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Funcom's new approach
Arthousesig
Member Posts: 305
Well it seems Funcom have changed their angle
Now every interview is all about "listening to forums" and "releasing things only when they are done"
The change of tack is jarring to say the least; a clear retreat from their victorious launch speeches and outright lies and PR spin of only a few weeks ago
Perhaps this has something to do with it:
Funcom.OL
52wk Range: 12.65 - 55.50
Their share price has rallied only in the last 2 days after a disastrous crash where it bottomed out near their IPO price.
That is in itself a cause for panic
However, we still haven't seen the real moves that the company needs to make to recover the loss of reputation incurred by Age of Conan, namely the removal of Gaute Godager from the AOC project
Those familiar with how Gaute Godager screwed up Anarchy Online and who understand how he has destroyed the huge potential success as AOC will understand what I mean by this
Is this just more spin from Funcom now, a desperate effort to recover what has in fact been a disaster of a game?
Or is this a real fundamental turnaround in the company, one which will lead to a re-prioritisation of what really matters to us gamers?
I leave this question open to you, for your gut feelings, for your information-rich commentaries and for your judgements and expectations.
Comments
Yarr! Make him walk the plank
If there was a definition of "Useless Tard" in the dictionary, there would be a picture of Gaute
Showing that failure-inducing managers have accountability can do wonders for a company's reputation, and can do a lot to reassure gamers things have a chance of improving with someone new at the helm
Its funny how you guys on here seem to wanna pick up any dirt on funcom like ur the damn media or somthing. If you dont like the game dont play it, dont like the company dont play there games. Its what im doing you dont see me making 1000 threads on FailCom. Grow Up.
I'm grown up enough to desire wistfully for my long-lost dogmatic, ignorant youth, thank you very much
Your contribution to the debate is zero
Thanks for participating on a forum whose entire purpose is debate by saying that we shouldn't debate.
Well done.
Well, if we can see none of the backwards looking statements that seem to riddle all correspondence by Funcom
"Launch this, Launch that, blah, blah, Miracle Patch, blah, Soon, blah, Launch"
Then we may have a winner.
I still think Funcom is working like this is Day one based on the many posts I see (not just my thread by Famine, but Erling's interview with Jon, etc..all talking about Launch..)
We need to know what is happening...NOW!
I guess I can walk you to you take 50 bucks out of your pocket, smack you across the face and say I didn't do it, then go out with your mom, not bring her home until morning, smack you again and you would say "That's ok"
Funcom, Hope they all die and burn in hell
Peace
I like the way you think.
And thats exactly how I feel about them LOL.
I tried growing up once, but it was a real drag. Seems people expected me to be responsible, and, like, get a job, worship money, and play power and sex games. Interferred with my enjoyment of life.
So, I went back to being a kid, stuffing my face with Cheetos, drinking energy drinks, playing computer games until all hours of the night, and trolling forums.
Now I'm happy again!
If they had really spent around 60 million (which is definitely not inconceivable), then I can't see how they can manage to afford the man hours to add the necessary content. That is why their stock price went to shit: Because their turnover is looking very bleak right now given that they are down to 100-200k subs (if even that).
I think it's a shame too, because there are a lot of good things about the game: Grapchics, gameplay and novelties. They just failed to deliver the necessary content to keep subscribers and also have done a ridiculously poor job at optimizing.
I wish they could sell it to Blizzard, but I doubt that the code has sufficient documentation (or in English for that matter).
Well.. in the end it boils down to incompetence as money poorly spent is money poorly spent. I think AoC would have been a blockbuster under the online RPG category, but people really expect more out of a game with a subscription fee.
This is a sequence of characters intended to produce some profound mental effect, but it has failed.
o.0
You got to play sex games?
...
My life sux. :-(
Back On Topic.
They said they were listening to the forums? Is that before or after the deletions?
Nothing says irony like spelling ideot wrong.
Marketing gurus at Funcom should know the old adage that when people have a good experience, they tell one person. When they have a bad experience, they tell ten people. Word of mouth is a powerful thing and all people are doing on these forums are the same things people always do.
I still strongly believe that while the subs would have dropped anyway because many people don't like the game for whatever reason, the amount of loathing and vitriol would have been contained and limited if AoC mouthpieces had shut the hell up and stopped making statements and claims that were blatantly untrue.
Look at PvP. In the Hyborian Chronicles Dev videos you can see them talking about "100s of players" doing sieges, the mercenary system, the PvP XP system, blood coins and so forth. None of that is in the game. The next statement says it will be out in June/Early July. Now they MUST have know that was bullshit. All of it was bullshit.
People who feel like they have been deceived and had bad experiences are going to tell others about it. That is just the way it has always been.
I'm grown up enough to desire wistfully for my long-lost dogmatic, ignorant youth, thank you very much
Your contribution to the debate is zero
Thanks for participating on a forum whose entire purpose is debate by saying that we shouldn't debate.
Well done.
Actually it looks as if this forum has been hijacked by people like yourself who want to just be negative about Funcom.
Even when it appears they have a new approach to make the game better after a rocky launch you cant even give them credit for it.
It sounds like the SWG forums when some1 says they enjoy playing the game.The sad part about it though is that AoC in comparison to SWG is far and above what SWG is now.
Hell man i played AoC from launch until recently and i had no issues at all.I LOVED IT and will go back soon but due to real life and lack of cash had to stop.
Best game ever flame on.
What is your physical limit?
As has said before, funcom is far from beeing broke. Their investors are mad, yes, they dont get any credit at the current share price but they still got until Q3 to redeem themselves. Nothing is made in stone Q3 is gonna decide what hqappens.
