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.
It's funny how I remember some users on this forum getting busted for speaking perfect Norwegian and being from Norway even though in their profile they said they were from Texas.
Now we have a person called "john doe" from "AK, United States" giving us a link to an DagBladet article. Is DagBladet a popular magazine in AK, US? Oh, and don't forget to run that article by your "Norwegian friend"
I just did a google search of Funcom and employment law after reading another poster stating that Norway's press busted them for doing what they do best, being the most evil VG company.
But if a linguist did such a thing I would not be suprised if Funcom + (any unethical / illegal activity) in google would not produce valid results about what this company is up to. Interestingly, they usually have millions of dollars come from nowhere on financial statements as GAAP and S-O need not apply, but it's safe to say one can use their imagination as to where that money is comming from now.
I sense unhappy (friends of ) former Funcom employees in this thread. :-p
I know it's insane how fare MMORPG allow these fanatics to take a thread off topic. Guys we get it, you don't like AoC, but why do you have to shit your pants in a thread thats really nothing but good news. If AoC are getting more devs, more power to the MMOers?
I sense unhappy (friends of ) former Funcom employees in this thread. :-p
I know it's insane how fare MMORPG allow these fanatics to take a thread off topic. Guys we get it, you don't like AoC, but why do you have to shit your pants in a thread thats really nothing but good news. If AoC are getting more devs, more power to the MMOers?
EVERY thread has to have these haters toss their crap all over it, and it does suck. When I ask for the flaming or topic hijacking threads to be removed, MMORPG just lets them sit and fester. CM support has really been lacking here...
The fact remains, Funcom is hiring while everyone else is firing, laying off or even closing. To all the doomsayers who predicted the closure of Funcom in December 08, then January and February of 09...guess what, still ticking. The last laugh is actually on the trolls.
So sad their lives are so dismal to spend so much time and effort coming up with all the hate here...
#1) The topics title is misleading as 3 new hires and the health of this company are not related, so that is spin.
Not sure if hiring people for a sweet shop is a good thing, guess some of you side with Funcom on anything. Saying hiring 3 new people is some sort of amazing feat is pure spin, they layed off way more people already that they lied and said would not days earlier and they are hiring in a different country for different positions, the economy is not that tuff.
@ last poster: Funcom stated they will go broke per Funcom's Q3 in less than a year unless it produces something new of substance as they are burning through IPO funds to produce the X pac and a new game, and it seems like they are banking on this expansion. So logicaly if people are leaving, they need to replace them to produce the expansion.
Fact Check:
NORWAYS UNEMPLOYMENT IS 2.6 PERCENT!!!!!!!!! So no the economy in Norway is not hurting much, more spin.
So a company in an industry supposedly unaffected by the recession in a country unaffected by the recession is hiring?
However, I went one step further and showed you the type of working conditions to expect in Funcom's Norway office, which happen to be sweat shop conditions per the Norway press and very much on topic. Look if you want good news about Funcom, tell them to change the way they do business or boycot them.
*****************************
Please don't spin good/bad news into pure good...it's very deceptive.
I sense unhappy (friends of ) former Funcom employees in this thread. :-p
I know it's insane how fare MMORPG allow these fanatics to take a thread off topic. Guys we get it, you don't like AoC, but why do you have to shit your pants in a thread thats really nothing but good news. If AoC are getting more devs, more power to the MMOers?
EVERY thread has to have these haters toss their crap all over it, and it does suck. When I ask for the flaming or topic hijacking threads to be removed, MMORPG just lets them sit and fester. CM support has really been lacking here...
The fact remains, Funcom is hiring while everyone else is firing, laying off or even closing. To all the doomsayers who predicted the closure of Funcom in December 08, then January and February of 09...guess what, still ticking. The last laugh is actually on the trolls.
So sad their lives are so dismal to spend so much time and effort coming up with all the hate here...
Considering you have probably 1000 posts about how much LotrO sucks and is going to die I think you shouldnt be complaing
Nice to see AoC doing good thou
If WoW = The Beatles and WAR = Led Zeppelin Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
AmazingAveryAge of Conan AdvocateMemberUncommonPosts: 7,188
Hmm Good for them, they have not made a true profit from what I can tell any quarter for ages yet and it looks doubtful that AoC will break even on the development and operational costs...so the Secrete World is probably the last shot at any return on investment for the shareholders. How much have they spent on AoC so far? 85 million USD? 65 million at release then probably another 20 though many short-term liabilities were hid last quarter in the cash flows statement.
Obama should be on the board of directers, he is hiring after years of losses as well ;p
100,000 subs at most - $15 / month ...FC nets 50% at most after server and admin costs $7.5 USD month ....times 12 months = 9 million a year income, then they have to support overhead and salleries.
Last quarter is probably atypical but FC incured - 10 million USD in opperating expenses....to hide the quarterly loss (deceptive ;p) they put another 10 million into short-term liabilities. So they blew through 20 million in 3 months.
Funcom had 34 million cash on hand as of September 30th, hope they may blow it before getting Secrete World released....going into debt is not a big issue, but comming out of it is.
