Funcom

"Make great games and have a damn good time doing it."

- About Us

Funcom Oslo AS is a video game developer and publisher and subsidiary of Tencent. It is home to most of the  team.

Located in Oslo, Norway, Funcom currently has 185 employees from 25 different nationalities. It was listed as Funcom SE on the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE: Funcom) since 2005. It is backed by Northzone Ventures, Stelt Holding and Teknoinvest.

Tencent announced in January 2020 its intent to fully acquire Funcom through purchasing all outstanding shares of the company in February 2020. As of April 15, 2020 Tencent has fully acquired Funcom and as of July 14, 2020 owns 100% of shares in the company.

Description
"Funcom is a world-leading independent developer and publisher of PC and console games. Funcom was founded in 1993 and has since then developed and published over 25 game titles across several genres and gaming platforms. Most notable of these are the online games, The Secret World, Age of Conan and Anarchy Online'', as well as the adventure game 'The Longest Journey'."

- PR: Short description

History
In 1993, Erik Gloersen, Tyr Neilsen, Andre Backen, Gaute Godager and Olav Mørkrid founded Funcom as an independent video game developer. Its original name was Funcom Productions AS. In the early years of Funcom, they are mostly making games for other major entertainment corporations.

At its peak in 2008, Funcom had around 680 employees spread across offices all over the world.

1993
Funcom is founded as Funcom Productions AS. It starts with five employees.

1994

 * 1994: Funcom B.V. and Funcom Dublin Ltd. founded.

Funcom releases
 * A Dinosaur's Tale (SEGA Genesis)
 * Daze Before Christmas (SEGA Genesis, SNES)

1995

 * 1995: Funcom Productions AS changed name to Funcom Oslo AS.

Funcom releases
 * Fatal Fury Special (SEGA CD, SNES and more)
 * Samurai Shodown (SEGA CD, SNES and more)

1996

 * Disney's Pocahontas (Game Boy, SEGA Genesis)
 * Nightmare Circus (SEGA Genesis)
 * Winter Gold (SNES)
 * DragonHeart: Fire & Steel (PlayStation, SEGA Saturn, PC)
 * Impact Racing (PlayStation, Sega Saturn)
 * Casper (Game Boy, PlayStation, SEGA Saturn)

1997

 * Funcom releases NBA Hang Time (SEGA Genesis, N64, PlayStation, SNES, PC)

1999
Funcom releases
 * The Longest Journey (PC Windows); and
 * Speed Freaks (original PlayStation) in Europe

2000
Funcom releases
 * Speed Freaks in North America as Speed Punks; and
 * No Escape (PC Windows)

2001

 * June 27: Funcom releases Anarchy Online (PC Windows).

2005
In December 2005, Funcom NV (now Funcom SE), the Dutch mother company of Funcom Oslo, becomes a publicly traded company listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE).
 * Naturally this had significant impact on the company's structure and way of business and also opened up new opportunities for financing.
 * An updated logo is released.

2006

 * April 17: Funcom releases Dreamfall: The Longest Journey (PC and Xbox).

2007
March 14: In an interview, Trond Arne Aas explains why Funcom has abandoned traditional "offline" product distribution (e.g. on optical discs) completely in favor of digital distribution. The main reason for this decision is claimed to be the financial losses due to software piracy.

2008

 * May 20: Funcom releases Age of Conan (PC Windows).


 * March 11: Norwegian Film Fund announces a grant worth NOK 1.5 million is given to Artplant to develop Heltenes Mønstring: Den Siste Kampen, a fantasy online MMO, in collaboration with Funcom. This game is later cancelled.


 * August 21: Funcom laid off half of its Customer Service department located in Durham, North Carolina.


 * September 17: Gaute Godager left Funcom, stating he was dissatisfied with certain elements of Age of Conan, which he directed. Craig Morrison took over the direction of Age of Conan.


 * November 22: Third parties reported that Funcom fired an additional 70% of the staff in their US workforce, possibly endangering future releases.

