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Following a round of layoffs, a delay for one of its most anticipated titles and continuing reports of the player decline of Age of Conan, we knew that Norwegian developer Funcom wasn't in the best shape. Earlier today, the company posted its Q3 financial results and confirmed our suspicions: The company's reporting a $9.6 million loss for the third quarter of this year. Compared to the company's $3.3 million profit from the same period last year, that's a pretty disheartening decline.

With an expansion for Age of Conan and the ever-intriguing The Secret World presumably due out next year, and (according to a September 30 finance report) $34.8 million in the bank, Funcom's far from down and out. However, until one of those titles hits store shelves, things are probably going to get considerably less fun for Funcom.

We contacted Age of Conan developer Funcom yesterday after reports from Norwegian news site E24 claimed the company would soon be making major staff cuts. The company's director of communications, Erling Ellingsen, recently responded to our query, confirming the layoffs, and adding that Ragnar Tørnquist's mysterious MMO The Secret World would indeed be delayed "by a few months." Age of Conan and its in-development expansion, Rise of the Godslayer, will not be affected by the layoffs.

Ellingsen explained that the cuts, which would primarily take place in Funcom's Oslo, Norway offices, were made "in order to adjust to the market situation." Though the layoffs are coming fairly soon after the developer announced its new, Montreal-based studio, Ellingsen explained that "this has nothing to do with the establishment of our studio in Canada." We wish our Norwegian game-crafting allies the best of luck in getting back on their feet.

Digital retailer Direct2Drive continues its seemingly endless parade of values this week with a number of MMOs and RPGs which you can acquire for a single five-dollar bill. These titles include Neverwinter Nights 2, EVE Online, Age of Conan and Assassin's Creed Director's Cut. Well, fine -- that last one isn't exactly an RPG, unless what the director cut from the original version was turn-based random encounters.

If you're not a fan of playing roles, you'll be happy to know that D2D has kept a number of the previous weeks' deals alive, adding BioShock, Civilization 4, Assault on Dark Athena and many other titles to the pile of $5 games. If you're looking to expand your PC library on the cheap, it's definitely worth checking out.

Funcom isn't planning on a sequel to Anarchy Online just yet. Speaking with VideoGamer, Game Director Craig Morrison believes a sequel would be "problematic." He notes that AO has been running for eight years and is still making money. We can't blame Funcom for not wanting to mess with a game that's making money.

Morrison explains that Age of Conan and The Secret World are currently the company's two main projects. For now, it looks like Anarchy won't be getting a sequel for ... well, considering MMO development cycles, a good long while.

Have you turned your back on Hyboria, nay, the entire Age of Conan? The MMO may be populated with barbarians, but its developer, Funcom, is really being quite nice to turncoats by offering two free weeks of gameplay if you return. No questions axed.

This re-evaluation campaign comes in advance of August's planned game expansion, which itself is set to be unveiled at Germany's GamesCom, which runs August 19 through 23. The wise barbarian will pocket those 14 days of free play until then.

Listen, we're in no position to further heckle Funcom's muscle-bound MMO Age of Conan for its underwhelming install base. We think it's great that the game has survived this long, and we're certain the game's three players will -- no! No heckling! The game's players will be thrilled to hear Funcom's got a big expansion planned for the Hyborean RPG.

The developer is planning on unveiling the expansion during GamesCom, a gaming convention (comvention?) that will be held in Cologne, Germany from August 19 - 23. Details about the add-on are non-existant -- hopefully it won't include any mammarical modifications, which have already been proven to be decidedly unpopular with Conan's subscribers.

FunCom has announced that Age of Conan is officially celebrating its first anniversary this week, adding that the company has seen a "significant" increase in the number of players per month. The company also noted that activity levels in the game have increased "significantly." Just how significant is all of this significance? That's anybody's guess, as Funcom hasn't provided any hard numbers.

Considering that the Age of Conan log recounts a litany of woe and despair, we suppose any player increases would be good news which, in and of itself, would be significant for the beleaguered MMO. In celebration of the first anniversary of the game, players will be treated to in-game fireworks and the chance to win prizes. Also, Funcom will soon be adding the ability to buy additional character slots and, as a bonus anniversary gift, will provide veteran players that have subscribed to the MMO for at least six months with a new character slot for free. Everyone else gets to keep playing World of Warcraft.