So they are hiring 3 people for AoC and more for the secrete world, the fact still remains, Funcom needs to produce something profitable to justify the IPO funding so they are investing in developers to produce it and just like AoC and AO that game will probably be released early, broken, etc. I was wrong on the number of new hires, but this hiring trend has nothing to do with Funcom's health.
I don't think any conclusion can be reached from this hiring annoucement. Could be growth, could be replacing those who left, could be a new project entirely (or work on the expansion)
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Hmm Good for them, they have not made a true profit from what I can tell any quarter for ages yet and it looks doubtful that AoC will break even on the development and operational costs...so the Secrete World is probably the last shot at any return on investment for the shareholders. How much have they spent on AoC so far? 85 million USD? 65 million at release then probably another 20 though many short-term liabilities were hid last quarter in the cash flows statement. Obama should be on the board of directers, he is hiring after years of losses as well ;p 100,000 subs at most - $15 / month ...FC nets 50% at most after server and admin costs $7.5 USD month ....times 12 months = 9 million a year income, then they have to support overhead and salleries. Last quarter is probably atypical but FC incured - 10 million USD in opperating expenses....to hide the quarterly loss (deceptive ;p) they put another 10 million into short-term liabilities. So they blew through 20 million in 3 months. Funcom had 34 million cash on hand as of September 30th, hope they may blow it before getting Secrete World released....going into debt is not a big issue, but comming out of it is. So they are hiring 3 people for AoC and more for the secrete world, the fact still remains, Funcom needs to produce something profitable to justify the IPO funding so they are investing in developers to produce it and just like AoC and AO that game will probably be released early, broken, etc. I was wrong on the number of new hires, but this hiring trend has nothing to do with Funcom's health.
You are in lack of facts. Look up the thread Avery made on this (with attachments to Q3 finacial report)
FC made >2.5 Mill USD Net for Q3 last year.
Guided revenue for Q4 alone is expected to be 8-10 Mill USD. So they basically make what you think they will make over a full year in one Quarter. That have to be good news
Hmm Good for them, they have not made a true profit from what I can tell any quarter for ages yet and it looks doubtful that AoC will break even on the development and operational costs...so the Secrete World is probably the last shot at any return on investment for the shareholders. How much have they spent on AoC so far? 85 million USD? 65 million at release then probably another 20 though many short-term liabilities were hid last quarter in the cash flows statement. Obama should be on the board of directers, he is hiring after years of losses as well ;p 100,000 subs at most - $15 / month ...FC nets 50% at most after server and admin costs $7.5 USD month ....times 12 months = 9 million a year income, then they have to support overhead and salleries. Last quarter is probably atypical but FC incured - 10 million USD in opperating expenses....to hide the quarterly loss (deceptive ;p) they put another 10 million into short-term liabilities. So they blew through 20 million in 3 months. Funcom had 34 million cash on hand as of September 30th, hope they may blow it before getting Secrete World released....going into debt is not a big issue, but comming out of it is. So they are hiring 3 people for AoC and more for the secrete world, the fact still remains, Funcom needs to produce something profitable to justify the IPO funding so they are investing in developers to produce it and just like AoC and AO that game will probably be released early, broken, etc. I was wrong on the number of new hires, but this hiring trend has nothing to do with Funcom's health.
You are in lack of facts. Look up the thread Avery made on this (with attachments to Q3 finacial report)
FC made >2.5 Mill USD Net for Q3 last year.
Guided revenue for Q4 alone is expected to be 8-10 Mill USD. So they basically make what you think they will make over a full year in one Quarter. That have to be good news
FC still has 34 Mill cash in the bank.
Facts.
Guess I went to a better business school, did Avery. Is he an investment banker at BoA? ;p.
Cash Flow statement Q3:
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period 52 366
Effect of exchange rate fluctuations on cash held -143
Cash and cash equivalents, end of period 34 779
Look at that: 17,567 million LOSS to cash on hand per the period adjusted for exchange rate fluctuation, not to mention the made up revenue that I'm sure will be adjusted later this month per the norm. Wouldn't they have 55 mill w/ all the profit they made??
The thing is Income statements are poor indicators of how well a company is doing do to "Window Dressing" , the P/L Statement is just a "Snapshot" the cash flow statements remedy that.
I'm sure they payed taxes but they probably get some credits for next quarter or something, I'm not sure how it's done in Norway, but gaming is small stuff compared to the oil there.