2009

 * May 19: Norwegian Film Fund announces a grant worth NOK 1.5 million is given to Funcom to develop Monsterhelter, a fantasy online MMO, in collaboration with Artplant.


 * September: The company announces opening a development studio in Montreal, Canada (Funcom Games Canada Inc)


 * November 2: Norwegian Film Fund announces a grant worth NOK 1.5 million is given to Funcom to develop Board With The World, a free-to-play extreme sports social MMO. A working prototype is accomplished, but the game is cancelled.

2010

 * The Age of Conan expansion pack Rise of the Godslayer becomes free-to-play.


 * March 17: Monsterhelter is nominated for the Nordic Game Awards in the categories "Best Artistic Achievement", "Best Nordic Children's Game" and "Best Nordic Game".

2011

 * Age of Conan becomes fully free-to-play.

On February 18, publisher Chillingo reports it is forced to change the name of My Kingdom, a mobile game developed by Mobile Pie, to Merchant Kingdom due to an issue with Funcom, who are working on a game by the same name (My Kingdom).
 * In March, My Kingdom releases on Facebook.


 * October 28: Norwegian Film Fund announces a grant worth NOK 800 thousand is given to Funcom to develop Project O, a team-based tactical online action game, in collaboration with Stunlock Studios.  A vertical slice demo is made, but this game is later put on hold.

2012

 * Funcom releases The Secret World and Pets vs Monsters (formerly Monsterhelter )

2013
Funcom Games Canada Inc. works with LEGO in 2013 to make the core engine for LEGO FUSION and numerous iterative prototypes using the FUSION technology and tools. They also may have worked on or pitched multiple other LEGO products, some of which were further developed by LEGO or others.

2014
On January 29, Norwegian economic crime unit Økokrim launched an investigation into suspected infringement of the provisions of the Securities Trading Act connected to the 2012 launch of The Secret World.
 * In October, the case against Funcom was closed after the company paid a fine.

On April 24 the company reported securing NOK 9.7 million (USD 1.6 million) additional equity.
 * The additional cash boost helped the company to fully prepare for the launch of the LEGO Minifigures MMO in summer 2014.


 * June 29: Funcom releases LEGO Minifigures Online (PC, iOS and Android).

2015

 * Rui Casais, who joined as junior programmer in 2004, becomes Funcom's CEO.

After both The Secret World and LEGO Minifigures Online fail to become the commercial successes Funcom had hoped for, a new, future strategy for Funcom is created.
 * In this new strategy, major changes to the company structure, ambitions, way of doing things, priorities and tools were made.

Funcom develops two smaller games in both Oslo and North Carolina, aimed at increasing the teams' experience with the Unreal Engine: The Park and Hide & Shriek.
 * October 27: Funcom releases The Park (PC, Xbox, PS4), a single-player horror experience based on The Secret World IP.
 * In December, the company announces that it has entered into a partnership agreement with Conan Properties International LLC.

2016

 * October 1: The LEGO Minifigures Online license agreement with LEGO expires and the game's operations are terminated.
 * October 25: Funcom releases multi-player game Hide & Shriek (PC).

2017
January 31: Funcom releases the open-world survival game  into Steam Early Access and it immediately becomes a hit for the company, selling half a million units on Steam in the first month.
 * August 16: The game launches into Xbox Game Preview as The Frozen North expansion update is also released.

July 26: Funcom releases Secret World Legends.

August 31: Funcom gets a new logo. The new logo, the first logo update in 12 years, represents Funcom's journey that has led them to where they are today.


 * The first six months of the year were the most profitable ever in the history of the company.

2018
May 8: Funcom launches  fully on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

June 22: '  The Imperial East Pack DLC is published alongside a hotfix.

August 2: '  Jewel of the West Pack DLC is published alongside a hotfix.

August 23: '  seperate Japanese PS4 version |Conan Outcasts is launched.

October 9: '  The Savage Frontier Pack DLC is published alongside an update.

December 12: '  Seekers of the Dawn Pack DLC is published alongside an update.


