Yesterday it was announced Norwegian games maker Funcom is putting half its 330 employees on unpaid leave following weak sales of The Secret World. The company was considered one of Norway's most successful start-ups just three years ago, but this year their share price has fallen to below NOK3.

The Secret World game took 5 years and NOK 300 million (£32m / $51m) to create. They expected NOK 1 billion in sales, however The Secret World has had worse sales than Funcom's previous game Age of Conan.

The lack of advertisements and hype build up are probably to blame, considering many have considered this Funcom's best game to date, with many rating the game well.

Around 165 workers at Funcom's offices in Oslo, Montreal, Beijing and the US are affected (Source: Dagens Naeringsliv).

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