Hmm Good for them, they have not made a true profit from what I can tell any quarter for ages yet and it looks doubtful that AoC will break even on the development and operational costs...so the Secrete World is probably the last shot at any return on investment for the shareholders. How much have they spent on AoC so far? 85 million USD? 65 million at release then probably another 20 though many short-term liabilities were hid last quarter in the cash flows statement. Obama should be on the board of directers, he is hiring after years of losses as well ;p 100,000 subs at most - $15 / month ...FC nets 50% at most after server and admin costs $7.5 USD month ....times 12 months = 9 million a year income, then they have to support overhead and salleries. Last quarter is probably atypical but FC incured - 10 million USD in opperating expenses....to hide the quarterly loss (deceptive ;p) they put another 10 million into short-term liabilities. So they blew through 20 million in 3 months. Funcom had 34 million cash on hand as of September 30th, hope they may blow it before getting Secrete World released....going into debt is not a big issue, but comming out of it is. So they are hiring 3 people for AoC and more for the secrete world, the fact still remains, Funcom needs to produce something profitable to justify the IPO funding so they are investing in developers to produce it and just like AoC and AO that game will probably be released early, broken, etc. I was wrong on the number of new hires, but this hiring trend has nothing to do with Funcom's health.
You are in lack of facts. Look up the thread Avery made on this (with attachments to Q3 finacial report)
FC made >2.5 Mill USD Net for Q3 last year.
Guided revenue for Q4 alone is expected to be 8-10 Mill USD. So they basically make what you think they will make over a full year in one Quarter. That have to be good news
FC still has 34 Mill cash in the bank.
Facts.
Guess I went to a better business school, did Avery. Is he an investment banker at BoA? ;p.
Cash Flow statement Q3:
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period 52 366
Effect of exchange rate fluctuations on cash held -143
Cash and cash equivalents, end of period 34 779
Look at that: 17,567 million LOSS to cash on hand per the period adjusted for exchange rate fluctuation, not to mention the made up revenue that I'm sure will be adjusted later this month per the norm. Wouldn't they have 55 mill w/ all the profit they made??
The thing is Income statements are poor indicators of how well a company is doing do to "Window Dressing" , the P/L Statement is just a "Snapshot" the cash flow statements remedy that.
I'm sure they payed taxes but they probably get some credits for next quarter or something, I'm not sure how it's done in Norway, but gaming is small stuff compared to the oil there.
Ok finaticd, your math is fantastic and you convinced us all with those numbers you just pulled out of wherever. You are right, FC hires people because they are going bankruppt. lol...Let me remind you that Avery just attached the Quarter report (and did not try to cook up something by himself, which you just did). I don't know should we trust random selfproclaimed accountat genious on internet or just the actual financial reports. lol
I do anyway sense that you are very passionate about this FC revenue subject, so hey keep having a go at it. I don't mind, except that this thread was about new hires and what you think they will be working on. Anyways have a go at it, but don't expect having too much luck convincing anyone with statements like Quarterly reports are made up as Norway only care about oil. lol.. Yeah riiiiigght, companies just make up the numbers they report because the government love oil. And those >2.5 Mill net they deposited to their bank account last Quarter was just imaginary money that they happend to be able to convert to real money on a bank account. Epic stuff.
Under cash flow statement, so just like you asked...FC proved they lost 20 million dollars last quarter
I posted were I got the numbers from when I posted them
*****************
Looks like you wont be able to sleep tonight, I always think it's funny that the people trying to prove a point against Funcom have to show their work, yet Funcom has shown time and time again how inept they are at working aside from those sweat shop conditions their employees are subject to and the fans just make random guesses all the time to support what they want to believe. Also, it's funny the fans of this title can make wild guesses to prove whatever they want to believe and then act like it's factual.
Maybe some day Funcom will do something to warrant a good job, just not yet............the only time they came close was when they did not screw up the server X fers for the second time, the one month delay surprised me
Companies buy stuff they can't afford all the time why do you think so many USA companies are in debt? heck look at Midway, someone bought the debt ridden company for 100k USD.
EDIT: posted Acclaim instead of Midway, it is Midway that was sold:
P.S. You may want to work on reading comprehension and logic. as I was using my math/work to back up what I said as no one has proved the company is doing well yet and ALL evidence points to it doing poorly.
Rendering programmer Please don't spin good/bad news into pure good...it's very deceptive.
That is nearly as many devs that they are hiring which is nearly the same as the total DF team
I think most ppl agree that DF is not the best game or dev team you can find. Heck - most ppl thought they were faking the entire game just to rip ppl off. Many still think so.
Darfall doesn't make AOC a good game. On the other hand - Darkfall COULD be as BAD as AOC when it comes to the actual game launched compared what the expectations that the company has build up for their game. Thats not something to be proud of tho.
Didn't they fire a bunch of people not long ago? I think they might just be replacing them.
Funcom stock dropped like a rock after AoC was released and failed. Last I looked it was like $3 a share. AoC is not doing that well, sorry lets get real, the game is a POS, 90% of mmo players agree. The ones that enjoy playing it that is great, but I don't believe in misleading people who are thiking about buying it believing they are getting a quality product.
