EA Partners, Funcom Co-Publishing The Secret World MMO

Independent developer Funcom announced that it will co-publish The Secret World, its upcoming conspiracy-themed PC MMORPG, with Electronic Arts through the EA Partners Program. Under development since 2005 (pre-production began in 2002), The Secret World is Funcom's third MMO project following Anarchy Online and Age of Conan. It's directed by Ragnar Tornquist, who also previously led the teams working on Anarchy Online and Dreamfall. The Secret World eschews traditional MMORPG conventions like classes and levels, and invites players to join one of three secret societies, travel to different real-world areas, battle mythical and legendary creatures and fight for power over important cities/locations. Funcom hasn't yet announced a firm release date or a planned business model for the online title. The Oslo-headquartered developer said that Electronic Arts' experience and knowledge will be "instrumental" in allowing its team to "realize the full potential of The Secret World." Electronic Arts' EA Partners Program has helped co-publish a number of PC and console titles, including Harmonix's Rock Band 3, Klei Entertainment's Shank and Valve's Left 4 Dead series. Epic Games' Bulletstorm and Grasshopper Manufacture's Shadows of the Damned will also release under the program.