Funcom: The Secret World metascores to blame for share price drop

Funcom has posted an investor update on The Secret World to its official website. The company says its data are "based on current sales, press and gamer feedback, and early indicators of subscription levels following the free 30 days."

The news isn't particularly good, as Funcom's share price has lost half its value in recent days. The company believes the culprit is TSW's aggregate review scores, which include the metascore at MetaCritic (72 out of 100) together with "other public sources" for tracking performance.

Funcom's update states that it does not expect to meet either of its financial scenarios for the first 12 months following The Secret World's launch. Scenario one included 490,000 "average subs," while scenario two included 1,050,000 client sales and 280,000 subscriptions. In order to increase sales, Funcom is bringing TSW to Steam and "focusing on key areas for improvement of the game and ongoing activities on content updates, sales initiatives and communication."

Funcom also notes that it has "significantly lower operational cost for TSW than was the case for Age of Conan" and that overall customer satisfaction is high. "A possible scenario going forward is that the game will sell less, [...] but with high customer satisfaction, it will generate a more stable subscriber base than Age of Conan. Over time, this will enable Funcom to retain more customers and generate higher revenue," the report says.