Hmm Good for them, they have not made a true profit from what I can tell any quarter for ages yet and it looks doubtful that AoC will break even on the development and operational costs...so the Secrete World is probably the last shot at any return on investment for the shareholders. How much have they spent on AoC so far? 85 million USD? 65 million at release then probably another 20 though many short-term liabilities were hid last quarter in the cash flows statement. Obama should be on the board of directers, he is hiring after years of losses as well ;p 100,000 subs at most - $15 / month ...FC nets 50% at most after server and admin costs $7.5 USD month ....times 12 months = 9 million a year income, then they have to support overhead and salleries. Last quarter is probably atypical but FC incured - 10 million USD in opperating expenses....to hide the quarterly loss (deceptive ;p) they put another 10 million into short-term liabilities. So they blew through 20 million in 3 months. Funcom had 34 million cash on hand as of September 30th, hope they may blow it before getting Secrete World released....going into debt is not a big issue, but comming out of it is. So they are hiring 3 people for AoC and more for the secrete world, the fact still remains, Funcom needs to produce something profitable to justify the IPO funding so they are investing in developers to produce it and just like AoC and AO that game will probably be released early, broken, etc. I was wrong on the number of new hires, but this hiring trend has nothing to do with Funcom's health.
You are in lack of facts. Look up the thread Avery made on this (with attachments to Q3 finacial report)
FC made >2.5 Mill USD Net for Q3 last year.
Guided revenue for Q4 alone is expected to be 8-10 Mill USD. So they basically make what you think they will make over a full year in one Quarter. That have to be good news
FC still has 34 Mill cash in the bank.
Facts.
Wow.. ... just wow.. why not use 'platered inn' again buddy.
The 9M they are expected to report is REVENUES... Even with that 9M in REVENUES.. it is highly doubtful they will be profitable. Remember, the last time they reported REVENUES of 18M and a profit of only a few M.
Revenues is NOT profit. Revenues are total sales BEFORE expenses.
The last quarter was the ONLY quarter that Funcom was profitable for about 4 years, and that was mainly on the fact that they did some funcky accounting and added 6M of magic money.... and total profits was only by 2M. They lost far more than that in the first 6 months of the year.
You really need to look up the defintion of REVENUES again.
everyone knows the economy didnt hit gaming much at all anyway so this is a nonpoint, but way to go baghdad bob.
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...
More if you need it...but, overall, all companies are slimming down...so it was interesting to read that Funcom was hiring
Sky News was my source at the time, was watching it while getting the kids ready for school, I wasn't that surprised tbh that Sky and Virgin media had said they saw an increase in sales since the recession had been confirmed, not the big package deals but alot of the smaller deals they offer became alot more popular, also said similar about games being more popular now rather than going to the Pub and spending your cash on booze, which again makes sense in these times.
All common sense stuff really, recession means less spare cash to go out with so ppl stay home and find entertainment there, a game or a subscription T.V package is a lot less costly than going out for a meal or visiting your favourite bar, well it is for me with a family of 5, that equates to about £120 for an evening out, where as if I stay in my monthly sub to whatever MMO I might be playing is max £10 and my Virgin is £50 for the month, which entertains the whole family.
However I do not dispute layoffs are happening, I myself am one of those ppl however I have a job open for me in the Prison Service now(once they finish my vetting), but alot of companies are trimming where they can to make themselves more cost effective at this difficult time and even if you have a secure job pay cuts are probably not going to be unheard of either and the worse thing is you'l have to swallow them if you want to keep your job, principles tend to disappear pretty quickly when you know the boss is looking to cut over-heads in your department.
Those that actually read the 3Q status report can see that cassflow is negative by 20 millions. In the current economic sitation cashflow is the key to survifing. Funcom is not in bad state considering they still have around 30 millions in funds to work with. But. they can not loose another 20 millions next quarter cause they will not be getting any loans and increasing stocks will not bring in any money at all.
Actual assets are worth Zero in current market. If you have cash you can do something. If you dont or are heavily in depts then you can pretty much give up. Funcom is still fighting for their life. AOC will not save their life tho. Not even the XBOX version (if its still even coming out). Only chance for Funcom atm is to throw pretty much all their money into their next project and hope it will bring their stocks up again . Then maybe they will be able to lure more investors in buying new stocks to get more cash to rebuilt the company.
AOC on the other hand. Thats something Funcom will try to keep alive but not spend any extra money on. That includes new content or expansions. Minimal team will be working on AOC for the next 1-2 years. Thats just something that everone needs to accept now. It would be foolish to spend 30 millions USD into saving something that has already failed. Then its better to use the same game engine on new name and hoping for a better outcome.
I sense unhappy (friends of ) former Funcom employees in this thread. :-p
I know it's insane how fare MMORPG allow these fanatics to take a thread off topic. Guys we get it, you don't like AoC, but why do you have to shit your pants in a thread thats really nothing but good news. If AoC are getting more devs, more power to the MMOers?
EVERY thread has to have these haters toss their crap all over it, and it does suck. When I ask for the flaming or topic hijacking threads to be removed, MMORPG just lets them sit and fester. CM support has really been lacking here...
The fact remains, Funcom is hiring while everyone else is firing, laying off or even closing. To all the doomsayers who predicted the closure of Funcom in December 08, then January and February of 09...guess what, still ticking. The last laugh is actually on the trolls.
So sad their lives are so dismal to spend so much time and effort coming up with all the hate here...
