Age of Conan Developer Funcom Cuts Staff

A spokesperson for Funcom has confirmed with Ten Ton Hammer that it's laid off a number of staff as a cost savings measure. The company would not specify the number of people let go, stating: "We did have some staffing cuts at Funcom this week as well as new positions opening in the organization as part of our ongoing cost based efficiency and performance initiatives that are vital to any business."

An initial report at Ten Ton Hammer suggested that as much as 70 percent of Funcom's U.S. workforce was laid off, mostly in customer service and quality assurance. Funcom did not comment on these details, however. 

Funcom and publisher Eidos announced back in June that 700,000 people had signed up for Age of Conan. Furthermore, Blizzard even acknowledged that some players had been leaving World of Warcraft to play Conan, but in the months following most of those players seemed to return to WoW, especially with the recent launch of Wrath of the Lich King.