 * Funcom reached 15.000 followers on Twitch and 1100 followers on Mixer.

2019
January 8: Acquisition of majority stake in lisbon based game service studio ZPX, which made some of the animations for .

February 26: Funcom announces at least three Dune games to be developed with Legendary Entertainment and Herbert Properties LLC.

February 28: Stalker Trials update for Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden.

March 11: Anarchy Online gets a new server.

March 20: Funcom announces Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden coming to Nintendo Switch in Summer 2019 with DLC expansion and retail release.

March 26: Funcom reveals cosmic horror game Moons of Madness.

April 1: Conan Chop Chop and the return of the Night of the Lost Souls  event are announced as April Fools jokes.
 * Conan Chop Chop is later announced as an actual game, see June 10, 2019.

April 10: Funcom announces an external game based on an IP held by Heroic Signatures DA to be created in partnership with Games Farm.

April 15: '  Treasures of Turan Pack DLC is published alongside a hotfix.

May 8: '  1 Year Anniversary; The Riddle of Steel DLC is published alongside an update and a Steam free weekend.

May 23: Funcom reveals the Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden Seed of Evil DLC and changes the ETA of the DLC and previously announced retail and Switch edition to July 30, 2019.

May 24: Conan Unconquered is announced to release May 29, one day earlier than planned.

May 29: Conan Unconquered releases on Steam.

June 10: Conan Chop Chop is revealed to be a real game during the PC Gaming Show at E3 2019.

July 30: Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden releases for the Switch and in retail. The Seed of Evil DLC releases on all platforms digitally and physically, except digitally for PS4.

August 6: The Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden Seed of Evil DLC releases digitally for the PS4.

August 26: Conan Chop Chop release moved to Q1 2020 to include online multi-player.

September 3: '  Blood and Sand Pack DLC is published alongside an update.

September 27: Funcom announces mounts are coming to in December 2019, along with mounted combat and pet leveling.

September 30: Tencent becomes the largest shareholder in Funcom. It agreed to acquire all shares belonging to the Norway-based KGJ Capital AS, which was previously the largest shareholder.

October 8: '  Debaucheries of Derketo Pack DLC is published alongside an update.

October 10: Moons of Madness launch is announced for October 22, 2019.

October 15: Moons of Madness ARG "Cyrano" is discussed.

October 18: New Moons of Madness gameplay video and system requirements revealed.

October 22: Moons of Madness launches.

October 25: The Park port on Nintendo Switch launches.

December 3: Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden celebrates one year anniversary with a sale and fan made film release.

December 5: '  Riders of Hyboria Pack DLC is published alongside an update and a Steam Free Weekend.

December 18: Conan Chop Chop release is announced for February 25, 2020 with new trailer.

2020
January 14: Moons of Madness console release moved to March 24, 2020.

January 22: Tencent seeks to acquire full ownership of Funcom.

February 12: Conan Chop Chop release ETA changed from February 25, 2020 to Q2 2020.

March 24: Moons of Madness releases on Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

April 15: Full acquisition of Funcom by Tencent through Tencent Cloud Europe B.V..

May 7: '  Architects of Argos Pack DLC is published alongside an update and a Steam Free Weekend.

June 11: Funcom announces Rhythm FPS Metal: Hellsinger.

June 27: Conan Chop Chop release ETA changed from Q2 2020 to 2020.

September 15: '  Isle of Siptah DLC is published alongside an update and a Steam Free Weekend.

November 25: Funcom releases a gameplay music video for Metal: Hellsinger.

December 16: Conan Chop Chop release ETA changed from 2020 to Early 2021.

Studios
The Funcom Group consist of 8 companies. Funcom SE, the parent company of the Group, five wholly owned subsidiaries, one majority-owned subsidiary and one joint operation, being Heroic Signatures DA.

Oslo, Norway
Funcom Oslo AS (Formerly Funcom Productions AS ) is located in Oslo, Norway.

Focus is on the development and operation of games and technology. It is the home office of the ' studio, where the decisions regarding ' are made. As of December 17, 2020 the Oslo team consists of 100 people from 30 different nationalities.