My only comment is that you are assuming the company is expanding. My company is hiring someone for my position because I gave them 3 months notice a couple of weeks ago and I fill a position which cannot be left vacant. That does not mean that the company is prospering. We have laid off close to two hundred people in the last few months.
if you have a link to where Fucom is expanding then by all means post it, until then then that link means noting except they are hiring a couple of people for whatever reason.
if you have a link to where Fucom is expanding then by all means post it, until then then that link means noting except they are hiring a couple of people for whatever reason.
I think you have made a huge assumption... again, and are incorrect ... again.
I never stated the game is "expanding" or that the company is "expanding".
I stated they are able to hire new employees. In a time when so many companies are laying off, that speaks largely to the commitment of Funcom to make sure AoC is a success. It also speaks to the fact that Funcom is ok. AoC is also ok...else, they could continue to "make do" with what they have.
Please take the time to read my words carefully down the road.
Didn't they fire a bunch of people not long ago? I think they might just be replacing them. That was actually their offices in Durham NC, and not Oslo...and if you read the postings are for Oslo.
if you have a link to where Fucom is expanding then by all means post it, until then then that link means noting except they are hiring a couple of people for whatever reason.
I think you have made a huge assumption... again, and are incorrect ... again.
I never stated the game is "expanding" or that the company is "expanding".
I stated they are able to hire new employees. In a time when so many companies are laying off, that speaks largely to the commitment of Funcom to make sure AoC is a success. It also speaks to the fact that Funcom is ok. AoC is also ok...else, they could continue to "make do" with what they have.
Please take the time to read my words carefully down the road.
well after rereading
Originally posted by openedge1
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 Funcom hiring UI, Environmental and AI designers...
You stated new employees, hmmmm that could mean new employees as in expanding the company or new employees to replace the ones who were fired due to incompetence on their part or laid off due to bad decisions by management and now in retrospect they need to refill them or maybe to replace people who quit to move on to greener pastures..
The company I work for is hurting badly right now but key positions have to remain filled or they might as well lock the doors and send everyone home. You are the one trying to spin it as if Funcom is hiring people becasue they are rolling in cash with your original post and title of the thread so don't be surprised when people take it that way then call you out on it.
Yay for Armchair financial analysis. Good thing you guys are out there to make sure your keeping an eye on and understanding every financial transaction of every business or this country may end up in a recession. OH wait. . . . Where were you on that one guys?
You are the one trying to spin it as if Funcom is hiring people becasue they are rolling in cash with your original post and title of the thread so don't be surprised when people take it that way then call you out on it.
Again, an assumption...
The fact remains that the hatewagon has rolled in since last year...with Funcom closing in December, then January, then February.
This shows that this is not the case. Whether it is a replacement or additions we do not know. All I DO know is it is not anything to do with rolling in money, etc...and definitely not a sign of closure.
With companies in hiring freezes, and layoffs, Funcom is still going along, and so is AoC...much to the hater's chagrin.
Comments
It's funny how I remember some users on this forum getting busted for speaking perfect Norwegian and being from Norway even though in their profile they said they were from Texas.
Now we have a person called "john doe" from "AK, United States" giving us a link to an DagBladet article. Is DagBladet a popular magazine in AK, US?
Oh, and don't forget to run that article by your "Norwegian friend" 
Funny people we have here
http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=58267 <<<Forum post on Funcom's sweat shop conditions.
I just did a google search of Funcom and employment law after reading another poster stating that Norway's press busted them for doing what they do best, being the most evil VG company.
But if a linguist did such a thing I would not be suprised if Funcom + (any unethical / illegal activity) in google would not produce valid results about what this company is up to. Interestingly, they usually have millions of dollars come from nowhere on financial statements as GAAP and S-O need not apply, but it's safe to say one can use their imagination as to where that money is comming from now.
*****************************
I can't wait to see what Funcom does next!!!!!!!!
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
I sense unhappy (friends of ) former Funcom employees in this thread. :-p
I know it's insane how fare MMORPG allow these fanatics to take a thread off topic. Guys we get it, you don't like AoC, but why do you have to shit your pants in a thread thats really nothing but good news. If AoC are getting more devs, more power to the MMOers?
I know it's insane how fare MMORPG allow these fanatics to take a thread off topic. Guys we get it, you don't like AoC, but why do you have to shit your pants in a thread thats really nothing but good news. If AoC are getting more devs, more power to the MMOers?
EVERY thread has to have these haters toss their crap all over it, and it does suck. When I ask for the flaming or topic hijacking threads to be removed, MMORPG just lets them sit and fester. CM support has really been lacking here...
The fact remains, Funcom is hiring while everyone else is firing, laying off or even closing. To all the doomsayers who predicted the closure of Funcom in December 08, then January and February of 09...guess what, still ticking. The last laugh is actually on the trolls.
So sad their lives are so dismal to spend so much time and effort coming up with all the hate here...
#1) The topics title is misleading as 3 new hires and the health of this company are not related, so that is spin.
