It's no secret that The Secret World has been facing some troubled times. Developer Funcom laid off half their staff earlier this month, which would seem to make the promised monthly content updates more challenging to release on time.
However, in his August, 2012 State of the Game announcement, Ragnar Tørnquist, the game's creative director and senior producer, reassured fans that the content is still flowing, and the team is still dedicated to the project. He also took a few digs at other recent big-name MMO announcements and launches, emphasizing that The Secret World remains, in many ways, unique: "We're not going to play it safe. We won't be introducing classes or levels, elves or centaurs, and regardless of the competition, we won't back down from our original vision. We're going to keep doing what we're good at."
So what remains on deck in The Secret World? Tørnquist promised that even though Issue #2 of content updates has been delayed by two weeks, that Issue #3 is still on track to release on time. Details about Issue #3 remain scant, but it is promised to tie-in with Halloween and have cats in. As for the rest of what's on the horizon:
So what's ahead in upcoming issues? There's a ten-person raid in New York scheduled for October, and it's not like any raid you've ever played before. We have a bunch of auxiliary weapons on the way, and more character customisation improvements. We have a huge and exciting new feature pencilled in for Christmas, which ties into the achievement system and gives a lot more meaning to the usual 'Kill 1,000 Vampires' goals. (After all, who hasn't wondered what it would be like to have some vampiric abilities to play around with?) We're creating intermediary decks with brand new clothing rewards; we have a ton of new missions and storylines in development; and we have a huge new adventure zone scheduled for next spring, bringing players back to Tokyo's Ground Zero, to face brand new threats, meet new characters, play new missions and explore an intriguing urban environment unlike anything you've ever seen in an MMO.
State of The Game - August 2012 [Funcom]