We’re back with another roundup of MMO industry and business stories related to our corner of the online gaming world.
Funcom: Funcom is moving to Norway! OK, maybe the press release’s headline is a bit deceptive. In fact, what Funcom did today was announce that it is moving its registered office from the Netherlands to Norway, where it is already headquartered and has been for ages, specifically “to reduce the burden of administrative expenses and achieve a more efficient group structure” – we presume in advance of the ongoing Tencent takeover.
“The relocation will not lead to a change of legal entity and the Company will continue to be governed by the current legislation applicable to Dutch listed companies until the relocation to Norway has been completed. After relocation to Norway, the Company will be governed by the legislation applicable to Norwegian public limited liability companies (Norwegian: allmennaksjeloven). The management board has given its approval to the attached relocation plan which will be filed with the Commercial Register of the Chamber of Commerce (Handelsregister van de Kamer van Koophandel) and will be announced in the Dutch newspaper, Trouw, next week. The relocation plan will require approval by the shareholders at a general meeting (the annual general meeting), which will be held on or about 15 June 2020 in Badhoevedorp, the Netherlands.”
Japan: Remember a while back when China shut down its games approval bureaucracy for a revamp, freezing new game releases for nearly a year? COVID-19 is apparently doing something similar to Japan’s games market, although not remotely for the same reasons. Kotaku reports that Japan’s Computer Entertainment Rating Organization aka CERO will shutter until (at least?) May 6th, following the country’s state of emergency over the pandemic. Apparently, it’s too hard to organizes judges who rate and approve the games in a work-from-home situation, so that means no new games from Japan for a month or so.
Dean Hall’s next big thing: Finally, DayZ has waned in buzz over the years, and MMO players are probably understandably wary about Dean Hall after the dissolution of his MMO sandbox Ion and the unfinished state of Stationeers. But this week he announced that he’s working on a “massive (unannounced) survival game,” planning a play test soonish. [via RPS]
Super excited to announce today is the FIRST DAY that I am back working with the amazing @Hicks_206. He has joined @rocketwerkz as our Executive Producer on our massive (unannounced) survival game. We are about to start a play test! Incredible to be back working with you again!
— Dean Hall (@rocket2guns) April 6, 2020
Gonna be honest, though – we just wanted Ion.
https://youtu.be/4asYhzDgT6M
Wheee.
