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<generator>Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/</generator><item><title><![CDATA[Funcom to open Montréal studio]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/09/01/funcom-to-open-montreal-studio/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/09/01/funcom-to-open-montreal-studio/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/09/01/funcom-to-open-montreal-studio/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/age-of-conan/" rel="tag">Age of Conan</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/mmo-industry/" rel="tag">MMO industry</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/the-secret-world/" rel="tag">The Secret World</a></p><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/the-secret-world"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="middle" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2009/09/secretworlddevastationat580.jpg" /></a><br />Word <a href="http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25103">got out earlier today</a> that <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/funcom">Funcom</a> is establishing a new game development studio in Montr&eacute;al. If your French is up to snuff, you can read all about it on <a href="http://www.lesaffaires.com/article/0/sports--loisirs-et-divertissements/2009-09-01/497533/jeu-videteacuteo-funcom-sametegravene-etagrave-montreteacuteal.fr.html">Les Affaires</a>, but <a href="http://www.funcom.com">Funcom</a> was quick to make an announcement of their expansion plans. <a href="http://www.funcom.com/wsp/funcom/frontend.cgi?func=publish.show&amp;func_id=1361&amp;table=CONTENT">According to their official release</a>, the new studio is being established in cooperation with <a href="http://www.investquebec.com/en/">Investissement Qu&eacute;bec</a>, with Ole Schreiner as CEO of the Montr&eacute;al studio. <br /><br />Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas made a statement on Funcom's reasons for establishing a Qu&eacute;bec studio: <em>"We are excited about the opportunity that Montr&eacute;al represents to our company, not only because of the great incentives offered by Qu&eacute;bec, but also the authorities' strong commitment to training qualified video games personnel and building a video games cluster in Montr&eacute;al and Qu&eacute;bec." </em><p><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/09/01/funcom-to-open-montreal-studio/" rel="bookmark">Continue reading <em>Funcom to open Montréal studio</em></a></p><p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/09/01/funcom-to-open-montreal-studio/">Funcom to open Montréal studio</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25103>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/09/01/funcom-to-open-montreal-studio/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19147834/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/09/01/funcom-to-open-montreal-studio/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>age-of-conan</category><category>ceo</category><category>funcom</category><category>mmo-industry</category><category>montreal</category><category>ole-schreiner</category><category>quebec</category><category>the-secret-world</category><category>trond-aas</category><category>trond-arne-aas</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Egan]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Funcom CEO sells company stock]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/08/25/funcom-ceo-sells-company-stock/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/08/25/funcom-ceo-sells-company-stock/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/08/25/funcom-ceo-sells-company-stock/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/real-life/" rel="tag">Real life</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/age-of-conan/" rel="tag">Age of Conan</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/economy/" rel="tag">Economy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/mmo-industry/" rel="tag">MMO industry</a></p><div align="center"><a href="http://aoc-prime.com/"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2008/08/aoc_siege_4-sms-0808.jpg" /></a><br /></div>
Sure it may be completely innocent, but it's interesting nonetheless. According to <a href="http://abnnewswire.net/press/en/55711/Funcom_NV_NO_OSL:FUNCOM_Mandatory_Notification_Of_Trade.html">a recent announcement</a>, <a href="http://www.funcom.com">Funcom</a>'s CEO <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/CNNI/Programs/futuresummit/panel.virtual.worlds/">Trond Aas</a> has recently sold 400,000 shares of his company's stock. The announcement also states that these shares were sold <em>"primarily to cover Mr. Aas' acquisition costs of the shares as well as accumulated wealth tax costs of the past six years as a result of the holdings in Funcom." </em>This 400,000 number represents only a fraction of the shares owned by the CEO.<br /><br />While <a href="http://www.brighthub.com/video-games/pc/articles/5260.aspx">this Brighthub article</a> tends to focus on the timing of the sale, pointing out that <a href="http://www.ageofconan.com"><em>Age of Conan</em></a> has already lost nearly half of its customers, no official connection has been made. However, the stock's price has fallen quite dramatically lately, closing at $13.60 per share on August 22, 2008, which is down from $55.50 per share on <em>Age of Conan</em>'s release in May.<br /><br /><strong>Update:</strong> This is a take on the Brighthub article more than anything, blaming <em>AoC</em> for everything, not to be confused with <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/08/15/funcom-quarterly-report-reveals-age-of-conan-performance/">this original post</a>. Plus, we get a look at the actual announcement about the stock sales itself. Sorry for any confusion of duplicates.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/08/25/funcom-ceo-sells-company-stock/">Funcom CEO sells company stock</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:30:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://www.brighthub.com/video-games/pc/articles/5260.aspx>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/08/25/funcom-ceo-sells-company-stock/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/1294343/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/08/25/funcom-ceo-sells-company-stock/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>age-of-conan</category><category>aoc</category><category>ceo</category><category>funcom</category><category>stock</category><category>trond-aas</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Shawn Schuster]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:30:00 EST</pubDate></item></channel></rss>
