean the company is doing well because they are still feeding off the funds from going public. They still need employees to develop the new game and expansion.
Funcom says it will take a year to burn through the funds and go into debt, but I'm guessing it will be midsummer.
Funny thing is in the last board meeting two board members wanted to take the company private again......Funcom is worth more atm liquidated than as a video game company due to all it's IPO cash assets that it keeps burning through.
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No one will know for a few days when the quarterly is released.....however keep in mind Funcom makes up numbers all the time....it's probably intentional to mislead the share holders or just because deception is embeded in the life blood of that company.
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The depresion doesn't effect video game companies, even FC agrees, poor investments into bad games does....go check out the failing companies large list of poor / bad games and correct your error. Another issue IMO is to many games were released last year so people gave up X game for Y game.
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I wouldn't be suprised if it was a publicity stunt, but AoC probably does need some one to script AI< because I didn't see any when I played. The UI thing is silly, they should have just released the source. The graphic artist makes sence as AoC is mostly graphics over gameplay anyway.
Funcom has reviewed all of its assets relevant for
impairment testing. This process has led to
recognition of an impairment loss of around
3,1 MUSD for Age of Conan due to a decrease in
numbers of subscribers for the game. Funcom Q4 10 report.
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showpost.php?p=2926123&postcount=7 500 mains/alts on Tyranny in past 30 days - instead of merge servers let's open a new PvP server, again! http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=106427
This could be :
"We have a little budget surplus, let's hire a few more people"
Or
" A bunch of people quit and we need to fill those empty positions"
Only the peeps working at FC know for sure, and I am sure former employees are made to sign some serious NDAs, you'll never probably know the real story.
Guessing how much FC loves free staff, I bet none of the openings pay very well.
I think you are delusional....
Wrong, The secret world team only consists of 70 people headed by a different game director, They have stated this in many interviews and the Secret world directors own blog that they haven't pulled from any other team.
Wrong, The secret world team only consists of 70 people headed by a different game director, They have stated this in many interviews and the Secret world directors own blog that they haven't pulled from any other team.
Funcom also stated that DX10 was in AOC. And you still belive one word they say ? Why you think they didn't tell ? Maybe because they would loose money because of it ?
Funcom will go to pretty much any lenght to make money. They have proved that before numerious times. You can say that they didn't tell ppl about dx10 because of the situation they found themselfs in. Who said they are not finding themselfs in even worse situation now ?
The depression is hitting the game industry as hard as others. New investors will be holding on to their money and invest in safe buisnesses. Funcom is not one of those buisnesses. And like it or not. They WILL need new investors JUST to keep AOC alive. Cause it seems to have slipped ppls minds that TSW is burning money now while in full production.
And finally. For the ppl that really belive that its another totally diffrent team working on TSW. Maybe you havn't heard but that game is build on the EXACT same game engine and even same animations. That is the EXACT same team that worked on AOC working on TSW.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_World
The thing about Funcom interviews is they make up stuff all the time, it would be cute if it was a 6-year-old trying to explain quantum physics or multi-variable statistical functions, but these are supposed professionals talking about their own game. Perhaps a lot of the bugs can be explained away by Funcom's desire to hire souless salespeople rather than programmers.
It's pretty obvious that Age of Conan is very understaffed, hello! the christmas goat event, when a mod said they would like to do more but lacked resources...or the time it takes for FC to do anything compared to Warhammer's 100 man staff! Or compare pre release development to post release.
It's also obvious that most resources were diverted to the secrete world and the expansion AoC: Hopefully the rest of the game.
Though FC really has yet to produce a quality MMO, the one thing they did develop is the game engine. The game engine is shared between secrete world and AoC, so it would take an extreemly biosed individual to believe they did not steal people with expertise with the AoC's game engine to work on the secrete world just because some employee said so.
FC has over 300 staff, so that 70 people working on the secrete world figue is suspect as well because going by last quarter's financials that game is pretty much this company's last hope.
Funcom has reviewed all of its assets relevant for
impairment testing. This process has led to
recognition of an impairment loss of around
3,1 MUSD for Age of Conan due to a decrease in
numbers of subscribers for the game. Funcom Q4 10 report.
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showpost.php?p=2926123&postcount=7 500 mains/alts on Tyranny in past 30 days - instead of merge servers let's open a new PvP server, again! http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=106427
Or
We are looking to hire some positions for less money than the people we fired.