Not sure if hiring people for a sweet shop is a good thing, guess some of you side with Funcom on anything. Saying hiring 3 new people is some sort of amazing feat is pure spin, they layed off way more people already that they lied and said would not days earlier and they are hiring in a different country for different positions, the economy is not that tuff.
@ last poster: Funcom stated they will go broke per Funcom's Q3 in less than a year unless it produces something new of substance as they are burning through IPO funds to produce the X pac and a new game, and it seems like they are banking on this expansion. So logicaly if people are leaving, they need to replace them to produce the expansion.
Fact Check:
NORWAYS UNEMPLOYMENT IS 2.6 PERCENT!!!!!!!!! So no the economy in Norway is not hurting much, more spin.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/01/29/business/EU-Nordics-Unemployment.php
Compare to almost 8% in USA.
So a company in an industry supposedly unaffected by the recession in a country unaffected by the recession is hiring?
However, I went one step further and showed you the type of working conditions to expect in Funcom's Norway office, which happen to be sweat shop conditions per the Norway press and very much on topic. Look if you want good news about Funcom, tell them to change the way they do business or boycot them.
*****************************
Please don't spin good/bad news into pure good...it's very deceptive.
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
I know it's insane how fare MMORPG allow these fanatics to take a thread off topic. Guys we get it, you don't like AoC, but why do you have to shit your pants in a thread thats really nothing but good news. If AoC are getting more devs, more power to the MMOers?
EVERY thread has to have these haters toss their crap all over it, and it does suck. When I ask for the flaming or topic hijacking threads to be removed, MMORPG just lets them sit and fester. CM support has really been lacking here...
The fact remains, Funcom is hiring while everyone else is firing, laying off or even closing. To all the doomsayers who predicted the closure of Funcom in December 08, then January and February of 09...guess what, still ticking. The last laugh is actually on the trolls.
So sad their lives are so dismal to spend so much time and effort coming up with all the hate here...
Considering you have probably 1000 posts about how much LotrO sucks and is going to die I think you shouldnt be complaing
Nice to see AoC doing good thou
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
That is nearly as many devs that they are hiring which is nearly the same as the total DF team
Hmm Good for them, they have not made a true profit from what I can tell any quarter for ages yet and it looks doubtful that AoC will break even on the development and operational costs...so the Secrete World is probably the last shot at any return on investment for the shareholders. How much have they spent on AoC so far? 85 million USD? 65 million at release then probably another 20 though many short-term liabilities were hid last quarter in the cash flows statement.
Obama should be on the board of directers, he is hiring after years of losses as well ;p
100,000 subs at most - $15 / month ...FC nets 50% at most after server and admin costs $7.5 USD month ....times 12 months = 9 million a year income, then they have to support overhead and salleries.
Last quarter is probably atypical but FC incured - 10 million USD in opperating expenses....to hide the quarterly loss (deceptive ;p) they put another 10 million into short-term liabilities. So they blew through 20 million in 3 months.
Funcom had 34 million cash on hand as of September 30th, hope they may blow it before getting Secrete World released....going into debt is not a big issue, but comming out of it is.
So they are hiring 3 people for AoC and more for the secrete world, the fact still remains, Funcom needs to produce something profitable to justify the IPO funding so they are investing in developers to produce it and just like AoC and AO that game will probably be released early, broken, etc. I was wrong on the number of new hires, but this hiring trend has nothing to do with Funcom's health.
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
I don't think any conclusion can be reached from this hiring annoucement. Could be growth, could be replacing those who left, could be a new project entirely (or work on the expansion)
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
You are in lack of facts. Look up the thread Avery made on this (with attachments to Q3 finacial report)
FC made >2.5 Mill USD Net for Q3 last year.
Guided revenue for Q4 alone is expected to be 8-10 Mill USD. So they basically make what you think they will make over a full year in one Quarter. That have to be good news
FC still has 34 Mill cash in the bank.
Facts.
You are in lack of facts. Look up the thread Avery made on this (with attachments to Q3 finacial report)
FC made >2.5 Mill USD Net for Q3 last year.
Guided revenue for Q4 alone is expected to be 8-10 Mill USD. So they basically make what you think they will make over a full year in one Quarter. That have to be good news
FC still has 34 Mill cash in the bank.
Facts.
Guess I went to a better business school, did Avery. Is he an investment banker at BoA? ;p.
Cash Flow statement Q3:
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period 52 366
Effect of exchange rate fluctuations on cash held -143
Cash and cash equivalents, end of period 34 779
Look at that: 17,567 million LOSS to cash on hand per the period adjusted for exchange rate fluctuation, not to mention the made up revenue that I'm sure will be adjusted later this month per the norm. Wouldn't they have 55 mill w/ all the profit they made??
The thing is Income statements are poor indicators of how well a company is doing do to "Window Dressing" , the P/L Statement is just a "Snapshot" the cash flow statements remedy that.
I'm sure they payed taxes but they probably get some credits for next quarter or something, I'm not sure how it's done in Norway, but gaming is small stuff compared to the oil there.
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
You are in lack of facts. Look up the thread Avery made on this (with attachments to Q3 finacial report)
FC made >2.5 Mill USD Net for Q3 last year.