Nordic Game 2009 is fast approaching and, like you, we're gearing up by listening to loads of ABBA, driving Volvos and wearing nothing but H&M clothing. That's all they do over there, right? Anyway, with the conference comes the obligatory awards show, though this one comes with a uniquely nordic theme. While über nordic games like LasseMajas and Englekræsj show up on the list, EA DICE-developed Mirror's Edge and Funcom-developed Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures are duking it out for two major awards: Artistic Achievement and Best Nordic Game.

We can't speak to the ... ahem ... games we've never heard of running against Mirror's Edge and Age of Conan, but retro remake Bionic Commando: Rearmed is also competing for the Best Nordic Game award, while Watchmen: The End is Nigh takes on the two for Artistic Achievement. The awards are set to be a veritable smörgåsbord of gaming, if you will. (Those are Swedish, right?)

[Via Edge]

Mongol General: Conan! What is best in life?
Conan: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.
Mongol General: That is good! That is good. And what's second best?
Conan: Well, I guess it's looking at a company with a $23.3 million operating loss in the fourth quarter and being able to say to yourself, "Hey, you know what? As the CFO, I'm gonna go ahead and deploy the old life raft and try to reach shore, or, barring that, a promising web 3.0 start-up that would benefit from an experienced hand." It's tough to throw in the towel, but sometimes it's just the sound fiscal decision.
Mongol General: ... Yeah, well, I guess that's pretty good too.

Funcom is still developing a Xbox 360 port of Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, the publisher reiterated in an interview with Eurogamer. The affirmation comes after PC player subscriptions for the MMO dropped and half the servers were shut down.

Game Director Craig Morrison wouldn't go into specifics beyond the fact that the company still plans on having a version on Microsoft's console. Morrison describes the team working on the console version as small and dedicated. Heck, it's worth a try. Then again, who will test it? Didn't QA get laid off?

Funcom has revealed that its ailing MMO Age of Conan will reduce its server count from 49 to 18. The cuts are most dramatic in the US, where 25 servers have been hacked to six. GI.biz speculates that AoC won't be shut down because it's Funcom's only source of income until it launches The Secret World, allegedly releasing in the next couple years.

Although the server reductions have been anticipated since late last year, Funcom only recently announced the full list of closures mergers. Funcom also recently disposed of employees in its QA and customer service departments. The company isn't doing too hot with its Hyborian Adventures at the moment, but hopefully these changes will keep the company afloat until the Conan expansion's cash infusion arrives.

[Via Massively]

It has been a long, long time since we heard anything about the Xbox 360 version of the Funcom MMO Age of Conan. Considering the spate of bad news about Funcom and AOC lately, we were half convinced that the project had been shelved altogether. Not so, apparently, as Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas told gamesindustry.biz that the title was still in the works, saying, "We had high expectations when we first set out to do a console version of Age of Conan, and these remain high." He added that Funcom is working to tailor the experience to the console, saying that the 360 version should boast "most, if not all of the content and improvements that have been made to the PC version of the game."

Just when we should expect to see Age of Conan on the 360, Arne Aas did not say.

[Via Ars Technica]

The bad news parade for Age of Conan doesn't look like it's going to stop until it pulls a Tabula Rasa. TenTonHammer has confirmed layoffs at developer Funcom's US branch. Although the company would only acknowledge "staffing cuts," TTH reported rumors that 70% of the staff, mostly from the customer service and quality assurance departments, were let go.

Although it's certainly no secret that Age of Conan is hurting at this point, the QA and CS departments are the two bookends of support on many MMORPGs. When there's no need for them, it speaks volumes about what happens next.

[Via Game|Life]

Despite his rather stoic delivery during an Activision Blizzard conference call earlier today, Blizzard's Mike Morhaime undoubtedly took some thrill reciting the following statistics relating to players trying to leave World of Warcraft for the competition: Of the players who cited Funcom's Age of Conan as their reason for leaving WoW, a whopping 68% returned to Azeroth; of the players who cited Warhammer: Age of Reckoning as the impetus behind their departure, a less overwhelming (but similarly impressive) 46% of players ultimately leapt right back into Blizzard's no-doubt strategically receptive embrace.

So, what's the takeaway from this tale? Like broadband internet, hardcore drugs, or those 24-hour wicker stores, World of Warcraft is tough to stay away from once you've gotten a taste. And with Blizzard on the cusp of rolling out its latest and greatest expansion in Wrath of the Lich King, we're pretty certain there are plenty of cold-turkeyers getting the shakes just thinking about it.