It also houses
 * Funcom Oslo Licensing AS, lead by Ole Hamran Schreiner, which handles tax administration and the owner company, Funcom B.V.. It is the holding company for Heroic Signatures AS.
 * Funcom SE, the registered office (Dutch: statutaire zetel) which was previously located in Katwijk, The Netherlands. On August 30, 2019 it was announced that it would be moved to the municipality of Oslo, Norway to reduce the burden of administrative expenses and achieve a more efficient group structure. On July 3, 2020 it was confirmed that the move to Norway was completed.

Durham, North Carolina, USA
Funcom Inc. is located in Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina and is an equal opportunity employer.

Focus is on the development of computer games. It was previously a secondary development studio for . However, this now takes place in the Oslo office. As of December 17, 2020 the Oslo team consists of 75 people from 6 different nationalities.

Lisbon, Portugal
Zona Paradoxal Lda. (also known as ZPX) is located in Lisbon, Portugal. It has contributed to , Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden and other projects. As of January 9, 2019 Funcom has acquired a 50.1% majority stake in the company. It will continue to act independently with Funcom, who have a controlling interest, as its main customer. As of December 17, 2020 the Lisbon team consists of 45 people from 10 nationalities.

ZPX' contribution to  includes the production of high and low poly 3D models, textures and the setup of assets and materials on Unreal Engine. The collaboration of the engineering team included help with the debug process, bug fixing and implementation of new features.

Badhoevedorp, The Netherlands
Funcom SE (previously Funcom N.V.) is a public limited company registered in The Netherlands and publicly listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. It is the mother company of Funcom Oslo AS.

The company is subject to Norwegian securities legislation and stock exchange regulations as well as Dutch legislation.

Beijing (Peking), China
Funcom Games Beijing Ltd. is a wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE), responsible for publishing in Asia. Before 2011, this was a development studio and representative office.

Nephilim LLC
Nephilim LLC is located in the United States. It is the owner of the film rights used by Funcom.

Heroic Signatures DA
Heroic Signatures DA is the owner of the Heroic Signatures IP licenses which are used by Funcom in joint operation.

Dublin, Ireland
Funcom Dublin Ltd. was a development studio. It was founded in 1994 and all console development for the company was conducted from there since 1996. Initially based in Clonskeagh, they later moved to a larger office in Sandyford.

Many of the early staff was recruited locally, from design courses at the National College of Art and Design in Dun Laoghaire and Ballyfermot PLC. The first title they worked on was Impact Racing (PSX).

In 1998, they struck a deal with Activision to create the motor racer D.I.R.T., but the deal fell through. In 1999, the game was released as Championship Motocross Featuring Ricky Carmichael by THQ.

After the initial focus on the PlayStation, it was announced in July 2000 that the office would now focus on the Xbox platform. The main Funcom company, however, achieved a lot of success with its early online titles, so it started work on a large project, the MMORPG Anarchy Online. Because of the financial risks involved, all attention was focused on the new title and the Dublin office was closed in August 2001. The Xbox game they were working on, Jet Sprint MX, was cancelled.

Games:
 * Championship Motocross 2001 Featuring Ricky Carmichael (2001)
 * Speed Punks (1999)
 * Championship Motocross Featuring Ricky Carmichael (1999)
 * Impact Racing (1996)

Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Funcom Games Canada Inc. was the development studio for The Secret World and Age of Conan expansion pack Rise of the Godslayer.

Bertrange, Luxembourg
Funcom S.à r.l. was a trading branch of Funcom. It was fully liquidated in 2016.

Zürich, Switzerland
Funcom GmbH was previously Funcom headquarters. It was fully liquidated in 2016.

The "Dreamfall - The Longest Journey Soundtrack EP" by Magnet (Even Johansen) falls under the Funcom GmbH label.

Küsnacht, Switzerland
Funcom Sales GmbH was the financial holding of Funcom GmbH. It was fully liquidated in 2016.

