Seriously underused cash shop

[Kurt2013]

There's just too few devs working on AoC atm. TSW have more players and when Funcom does have some spare time to create a new design they make it for TSW as it will sell better there. So AoC get the shorter end of the stick.

Lego Minigigures is supposed to go into Beta this fall, so obviously they spend lots of resources on that atm.

If they're a bit clever they allow beta testers to spend money in the itemshop in the beta and then just refund them the points when the beta ends like they did with AOC itemshop when it was on TL, the tech does support this and should bring in a little extra dough.

In 2014 Funcom should have more legs to stand on with income from Tablets and minifigures.

But social games in the past haven'r worked out well for Funcom, neither pets vs monsters of Fashion Week live returned any significant ammounts of money.

If what you say is true, it would be very sad (though not new for those playing during 2011). Where do you take your numbers from?

Just let me quote the annual report, where they state, that Anarchy online has around 2 million gamers, AoC has more than 3,2 million players (though how many are subbed and how many f2p and how many pay while f2p is not said, of course) and TSW ....surprisely no numbers given (just that it is the latest and has gotten top critics). Later they mention the pre-orders and pre-release beta signups though and that after 2012 and a "successfull" PR campaign the numbers (which numbers?? maybe i missed them, then i apologize) have increased by four times.

Imo, there is a phase where it makes sense to "finish" and focus one game at a time. But make this too long and completely neglect the others is not a good choice. It was already a problem in 2011 that people thought AoC was funding TSW...in return it was said, that dreamworld update would be giving a lot of synergy effects. Where are those? (so far i got a tad more stability, a tradeoff of shorter loading screen for a LOT more background loading, weird clipping issues making whole armor sets visually unuseable and a worse handling of "non normal" character types and the interaction with armor (girdles, necks etc.).
Especially with new items for the shop and pvp mini maps in mind...where is this:
"Powerful game development soft ware (tools). A
suite of very powerful game tools enables designers
to make tailored game content quickly and ensures
quick iterations of game play development."
(quoted from p.66 of the report) ?

If that would have been true, then it should not matter if a design sells better in AoC or any other dreamworld game. After all, it is all the same ship for them, or not?

[letsdance]

Funcom used to post how much TSW made in some months if you check earlier reports. So it's possible to figure out some numbers on how much TSW and AOC make. But how they make their money is fundamentally different. TSW makes money from the Box+Itemshop while Aoc makes money from Subs+itemshop, so the need to put stuff up for sale in Aoc is not so pressing(+fewer players overall)

Funcom dosen't make logical long term decisions, rigt now it's the survival of the company. If Lego Minifigures and the new tablet games flops then the company could go bankrupt in 2015 when they have to pay down the loans. If they don't have 15m USD by then, they will have to sell of the dreamworld engine and it's bye bye Funcom.