The State of The Secret World

News about Funcom since the launch of its MMO The Secret World hasn't been very good, as a round of significant layoffs recently swept through the company. In light of those events, creative director and senior producer Ragnar Tørnquist released a statement explaining what's going on with development.

Tørnquist was very enthusiastic about The Secret World despite the recent troubles, "...we all know there are a lot of alternatives out there -- from warring guilds to kung-fu-fighting pandas -- but I can safely say that no other game offers what The Secret World offers. Freedom from classes and levels; a modern-day setting with real world locations; a critically acclaimed storyline and an atmosphere second to none...."

He insisted that the development team must continue to take risks moving forward. "We're not going to play it safe. We won't be introducing classes or levels, elves or dwarves, and regardless of the competition, we won't back down from our original vision."

So what does that mean for future game updates? In part, it means Funcom will continue to release new content for The Secret World on a monthly basis, though there will be a two week delay for the upcoming Digging Deeper content as a result of the layoffs. Funcom will also continue to polish the game and fix bugs.

Tørnquist closed by outlining a few specific pieces of content that are in development. "There's a ten-person raid in New York scheduled for October, and it's not like any raid you've ever played before. We have a bunch of auxiliary weapons on the way, and more character customisation improvements. We have a huge and exciting new feature pencilled in for Christmas, which ties into the achievement system and gives a lot more meaning to the usual 'Kill 1,000 Vampires' goals. (After all, who hasn't wondered what it would be like to have some vampiric abilities to play around with?) We're creating intermediary decks with brand new clothing rewards; we have a ton of new missions and storylines in development; and we have a huge new adventure zone scheduled for next spring, bringing players back to Tokyo's Ground Zero, to face brand new threats, meet new characters, play new missions and explore an intriguing urban environment unlike anything you've ever seen in an MMO."

You can find his full statement on the game's official site. If you're not familiar with The Secret World, you can also check out the IGN review.

Have you tried The Secret World? If you're still playing, how does this upcoming content sound?

Source : ign[dot]com