Sweet Robot
Sweet Robot (or SweetRobot), consisting of Sweet Robot AS and Sweet Robot GmbH, was a development studio which worked on and specialized in publishing casual MMO games.

It had been making a new game engine and a game titled Pets vs. Monsters, of which a beta version was published on December 16, 2009. The game fully released on January 13, 2012. In 2014, development support for the game ended.

Plutolife
Plutolife AS was a majority owned subsidiary in the mobile segment. It was sold to Jumbuck Entertainment Ltd. in 2008.

Games

 * This list includes titles which may not be directly developed or published by Funcom itself.

In the pipeline
This is a list of upcoming releases and ports.

As of January 22, 2020, Funcom will focus on developing games in the Open World Survival segment with Games-as-a-Service business model. Direct prequels / sequels for existing (pre-2020) games are not planned.

Apart from the below, the following is being thought about:
 * An Anarchy Online IP game.
 * Publishing and/or developing games on the Nintendo Switch.
 * Expanding the possibilities for Funcom's key IPs in the mobile platforms through cooperation with Tencent.


 * Read as: Name (Platforms), Release ETA - Progress by Developer

External
Externally developed games.
 * Conan Chop Chop (PC Windows, PS4, NS, XOne), Early 2021 - in Production by Mighty Kingdom.
 * This game was revealed at E3 2019 during the PC Gaming Show. Originally, it was planned for September 3, 2019, but on August 26, 2019 it was announced the release was moved to February 25, 2020 as Mighty Kingdom would add online multi-player. On February 12, 2020 the release was moved to Q2 2020; developers were given additional time to ensure the game is optimized for online multi-player and to give them a chance to polish the game. On June 27, 2020 the release was moved to H2 2020 to allow for further development. On December 16, 2020 the release was moved to Early 2021 to finish implementing more random events, traps and minibosses.


 * Metal: Hellsinger (PC Windows, PS4, PS5, XOne, XSX), 2021 - in Production by The Outsiders.
 * Original (Not an existing Funcom IP).
 * Single-player, rhythm FPS.
 * Narrated by Troy Baker (The Last of Us) as Paz the Skull and Jennifer Hale (Mass Effect) as The Red Judge.
 * Songs are composed by Two Feathers Studios (Elvira Björkman, Nicklas Hjertberg) and performed by Matt Heafy (Trivium), Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquillity), Björn Strid (Soilwork), Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy), Tatiana Shmailyuk (Jinjer), James Dorton (Black Crown Initiate) and several unannounced singers.
 * Uses the Unity Engine.
 * The game will be optimized for next-gen consoles, with improved visuals, up to 120 frames per second or 60 frames per second at 4K and drastically reduced loading time. It also supports Xbox Smart Delivery.
 * On April 30, 2020, The Outsiders announced they put development for their previous game Darkborn (formerly Project Wight, Archenemy) on halt and are working on a new, different project. On June 10, 2020 a trailer and pre-alpha gameplay were revealed at IGN Expo. A review demo also became available to the press.


 * Untitled (External) (Likely XSX ), 2021 - in Concept by Games Farm.
 * Heroic Signatures IP.
 * On July 2, 2020 editor-in-chief of Re-Play Jan Modrák tweeted about his opportunity to see the game and included a picture showing a possible teaser.


 * Untitled (External) (TBD), TBD - in Concept by TBD.
 * No details available yet.

Internal
Internally developed games. Funcom aims to have at least two of these in development at all time.
 * Untitled (Mutant Chronicles) / Project Mallard (PC Windows, PS4, XOne), TBD - in Production by Funcom Inc..
 * Mutant Chronicles IP.
 * Online multi-player, 4-player co-op shooter with a large variety of co-operative and competitive sandbox multi-player levels.
 * 'PAYDAY / Left 4 Dead / Vermintide'-like gameplay.
 * Uses the Unreal 4 Engine and will likely use DreamWorld Technology.
 * Sold with a premium, game as a service business model. RedEye estimates the game will cost around 30-40$.
 * As of the Q4 2019 financial report, release ETA is after the listed Dune game.
 * Originally planned for 2020, it was announced on January 22, 2020 it had been impacted by scope changes due to external / market pressures with increasingly strong competition and internal delays. As of the Q2 2019 financial report, this game will be developed by the US studio. RedEye expects the game to be released in 2023 or later.


