In a new interview with Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas, GameIndustry.biz was informed that both the console version of Age of Conan and The Secret World are both still on track. They also get into the recent Funcom layoffs, and the CEO explains that the need for QA is normally reduced when the first six months of a live project is over.

“The changes in the US Customer Service operations are partly a result of certain functions being moved to Europe as well as adjustments to reflect the current subscriber levels. Improvements in the game have also led to less demand for Customer Service personnel, something we are of course very happy about.”

The evolution of Age of Conan since launch has been useful for the team working on The Secret World, influencing design and providing improved technical assistance, said Arne Aas.

“The development of The Secret World continues and we are expanding the development team at a steady pace.

“This is a very exciting project for us, and the team working on it has been able to draw on the innovations of Age of Conan for quite some time now – especially from a technological standpoint.”

You can read the full interview here.

I noticed some Funcom job updates on the Oslo Job Listings Page. They are primarily for The Secret World but also include a 360 programmer and a Text Coordinator for Age of Conan.

Art

• Assistant Art Director – The Secret World
• Concept Artist – The Secret World

• Graphic Designer (Web)/ GUI Artist – The Secret World
• Senior Character Artist – The Secret World

Design

• GUI Designer – The Secret World
• Web Developer – The Secret World
• Writer – The Secret World

Other

• Text Coordinator – Age of Conan

Production

• Associate Producer – The Secret World

Programming

• 360 Programmer
• Java Programmer – The Casual Game
• Rendering Programmer

MTV Multiplayer follows up on Funcom’s recent staff cuts to find out if they will affect Age of Conan PC or the Xbox 360 version of the game. Erling Ellingsen had the following to say:

“Our aim is for this to not affect development of ‘Age of Conan,’ or any of our other games, at all. We are sticking firmly to our plans. The Xbox 360 version of the game is still in production, but as before we are not committing to any specific dates. I wish I could give you more information, but I can’t at the time being.”