The Secret World Sells Just 200,000 Copies Since July Launch

Developer Funcom has revealed that its recently launched MMO The Secret World has managed to sell only 200,000 units since it was launched in the early days of July.

The company says that sales were lower than expected and believes that The Secret World was affected by the mixed reviews that the game received from various outlets and by the competition it faced in the MMO space.

Just before The Secret World was launched, ArenaNet announced that its own much-awaited title, Guild Wars 2, would be released on August 28 and Blizzard also chose the same period to reveal that it was delivering the Mists of Pandaria expansion for World of Warcraft on September 25.

A financial focused statement from Funcom reads: “The Company will concentrate its new development on more focused, systems-driven games that have a high degree of community and player interaction. These games require less time and development cost to bring to market.”

Funcom has also reported that it has concluded a number of cost-cutting measures designed to ensure “that all of the live games as well as the company are cash-flow positive.”

The developer will continue to look for ways of attracting more players to The Secret World, although it is not clear whether the plans include going free-to-play at any point in the near future.

Funcom also says that it will change its focus and create smaller online games for the foreseeable future, aiming for less resource use and smaller development cycles.

The Secret World is an MMO that aims to combine traditional combat mechanics against a variety of supernatural creatures with a lot of puzzles and a story that is linked to three secret societies and how their actions impact the real world.

We have a full Softpedia review for The Secret World.