Funcom confirms office raid by economic crime unit

Funcom has confirmed the Norwegian economic crime unit visited its offices on Wednesday and is investigating the firm on suspicions of infringing the Secruties Trading Act.

During the visit by the the Okokrim, the Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic Environmental Crime, Funcom was temporarily taken off the Oslo Stock Exchange on Wednesday morning.

In a statement to Develop, Funcom director of communications Erling Ellingsen said development of its games would continue as normal, and the company is cooperating fully with Okokrim, providing all the necessary information to help clarify the situation.

"Yesterday, the company received a visit from Økokrim who is conducting an investigation on the suspicion of infringement of the provisions of the Securities Trading Act with regards to financial information given to the market surrounding the launch of The Secret World," read a statement.

"Funcom is of course fully cooperating with Økokrim and the company is providing them with all necessary information to make sure the situation can be clarified and resolved as soon as possible.

"Production on all Funcom games continues as normal, and the company remains fully committed to games in development as well as the continued operation and updating of existing live games.

"Yesterday’s events are not expected to have any impact on the company’s continued operation or the development on future releases. Funcom’s key priorities are the development of the upcoming LEGO Minifigures Online, as well as supporting and expanding on the live games Age of Conan, The Secret World and Anarchy Online with new and exciting content. In terms of The Secret World, developers are currently in the process of finalising its ninth content update, which will send players on a grand adventure through Tokyo, and Funcom will be releasing new information and screenshots from this update soon.

"Please also note that trading in the company stock was only suspended temporarily, and trading was back to normal shortly thereafter. We were also happy to see that the way we handled the communication to the market after the events was well received, and the stock climbed throughout today."