 * Untitled (Conan) / Project Steinbit (PC Windows, PS4, XOne), TBD - in Pre-Production by Funcom Oslo AS.
 * Conan IP.
 * Single-player, action-adventure game.
 * It will likely use the Unreal 4 Engine with DreamWorld Technology.
 * Uses members of the team that did .
 * You play as Conan. (Think "climbing the Tower of the Elephant", chasing after the Frost Giant's daughter. )
 * Originally planned for 2020. As of the Q2 2019 financial report, this game's development is temporarily on hold to focus the developers and management in the Oslo studio on , Dune and other multi-player, open-world games.

"We are leveraging a lot of know-how and experience on programming, design and art side. We are doing things heavily based on what we've learned from from []. Some things are the direct re-use, some things are not. Obviously, Dune is a sci-fi setting. Conan is not. It's a fantasy setting. So, from an art point of view, the learnings are all in terms of processes, techniques, tools to use. From technology point of view there are some things we can re-use and then there are some things that we see we did wrong, that we need to do better. As you might know, was done quite rushed and as such it has some technical problems at the core level that it caused some technical quality problems. So, we are those parts we are not re-using - we are rewriting from scratch, in order to have better technical quality. So, the answer is, we do leverage the experience from a lot on all areas. Some areas are more concrete, where we can re-use, some areas are more based on the experience we've gained. And, if you had more time and had known those learnings and gotten the right the first time in early access, then the upside could have been many times as big. That's what we want to do with the Dune game. Then we have all those learnings and we're gonna get the game properly from the first time on the platform that's easy to scale and keep building on in a much easier way than it is on the now. So, that's what we're working towards and we're very excited about."
 * Untitled (Dune) (PC Windows, PS4, PS5, XOne, XSX. Others TBD.  Possibly PC macOS. ), TBD - in Pre-Production by Funcom Oslo AS.
 * Frank Herbert's Dune IP.
 * 3+ games, the first of which will be a persistent, open-world survival game with online multi-player and PvP. The other two are likely Survival, FPS or similar.
 * Very large-scale, open world terrain. Multiple times the size of .
 * Living / Changing worlds.
 * A lot of different gameplay systems (Sandstorm, Combat, Building, Spice).
 * Humanoids, creatures, vehicles and weapons with combat similar to third-person/first-person/unconventional and vehicular shooters. Includes player abilities, aim assist/shooter mechanics and RPG progression systems. May include class/role-based gameplay.
 * Uses the Unreal 4 engine and will likely use DreamWorld Technology. The server technology will possibly be multi-threaded and have built-in support for Linux server configuration features.
 * Sold with a premium, game as a service business model. As of the Q4 2019 financial report, the investment budget is estimated at USD 30-50m by Funcom.
 * Timeline TBD. The game is to be released after around two years of production, preferably within the 2020 - 2021 financial window, as long as sufficient additional funding is secured. The Q4 2019 financial report suggests a release in 2021. RedEye estimates the first game will be launched earliest in Q4 2021, but more likely during 2022. All three games are to be developed between 2019 - 2025 during Funcom's partnership with Legendary Entertainment.

- Rui Casais


 * Funcom works closely with Legendary Entertainment to make sure they capitalize on the opportunities and synergies between the movie and the game and is applying learnings from .

Ports

 * Currently none.

Employees

 * See also: Credits for people who have worked on .

Public Relations
Members of the PR team.

Investor Relations
"As of 1st November 2016 (excluding COO and CFO). The Management Board, the Chief Financial Officer and the Executive Vice President of Business Operations are the Company's spokesmen for contact with the financial markets."

Official links

 * Site
 * Twitter
 * Facebook
 * Instagram
 * LinkedIn
 * YouTube
 * Twitch