The depression is hitting the game industry as hard as others. New investors will be holding on to their money and invest in safe buisnesses. Funcom is not one of those buisnesses. And like it or not. They WILL need new investors JUST to keep AOC alive. Cause it seems to have slipped ppls minds that TSW is burning money now while in full production.
Looks like Celina is not that wary
"Celina Middelfart just became a Major Investor in FUNCOM "
The depression is hitting the game industry as hard as others. New investors will be holding on to their money and invest in safe buisnesses. Funcom is not one of those buisnesses. And like it or not. They WILL need new investors JUST to keep AOC alive. Cause it seems to have slipped ppls minds that TSW is burning money now while in full production.
Looks like Celina is not that wary
"Celina Middelfart just became a Major Investor in FUNCOM "
She bought their stock at basement prices, She didn't loan them Money. One kind of Investment infuses capital, the other type speculates on the a company's future by buying up interest in it, sometimes that purpose it do a 'Gordon Gekko', buy control so they can close a company's doors and liquidate it's assets for a quick buck.
No clue why you want to try to Spin job listings as a symbol of a companies financial condition, as I said earlier it could be as simple as filling recently vacated positions for what ever reason they are.
Your OP reeks of Propoganda, I don't think FC needs your help in that area.
The depression is hitting the game industry as hard as others. New investors will be holding on to their money and invest in safe buisnesses. Funcom is not one of those buisnesses. And like it or not. They WILL need new investors JUST to keep AOC alive. Cause it seems to have slipped ppls minds that TSW is burning money now while in full production.
Looks like Celina is not that wary
"Celina Middelfart just became a Major Investor in FUNCOM "
She bought their stock at basement prices, She didn't loan them Money. One kind of Investment infuses capital, the other type speculates on the a company's future by buying up interest in it, sometimes that purpose it do a 'Gordon Gekko', buy control so they can close a company's doors and liquidate it's assets for a quick buck.
No clue why you want to try to Spin job listings as a symbol of a companies financial condition, as I said earlier it could be as simple as filling recently vacated positions for what ever reason they are.
Your OP reeks of Propoganda, I don't think FC needs your help in that area.
Investors invest to make money. The two most common ways are:
1. Buy shares in a company you belive will have increased net and revenue in future
or
2. Buy the majority of stocks (and therefore also the votes) of a very cheap company that has a very healthy balance sheet, then shut the business down, pay out the loan, sell all assets and take the dividend for yourself. This can be referred to as the Gordon Gekko way.
Here is the funny thing, to pull a Gordon you need to buy the majority of the stocks. A person buying a few percentages (which Celina did) is not exactly even close to a Gordon. Now, if you understand this, please stop saying that Gordon Gekko stuff, because you make a fool of yourself.
Hmm. a fool, like how foolish it is to be banned a dozen times and keep comming back on new user accounts? that kind of fool?
Pull out the X-files buddy, but you can't Gordon anything when you own only 2-5 % (or whatever).
No but I do actually read posts before I respond to them, go and re-read mine and find where I made the claim Ms. Middlefart was working that angle. Literacy FTW!
I have played AO for about 4.5 years, and in my experience, it’s the other way around. They try to add new content rather than fix bugs
Anyway to discuss the topic of the thread, what do you guys think of the AoC dev team getting expanded?
forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php
I would say that's a pretty healthy indication. In particular in these financially turmoiled times.
I love how trolls use every oppurtunity to drag Funcom down. The fact they make a post for available positions on the forums can be very simple. There could easy be some very talented developers amongst the playerbase, so the fact they put the info there too means they reach a larger audience then they maybe would. If they recruit to fill in spots from people that quit or if they recruit to get new people only Funcom knows, and they don't need to "defend" or explain why they recruit these new people.
Playing: Battlefield - Bad company (Xbox360) Arma2, DFO (PC)
On my radar: TSW, MO
MMO's played: SWG (pre cu/cu), WoW, AoC, WAR, DFO, Planetside
MMO's that I have tested: Lotro, L2, Aion, Ryzom
This rings a bell
http://www.mmorpg.com/profile.cfm/username/OrionMan
This rings a bell
http://www.mmorpg.com/profile.cfm/username/OrionMan
It's like Deja-Vu all over again ....
