As the MMO genre matures, and as certain avenues of competition are closed off by saturation, developers naturally begin to turn their sights towards unexplored territory for the genre. One such is Funcom’s Ragnar Tornquist; perhaps best known for The Longest Journey, he’s more interested in exploring a supernaturally-tinged present-day world than another medieval fantasy empire.

Though the MMO he’s working on, The Secret World is being built on the technological underpinnings that drive the company’s game Age of Conan, it’s a very different title — one that blends horror, fantasy, and real-world urban settings with some traditional MMO gameplay. On the other hand, a character leveling system, the absolute backbone of the genre, is eschewed.

Here, Tornquist describes the creative tone he’s going for as director and producer of the game, alongside Martin Bruusgaard, the game’s lead designer.

The result sounds like an experience both like and unlike online and offline games of the past — and one that could be an important stepping stone in the genre’s evolution if it finds a receptive audience.

I first saw NDA’d material from this game way back in 2005, as I recall. How long have you actually been working on it?

Ragnar Tornquist: This game has been in development for a very long time. We’ve been working on it for a while. Officially, we’ve been working on the game since 2006. That’s when we had sort of the team we have now, but we did work on the game briefly before when it was called Cabal back in 2002.

[…]

Read the full interview on Gamasutra (or the printer-friendly version)…

Trouvé sur Radio-Canada:

L’entreprise spécialisée dans le développement de jeux vidéo en ligne Funcom, qui annonçait l’ouverture d’un bureau à Montréal en septembre dernier, commence à déménager.

Pour l’instant, environ 25 employés des bureaux de l’entreprise en Norvège et en Chine ont été déployés dans la métropole. Parmi eux, des concepteurs de l’entreprise qui développent de nouveaux jeux, notamment la suite de Age of Conan, un titre phare de Funcom.

Elle a aussi nommé un nouveau PDG pour sa division canadienne, Miguel Caron. Ce dernier a auparavant dirigé plusieurs entreprises, entre autres dans le domaine des technologies. Il occupait jusqu’à récemment le poste de PDG de l’entreprise BCM.

[…]

Lisez le reste sur Radio-Canada.

Update: Here’s a cool trailer for Secret World (via @pllabbee3pod):

Switching to english, here are more details from the press release:

MONTREAL, Jan. 7 /CNW Telbec/ – Funcom – the highly acclaimed independent developer and publisher of online games – is delighted to announce a key nomination for its newly established Montreal based company, Funcom Games Canada. The award-winning Miguel Caron – who brings with him over 15 years of organizational leadership experience – has been appointed to serve as the CEO for Funcom Games Canada Inc.

"We are thrilled to have Miguel join us at Funcom," says Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas. "Our Montreal based Company is central to a string of new business initiatives in Funcom, both in the high-end MMO space and in the casual MMO space. Mr. Caron will be instrumental in developing and expanding those initiatives. We have already found Quebec and Montreal to be an excellent location for business and we look forward to further expand our operations here under the leadership for Miguel."

Miguel Caron has a proven track record of driving strong, sustainable revenue and productivity gains within highly competitive national and global markets. Mr. Caron will take on leadership of several strategic initiatives for Funcom, in several different areas of the exciting MMO games segment. One of his first mandates will be to lead the growth in employees at the Montreal company.

"Funcom is renowned for quality productions such as ‘Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures’ and the ‘Longest Journey’ series. I have found its management team to be extremely competent, which is of course a key aspect of being successful in such a competitive market. I look forward to bringing my business experience to help that management team generate even more value to all Funcom stakeholders," stated Miguel Caron, the newly appointed CEO of Funcom Games Canada.

Mr. Caron has led successful public and private businesses such Lyrtech Inc. He was instrumental to the growth of many high-tech companies and won many awards like the Arista price for best young entrepreneur of the year for mid and large size company as well as the Deloitte Canadian Fast 50.

About FUNCOM

Funcom is a world leading independent developer and publisher of online games, and was founded in 1993. There are currently over 300 talented individuals from over 35 different nationalities working at Funcom, spread out across offices in Norway, China, Switzerland, Canada and the US. This makes Funcom one of the most multi-cultural game development studios in the world. The company is responsible for multiple award-winning titles such as the ‘Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures’ and ‘Anarchy Online’ MMOs, as well as the ‘The Longest Journey’ and ‘Dreamfall’ adventure games.

For corporate information please visit www.funcom.com.

For information about Funcom games visit http://www.anarchy-online.com, www.dreamfall.com, www.darkdaysarecoming.com or www.ageofconan.com.

Funcom is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker FUNCOM.

Screenshots and the trailers for The Secret World and Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures are available at ftp://ftp.funcom.com/press/the_secret_world

A high-resolution picture of Miguel Caron is available upon request.

For further information: Alexandra Graveline, Morin Public Relations, (514) 289-8688, ext. 229, Cell.: (514) 247-9971, alexandra@morinrp.com; Charles Durivage, Morin Public Relations, (514) 289-8688, ext. 227, charlesd@morinrp.com; Source: Erling Ellingsen, Director of Communications, Funcom, +47 22 92 59 44

Mr. Aas will take this opportunity to announce the company’s new location, as well as to present the business objectives and the role Montreal will play in Funcom, the group’s vision for the upcoming years and the company’s labour development plan in Canada.

Since Funcom’s Montreal division will play a pivotal role in a series of new business initiatives, in both high-end massively multiplayer online (MMO) and general public gaming, Mr. Aas will also be presenting excerpts of highly anticipated new games, including The Secret World.

WHAT: Official announcement of appointment of first CEO for Funcom Games Canada Inc. and business objectives

WHEN: Thursday, January 7, 2010, 10:30 a.m.

WHERE:
Salle du conseil
Montréal International
380 Saint-Antoine West, suite 8000
Montreal

About FUNCOM

Funcom was founded in 1993 and is today one of the world’s leading independent developers and publishers of MMO games. More than 300 employees from over 35 different nationalities work at Funcom, at its offices in Norway, China, Switzerland, Canada and the US, making it one of the most multicultural game development studios in the world. The company is responsible for several highly acclaimed titles, including the MMO Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures and the adventure games The Longest Journey and Dreamfall.

For further information: Alexandra Graveline, Morin Public Relations, (514) 289-8688, ext. 229, Cell.: (514) 247-9971, alexandra@morinrp.com; Charles Durivage, Morin Public Relations, (514) 289-8688, ext. 227, charles@morinrp.com; Source: FUNCOM

Age Of Conan developer Funcom will reportedly cut 20 per cent of its workforce and delay the release of its new PC and Xbox 360 MMO, The Secret World, by several months.

The news was revealed in a stock exchange announcement on Tuesday, according to a Google translation of an E24 report. The site said that the Norwegian developer’s stock fell 18 per cent following the announcement.

Founded in 1993, Funcom currently employs over 320 staff across its offices in Norway, the US, China, and Switzerland. It has developed over 20 titles but is perhaps best known for its MMO Age Of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, which shipped over 1.2 million copies to retail in 2008.

In early September Funcom announced that it would be opening a new studio in Montreal, Canada to "take advantage of the great incentive programmes offered by the Quebec region". E24 says that Funcom invited its 220 Norwegian employees to move to Quebec where up to 37.5 per cent of game development salary costs are reimbursed, and that the company plans to hire 100-150 people in Canada over the next 18 months.