FUNCOM FOCUSED ON X-BOX
July 11, 2000

Funcom announced today that the company will start developing X-Box games. Funcom's Dublin studio will now focus its resources on the Xbox.

"After evaluating the Playstation 2 and the Xbox technology for several months we have taken the strategic decision to go for Microsoft's new gaming console - the Xbox," says Funcom President Andre Backen.

Currently, Funcom develops games for both Playstation and PC. The Playstation development is located in Dublin, Ireland and the PC and Internet development is located in Oslo, Norway. As Funcom will now use the Dublin development studio to concentrate on Xbox development, the company will no longer pursue the Playstation2.

"The Funcom organization has all the know-how and resources necessary to make excellent Xbox games for the future. Transferring our long-term experience from console, PC and Internet development into Xbox development is only a matter of small organizational adjustments," Backen explains.

"We believe that Xbox has significant market potential due to both cutting edge technology and Microsoft's marketing muscle," says Backen. "And on top of that, exploiting the new technology reduce our development cycle with several months, which also cut development costs with approximately 20%."

The last Playstation titles from Funcom Dublin were the racing titles "Speed Freaks / Speed Punks" (Sony) and "Championship Motocross" (THQ). Funcom has also achieved recognition for it's PC and Internet games such as the adventure game "The Longest Journey" and the coming massive multiplayer online RPG "Anarchy Online".