Funcom lays off lead designer of The Secret World

Funcom has laid off the lead designer of The Secret World following company wide redundancies at the studio.

Revealing the news on Twitter, Martin Bruusgaard said he was no longer with the developer, and had been put on forced leave along with most of the Oslo office.

He suggested that the studio’s Norway headquarters had been hit much harder than other offices as it was expensive to run, and suggested that it was “cheaper to hire someone abroad”.

“Unfortunately, I’m not with Funcom anymore,” said Bruusgaard.

“Got put on forced leave along with most of our Oslo Office, a week ago.”

Bruusgard said he is set to start a new job on Wednesday based in Oslo, but did not give any further details on the role.

FUncom recently laid off 50 per cent of its staff after poor sales of its MMO The Secret World, and has since said it would work on smaller titles moving forward.

Develop has contacted Funcom for comment on the state of the Oslo office, but no statement has been forthcoming at the time of writing.