I agree they are in dire need of investors especiallly for their new project which they cant find anyone at current stock prices, but they are still alive, for how long is up in the air. retain 150k, they are barely surviving, below that they fold.
My guess is they fold, but that is just me. and if i may Ligitator if i can, the current interest in the stock is below zero, cut your shorts now and move on
PS: in your case buy, it is going up we have a typical rebound. take what you have
I'm grown up enough to desire wistfully for my long-lost dogmatic, ignorant youth, thank you very much
a company that still after 3 months has not delivered any of their promises not one bit, not even made the client more stable, much less than delivering promises of PvP and stuff as EE puts it?
Your contribution to the debate is zero
Thanks for participating on a forum whose entire purpose is debate by saying that we shouldn't debate.
Well done.
Actually it looks as if this forum has been hijacked by people like yourself who want to just be negative about Funcom.
a company that has lost 90% of it's share value?
Even when it appears they have a new approach to make the game better after a rocky launch you cant even give them credit for it.
It sounds like the SWG forums when some1 says they enjoy playing the game.The sad part about it though is that AoC in comparison to SWG is far and above what SWG is now.
Hell man i played AoC from launch until recently and i had no issues at all.I LOVED IT and will go back soon but due to real life and lack of cash had to stop.
Best game ever flame on.
I have to say that if FC can actually turn AoC around, then more power to them. I hope that they do. I'm just not about to hold my breath or play the game again. But if FC can actually turn their inability to listen to their players around then... well I don't know what then but I'm fairly certain that it would involve my head exploding with amazement.
thay can not or they would have done it already, the game is riddled with bugs they can not fix. it is obvious after 3 months. 3 months should get any good team the time to fix those bugs, but they did not. they do not even know where to sart because the game is so fucked in general.
We do enjoy the fact that they are an example what is wrong with the industry. It is unfortunate for them to be at this position but i do not give a toss. They are con artists and we fell for them, make them suffer for eternity/
I heartily commend Litigator_AB for his lucid and informative posts on these forums regarding stock price issues, I often read his items and wish I'd pointed out those things myself.
The irony is that I was supporting and commenting on his old posts on the official AOC forums before both he and I were banned from them for criticising the game and the company. (Funcom's motto: kritik verboten)
The stock price is a numerical story that perfectly reflects what happened with AOC: the game could have been a huge hit, but was a total disaster and has significantly reduced Funcom's credibility in the market both with players and as a financial investment proposition.
New management accountability and a visible removal of Gaute Godager from all active projects are vital to showing both gameplayers and investors that Funcom are willing to turn their Titanic around and avoid the iceberg that looms ahead.
Whether you enjoy the game or not, any clear thinking person can see that Funcom is a dishonest company
They hyped the game, making claims that things weren't in the game and still aren't months after release. Their billing system "accidently" billing people after they cancel. And they continued their deception after release by sending Erling out to spin things to diffuse the grumbling and growing discontent of the Age of Conan launch players.
On top of all that, they provide horrible customer service. While people are complaining about bugs and memory leaks that existed since beta, they announce an expansion.
People shelled out 50-80 dollars for a game with a finished PvP system, with directx 10, working sieges, gem system, <insert feature(s) here>. Item stats were having no effect at launch. And you expect people to give these rat bastards the benefit of the doubt.
I don't begrudge anyone who enjoys the game on the basis of enjoying the game. Where I do have a beef with them is that they are rewarding these sons of bitches for giving eveyrone who bought this game the shaft. It's one thing to have bugs, and server problems at release. It's another to sell one thing and deliver another.
Agreed.
Lie. Then cover up that lie with another lie. Thrown some spin out there to distract from the previous lies. Rinse and repeat. Next thing you know, you don't know what lie is which and you're left with a big mess. Welcome to AOC.
I hope Funcom and AOC go down in the MMO book of business DO NOTS. I'm sure other MMO developers are watching and taking notes. At least I hope so and not jotting down ways to screw over the sheeple.
Barfman - The superhero people are reluctant to call upon.
Has it ever dawned on anyone that Gaote may own a large chunk of shares / stock in the company due to his time employed and that canning him would mean a decent size of shares lost for Funcom? As far as we know Gaote is probably considered as an owner in part of the company. You know, like the CEO of Pixar now owns a little bit of Disney and has much influence on decision making.
If only Funcom had listened to their player base. Thats basicly all there is to this. People feel lied unto, and there where no communication what so ever. Thats what makes people angry, and I mean REALLY angry! Its a rage that makes a man go post all the shit he knows about AoC for a year or more.
I cant help it, but if the devs wont listen to good free (million worth?) advice, then I will go into rage and make them pay. Hope it is the last time any game company ignores their players.
This has occurred to me and I think it might explain why they keep such a failure of a game director employed at Funcom to destroy projects like AOC
This has occurred to me and I think it might explain why they keep such a failure of a game director employed at Funcom to destroy projects like AOC
Gaute IS an owner in the company, he co-founded Funcom. Which is a main reason Funcom will never improve.
Agreed.
Lie. Then cover up that lie with another lie. Thrown some spin out there to distract from the previous lies. Rinse and repeat. Next thing you know, you don't know what lie is which and you're left with a big mess. Welcome to AOC.
I hope Funcom and AOC go down in the MMO book of business DO NOTS. I'm sure other MMO developers are watching and taking notes. At least I hope so and not jotting down ways to screw over the sheeple.
Mythic hs certainly been watching. They have been very active on the community boards and have been very open and responsive to their potential customers. Mark Jacobs gave an update to the previous update he made concerning the Preview Weekend and stated several times that miracle patches don't exist, just a lot of hard work and bug squashing.
The best spin is honest and open communication.