Guided revenue for Q4 alone is expected to be 8-10 Mill USD. So they basically make what you think they will make over a full year in one Quarter. That have to be good news
FC still has 34 Mill cash in the bank.
Facts.
Guess I went to a better business school, did Avery. Is he an investment banker at BoA? ;p.
Cash Flow statement Q3:
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period 52 366
Effect of exchange rate fluctuations on cash held -143
Cash and cash equivalents, end of period 34 779
Look at that: 17,567 million LOSS to cash on hand per the period adjusted for exchange rate fluctuation, not to mention the made up revenue that I'm sure will be adjusted later this month per the norm. Wouldn't they have 55 mill w/ all the profit they made??
The thing is Income statements are poor indicators of how well a company is doing do to "Window Dressing" , the P/L Statement is just a "Snapshot" the cash flow statements remedy that.
I'm sure they payed taxes but they probably get some credits for next quarter or something, I'm not sure how it's done in Norway, but gaming is small stuff compared to the oil there.
Ok finaticd, your math is fantastic and you convinced us all with those numbers you just pulled out of wherever. You are right, FC hires people because they are going bankruppt. lol...Let me remind you that Avery just attached the Quarter report (and did not try to cook up something by himself, which you just did). I don't know should we trust random selfproclaimed accountat genious on internet or just the actual financial reports. lol
I do anyway sense that you are very passionate about this FC revenue subject, so hey keep having a go at it. I don't mind, except that this thread was about new hires and what you think they will be working on. Anyways have a go at it, but don't expect having too much luck convincing anyone with statements like Quarterly reports are made up as Norway only care about oil. lol.. Yeah riiiiigght, companies just make up the numbers they report because the government love oil. And those >2.5 Mill net they deposited to their bank account last Quarter was just imaginary money that they happend to be able to convert to real money on a bank account.
Epic stuff.
http://www.funcom.com/funcom/frontend/files/CONTENT/Funcom_Q308_report_2912.pdf
Under cash flow statement, so just like you asked...FC proved they lost 20 million dollars last quarter
I posted were I got the numbers from when I posted them
*****************
Looks like you wont be able to sleep tonight, I always think it's funny that the people trying to prove a point against Funcom have to show their work, yet Funcom has shown time and time again how inept they are at working aside from those sweat shop conditions their employees are subject to and the fans just make random guesses all the time to support what they want to believe. Also, it's funny the fans of this title can make wild guesses to prove whatever they want to believe and then act like it's factual.
Maybe some day Funcom will do something to warrant a good job, just not yet............the only time they came close was when they did not screw up the server X fers for the second time, the one month delay surprised me
Companies buy stuff they can't afford all the time why do you think so many USA companies are in debt? heck look at Midway, someone bought the debt ridden company for 100k USD.
EDIT: posted Acclaim instead of Midway, it is Midway that was sold:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midway_Games
P.S. You may want to work on reading comprehension and logic. as I was using my math/work to back up what I said as no one has proved the company is doing well yet and ALL evidence points to it doing poorly.
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
That is nearly as many devs that they are hiring which is nearly the same as the total DF team
I think most ppl agree that DF is not the best game or dev team you can find. Heck - most ppl thought they were faking the entire game just to rip ppl off. Many still think so.
Darfall doesn't make AOC a good game. On the other hand - Darkfall COULD be as BAD as AOC when it comes to the actual game launched compared what the expectations that the company has build up for their game. Thats not something to be proud of tho.
Didn't they fire a bunch of people not long ago? I think they might just be replacing them.
Funcom stock dropped like a rock after AoC was released and failed. Last I looked it was like $3 a share. AoC is not doing that well, sorry lets get real, the game is a POS, 90% of mmo players agree. The ones that enjoy playing it that is great, but I don't believe in misleading people who are thiking about buying it believing they are getting a quality product.
You are in lack of facts. Look up the thread Avery made on this (with attachments to Q3 finacial report)
FC made >2.5 Mill USD Net for Q3 last year.
Guided revenue for Q4 alone is expected to be 8-10 Mill USD. So they basically make what you think they will make over a full year in one Quarter. That have to be good news
FC still has 34 Mill cash in the bank.
Facts.
Wow.. ... just wow.. why not use 'platered inn' again buddy.
The 9M they are expected to report is REVENUES... Even with that 9M in REVENUES.. it is highly doubtful they will be profitable. Remember, the last time they reported REVENUES of 18M and a profit of only a few M.
Revenues is NOT profit. Revenues are total sales BEFORE expenses.
The last quarter was the ONLY quarter that Funcom was profitable for about 4 years, and that was mainly on the fact that they did some funcky accounting and added 6M of magic money.... and total profits was only by 2M. They lost far more than that in the first 6 months of the year.
You really need to look up the defintion of REVENUES again.
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
Sky News was my source at the time, was watching it while getting the kids ready for school, I wasn't that surprised tbh that Sky and Virgin media had said they saw an increase in sales since the recession had been confirmed, not the big package deals but alot of the smaller deals they offer became alot more popular, also said similar about games being more popular now rather than going to the Pub and spending your cash on booze, which again makes sense in these times.