So fast with that edit .. glad I grabbed a screenie
grasping at straws again, for all anyone knows the hires could be to replace people who moved on with their careers. Anyone got any proof these jobs are for expanding the company. Myself I think I will wait for the companies financial report due out on the 23rd.
I miss DAoC
Do you even read the news? Go read about EA, Capcom, Mythic, SOE etc...then come back and correct your massive error..
Oddly enough gaming and T.V expenditure has seen a rise due to ppl wanting to stay home more and save money, well thats the supposed case here in the U.K.
Also keep in mind that Funcom breaks employment laws just like they do consumer protection laws and unethical accounting practices because as we all know Funcom is a real life evil company, just like Resident Evil's Umbrella Corporation but worse and they don't have zombie viruses....RE V (03/13/09)!!!
Article and someone else's translation as I don't speak Norweigen but I may run this by my friend that imports/exports there.
link: http://www.dagbladet.no/2008/12/11/k...miljo/4003653/
************************************************************************************
ARTICLE TRANSLATED
the company is breaking norwegian law like nothing else.
the LO-concern EL and IT slaughters the work condition of the game company funcom.
people who quit the company claims to have had very long workdays, work during weekends and "red" days, harsh treatment, unpaid overtime, and illegal hiring conditions. the EL and IT concern has got a lot to do.
when i came in here, i saw it was about bad exploitation of young boys and girls. many has gotten sick, and i doubt if we'll ever be able to get them back on their legs again, to say it a little harshly.
they've worked so much, their health has pretty much been destroyed.
and they're only around 30 years old, says Erik Bråten in EL & IT to Dagbladet.
contacted by fiancee:
he was first contacted by a desperate fiancee of a funcom-employed about 2 years ago,
he wondered if everything was as it should be in the company. now Bråten is representing 4 funcom employees, and they have in the course of two years met around 30 members of over 250 funcom-employees to the concern.
in a post to Dagbladet funcom's HR-director Kjetil Vaarlund writes that the company is taking the
reaction from El&IT seriously, and that they are working continously to improve the work conditions.
Dagbladet has talked with several ex-employees in funcom. they tell about work conditions that
ultimately drove them out of the company.
"when i started working for funcom three years ago, it seemed like a very good place to work.
i worked a lot, and had maybe around 1200 overtime hours in 3 years.
inbetween i asked what we got back from all this overtime work, but they weren't certain"
directly from the school bench:
he worked with age of conan in his time at funcom, but wishes to be anonymous for the possibility of a further career in the game business "theodor" came straight from the school bench, and had no previous experience in the game business.
slowly i started to understand that it wasn't entirely right what was happending, they weren't following the norwegian laws of work environment.
when i asked the management about this, they said i had to be happy to work on games,
so i adjusted to it. but i got depressive in the long run.
according to "theodor" funcom didn't push him directly to work overtime-- but the upfordrings were very clear. those who worked the least overtime, was turned into sinners if results
were not met. himself he worked nights and weekends, and before major releases, the work pressure got so large that he collapsed in front of his computer.
then i was sick for a week, after having worked so intensely. i've never been that sick before, says "theodor".
after having researched if the workers rights are after the work environment laws, and talked to his colleagues about this, he was asked in by the management. there he got a lucrative quitter-package if he stopped working the same day, which he agreed to.
harsh treatment:
Osman Keskin is also a previous employee of funcom. he worked on both anarchy online and age of conan.
to begin with i did my job, and got compliments from the management. i was happy with my work. but one day it took a turn for the worse: i asked a few questions, and thats probably the reason for what happened, he says.
Keskin tells that he chose to leave Funcom because he was treated very badly by person in management. as he was being laid off, he claims that lies were spread about him from the management to his earlier co-workers.
i worked on anarchy online, and played that game for several years. it was a joy to work on the game, but if you ask questions, either about what they say to the public, or about something ethical-- there's a lot of strange things going on there-- they turn around very quickly.
even if the whole thing is about if you want to do improve projects you're working on, keskin says.
straight out
if someone shows initiative to get fair treatment, you're kicked out.
thats how its been, thats how its now, Bråten says about why there's so few organized Funcom employees.
every time a new member comes in, we have to go in and stamp out fires. the company is breaking norwegian law like a seasoned criminal. its very difficult to start working when you're standing knee deep in shit, Bråten says.
if you ask questions about management, you've gotten a big problem.
i'm also angry about what they've said to the public about age of conan.
they said that we were going to have things in the game that weren't in the game on launch, but was even written on the back of the casing in the stores, "theodore" says.
