They’re sticking to their guns on design and it’s no level or class approach. The Secret World is ”actually unique and different” from the competition, declared Funcom’s Ragnar Tornquist.
The studio boss said it’s ”never fun, but it’s the way of things” as Funcom downsized the full development team for The Secret World to a more ”cost-efficient live team.”
”The Secret World has a bright future ahead of it and the team remains dedicated to delivering monthly content updates,” said Ragnar Tornquist on his August State of the Game address. The reason for his sunny optimism is because of The Secret World’s not-so-secret weapon of being ‘truly unique’.
”Okay, look, 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,” he said.
”Freedom from classes and levels; a modern-day setting with real world locations; a critically acclaimed storyline and an atmosphere second to none; fully voiced characters that you can empathise with and believe in; a deep and unique character progression system, with boundless opportunities for experimentation and character development.”
”I think it’s fair to say that TSW is an original and ground-breaking game, and our players agree. Our ratings remain incredibly high – in fact, with an 8.4 Metacritic user score, we’re amongst the highest rated MMOs of the past decade – and our community is vocal, positive and growing.”
The studio isn’t about to change what made it so enthralling to those sucked in so far.
”We’re not going to play it safe. We won’t be introducing classes or levels, elves or centaurs, and regardless of the competition, we won’t back down from our original vision. We’re going to keep doing what we’re good at. We’ll continue to push the boundaries, and we’ll keep reinventing the wheel (quite literally).”
”Five years ago, we set out to revolutionise the genre, and the revolution has just begun.”
Tornquist went on to describe what the live team have up their sleeve to keep new content rolling out and how to bring new players into the secret societies. Funcom operate a subscription-based model for The Secret World but we’ll see how long that lasts as most if not all end up going free-to-play in order to survive.