All common sense stuff really, recession means less spare cash to go out with so ppl stay home and find entertainment there, a game or a subscription T.V package is a lot less costly than going out for a meal or visiting your favourite bar, well it is for me with a family of 5, that equates to about £120 for an evening out, where as if I stay in my monthly sub to whatever MMO I might be playing is max £10 and my Virgin is £50 for the month, which entertains the whole family.
However I do not dispute layoffs are happening, I myself am one of those ppl however I have a job open for me in the Prison Service now(once they finish my vetting), but alot of companies are trimming where they can to make themselves more cost effective at this difficult time and even if you have a secure job pay cuts are probably not going to be unheard of either and the worse thing is you'l have to swallow them if you want to keep your job, principles tend to disappear pretty quickly when you know the boss is looking to cut over-heads in your department.
Those that actually read the 3Q status report can see that cassflow is negative by 20 millions. In the current economic sitation cashflow is the key to survifing. Funcom is not in bad state considering they still have around 30 millions in funds to work with. But. they can not loose another 20 millions next quarter cause they will not be getting any loans and increasing stocks will not bring in any money at all.
Actual assets are worth Zero in current market. If you have cash you can do something. If you dont or are heavily in depts then you can pretty much give up. Funcom is still fighting for their life. AOC will not save their life tho. Not even the XBOX version (if its still even coming out). Only chance for Funcom atm is to throw pretty much all their money into their next project and hope it will bring their stocks up again . Then maybe they will be able to lure more investors in buying new stocks to get more cash to rebuilt the company.
AOC on the other hand. Thats something Funcom will try to keep alive but not spend any extra money on. That includes new content or expansions. Minimal team will be working on AOC for the next 1-2 years. Thats just something that everone needs to accept now. It would be foolish to spend 30 millions USD into saving something that has already failed. Then its better to use the same game engine on new name and hoping for a better outcome.
I know it's insane how fare MMORPG allow these fanatics to take a thread off topic. Guys we get it, you don't like AoC, but why do you have to shit your pants in a thread thats really nothing but good news. If AoC are getting more devs, more power to the MMOers?
EVERY thread has to have these haters toss their crap all over it, and it does suck. When I ask for the flaming or topic hijacking threads to be removed, MMORPG just lets them sit and fester. CM support has really been lacking here...
The fact remains, Funcom is hiring while everyone else is firing, laying off or even closing. To all the doomsayers who predicted the closure of Funcom in December 08, then January and February of 09...guess what, still ticking. The last laugh is actually on the trolls.
So sad their lives are so dismal to spend so much time and effort coming up with all the hate here...
My only comment is that you are assuming the company is expanding. My company is hiring someone for my position because I gave them 3 months notice a couple of weeks ago and I fill a position which cannot be left vacant. That does not mean that the company is prospering. We have laid off close to two hundred people in the last few months.
if you have a link to where Fucom is expanding then by all means post it, until then then that link means noting except they are hiring a couple of people for whatever reason.
I miss DAoC
I think you have made a huge assumption... again, and are incorrect ... again.
I never stated the game is "expanding" or that the company is "expanding".
I stated they are able to hire new employees. In a time when so many companies are laying off, that speaks largely to the commitment of Funcom to make sure AoC is a success. It also speaks to the fact that Funcom is ok. AoC is also ok...else, they could continue to "make do" with what they have.
Please take the time to read my words carefully down the road.
I think you have made a huge assumption... again, and are incorrect ... again.
I never stated the game is "expanding" or that the company is "expanding".
I stated they are able to hire new employees. In a time when so many companies are laying off, that speaks largely to the commitment of Funcom to make sure AoC is a success. It also speaks to the fact that Funcom is ok. AoC is also ok...else, they could continue to "make do" with what they have.
Please take the time to read my words carefully down the road.
well after rereading
You stated new employees, hmmmm that could mean new employees as in expanding the company or new employees to replace the ones who were fired due to incompetence on their part or laid off due to bad decisions by management and now in retrospect they need to refill them or maybe to replace people who quit to move on to greener pastures..
The company I work for is hurting badly right now but key positions have to remain filled or they might as well lock the doors and send everyone home. You are the one trying to spin it as if Funcom is hiring people becasue they are rolling in cash with your original post and title of the thread so don't be surprised when people take it that way then call you out on it.
I miss DAoC
Yay for Armchair financial analysis. Good thing you guys are out there to make sure your keeping an eye on and understanding every financial transaction of every business or this country may end up in a recession. OH wait. . . . Where were you on that one guys?
Again, an assumption...
The fact remains that the hatewagon has rolled in since last year...with Funcom closing in December, then January, then February.
This shows that this is not the case. Whether it is a replacement or additions we do not know. All I DO know is it is not anything to do with rolling in money, etc...and definitely not a sign of closure.
With companies in hiring freezes, and layoffs, Funcom is still going along, and so is AoC...much to the hater's chagrin.