Funcom Facing Financial Troubles

Funcom aren't the world's favorite developers currently, what with the eons it took for the Anarchy Online engine update to release and players claiming that no new content has been added to Age of Conan since before it went free-to-play. It seems all the perceived missteps are catching up to them as the company is currently "[initiating] review of strategic options," hiring investment bankers ABG Sundal Collier to "undertake a broad review of the strategic options available to the company." In the meantime, Funcom are also seeking investments, acquisitions, mergers, or any other options that may allow them to continue to operate.

This news comes after the company posted a report about how LEGO Minifigures Online failed to meet expectations at the end of last month. According to the report, "the game is currently not meeting internal revenue forecasts [...] mostly due to low sales on the PC platform." You might remember that the game costs a staggering $30 on PC, whereas it is a mere $5 on iOS, where the game has "performed better, mainly due to the featuring in the Apple Store during the launch week, but [...] these additional sales are not enough to compensate for the low sales on PC for the time being."

They also note that "interest from the gaming press in the product is more limited than expected." The MetaCritic score is currently sitting at 65 on PC and 77 on iOS, leaving it with an average score at best. According to the report, the iOS score is within the "internal target range," whereas the PC score isn't.

The strategic review seems to be happening largely due to debt related to the development of LEGO Minifigures Online. The report states that the debt must be repaid by June 2016.