Report: Funcom Confirms U.S. Layoffs

Following reports that it had laid off a portion of its U.S. customer service and QA staff for titles such as PC MMO Age Of Conan, Norway-based Funcom confirmed that it did cut an unspecified number of employees. "We did have some staffing cuts at Funcom this week as well as new positions opening in the organization as part of our ongoing cost based efficiency and performance initiatives that are vital to any business," said Funcom in an official statement posted by MMO news site Ten Ton Hammer. The company, which has its U.S. offices in Durham, North Carolina, recently reported revenues of $18 million for its third quarter, largely propelled by subscriptions for MMO Age of Conan released in May of this year. Though Age of Conan claimed a user base of 415,000 as of August, Funcom noted that the average subscription period has been lower than expected, leading to a reduction in subscriber levels. It's believed that this underperformance of Age Of Conan compared to expectations, alongside a relatively lack of other major titles (with only the much older Anarchy Online still in operation by the firm) led to the downsizing.