Everyone wants to succeed:
Funcom is pretty much alone about being a game developer in norway of international calibre.
both the previous employees and Bråten thinks that this isolated situation could have added to that things got so bad.
"i feel they've gotten away with a lot because of that. they become very protected from many angles, everyone wants them to succeed. thats what i want too, but when they treat people in the way they do, they don't deserve any employees. then its better that someone else takes over, and does it properly instead, says "theodor"
this is a large previous garage-company thats long ago outgrown itself. they simply haven't taught themselves how to operate as managers. funcom isn't small fish anymore, with its hundreds of employees Bråten says.
internationally the game business is known to have tough work conditions, especially when a game closes to release, so-called crunch time. then people work extra hard and late, to get the game ready for the set release date.
the problem with Age of conan is that the game was in "crunch" for almost 3 years.
"they always said there was a milestone on the way, and then the day came when they just
delayed the release date, so we had to continue working.
there is a couple of conditions i really would like to discuss with them. to get an up and running work environment theres two things that needs to be put on the day order. first its work time,
that needs to be cleared up, in addition to work agreements. only on work agreements
we're 100 years behind our time, i get nervous just by looking at what is said by the workers, and what they sign on.
Things have changed
the 2 ex-employees says that its possible to see some changes with Funcom.
i think more people know their rights now, and joins workers unions. its a good thing, i think something has changed within funcom. i've also heard that the employees are not pushed as hard anymore says Keskin.
that changes has happened is clear, and we can thank these guys for that. now we've come inbetween the walls there, and i think it helps. but there's still things that needs to be adjusted,
especially work hours and work agreements. respect and common decency also needs to take a foothold. that others have different meanings than yourself is fundamental-- but it shouldn't lead to unfair treatment. if you show your employees that you take them seriously, you get trust and respect for good leadership. then productivity increases, and people starts to enjoy work, Bråten says.
he thinks that Funcom employees must organize themselves to clean up the conditions
in Funcom, so that the conern doesn't have to micromanage every case.
i don't think anything good comes out of people being pressured to do things, threathened.
things become uncomfortable. if you want your company to succeed, you need happy employees.
they're not slaves or robots. they have lives, families, feelings, and are all human beings.
thats a basis-rule for leadership. if you make them happy, they will work more efficiently.
you should also not lie to them, or your customers, Keskin says.
Funcom has destroyed many both psychically and socially.
it lead to a breakup for me, and there's far worse examples than us. but they don't want to talk about it. they just want to forget it and have no more problems, "theodor" says.
Funcom has reviewed all of its assets relevant for
impairment testing. This process has led to
recognition of an impairment loss of around
3,1 MUSD for Age of Conan due to a decrease in
numbers of subscribers for the game. Funcom Q4 10 report.
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showpost.php?p=2926123&postcount=7 500 mains/alts on Tyranny in past 30 days - instead of merge servers let's open a new PvP server, again! http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=106427
Do you even read the news? Go read about EA, Capcom, Mythic, SOE etc...then come back and correct your massive error..
Oddly enough gaming and T.V expenditure has seen a rise due to ppl wanting to stay home more and save money, well thats the supposed case here in the U.K.
Do you have some data to back that up. As I see it, this type of stuff is what I see the most of...
Roundup of layoffs...
More if you need it...but, overall, all companies are slimming down...so it was interesting to read that Funcom was hiring
This rings a bell
http://www.mmorpg.com/profile.cfm/username/OrionMan
It's like Deja-Vu all over again ....
So fast with that edit .. glad I grabbed a screenie
It's amazing that the pro-aoc people, like this one who obviously creates multiple accounts to ' reenforce' his own opinions never seem to get banned, yet anyone who is negative about AOC will get banned for the slightest reason. Creating alts is one thing if you forgot a password. But creating alts for the pure purpose of backing up your own comments should be bannable.
In any event.. turnover is more than likely the case here. Remember, a large number of employees were paid last year with stock options. Those stock options became worthless.. so at years end, a bunch of people probably realized that they were getting paid peanuts and demanded a real salary. Stock options work great in the case of microsoft and google where secretarys and janitors became millionaires because of them.. but when the stock tanks, it causes HUGE problems because now your employees are being greatly underpaid.