Funcom

Founded: 1993

Headquarters:

Oslo, Norway

Funcom is a Norwegian video game development studio founded in 1993 by Erik Gloersen, Ian Neil, Andre Backen, Gaute Godager and Olav Mørkrid. Currently, the company is one of the leading European independent game developers and publishers. They focus mainly on PC games, but have also released console games for the Sega Mega Drive, Super NES, Sega Saturn, PlayStation and Xbox. In December 2005, Funcom was the first Norwegian game developer to be listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

Funcom Dublin

Funcom Dublin Ltd. is the former Dublin-based development studio of Funcom Oslo A/S. It was founded in 1994 and all console development for the company was conducted from there since 1996. Initially based in Clonskeagh, they later moved to a larger office in Sandyford.

Many of the early staff was recruited locally, from design courses at the National College of Art and Design in Dun Laoghaire and Ballyfermot PLC. The first title they worked on was Impact Racing.

After an initial focus on the PlayStation, it was announced in July 2000 that the office would now focus on the Xbox platform. The main Funcom company, however, achieved a lot of success with its early online titles, so it started work on a large project, the MMORPG Anarchy Online. Because of the financial risks involved, all attention was focused on the new title and the Dublin office was closed in August 2001.