Age of Conan and The Longest Journey developer Funcom has announced that it intends to to reduce its workforce by 20% as part of a cost-cutting program.

The cuts will chiefly strike Funcom's Norwegian branch. Funcom employs over 300 people worldwide with studios in the USA, Canada, Norway, Switzerland and China. The US division was struck by a number of layoffs in November 2008.

Funcom also reveals that The Secret World has been delayed by "some months" to ensure it meets "the high expectations amongst fans and gamers," though there is still no indication when the MMORPG set in a fantastical version of reality will be released.

Development on Age of Conan's upcoming expansion pack Rise of the Godslayer "will continue as planned." No mention was made of whether the cuts will impact the fantasy MMORPG's Xbox 360 release, which was originally expected to arrive in 2008.

Creator of the acclaimed The Longest Journey adventure series Ragnar Tornquist wrote on his blog that the episodic sequel Dreamfall Chapters may be low on developer Funcom's list of priorities, but is still in the works.

"Dreamfall Chapters—and, by proxy, The Longest Journey—isn't Funcom's highest priority at this point," wrote Tornquist. "With Age of Conan live, The Secret World staffing up in every department, and other games in various stages of development, the project is currently on the back burner—but it hasn't been abandoned."

Dreamfall Chapters would mark the third release in the Longest Journey series, which debuted on PCs in 2000. A sequel, Dreamfall: The Longest Journey (PC, Xbox) was released in 2006.

"There's stuff that needs to happen before we close the book on our characters and their collective fates," added Tornquist. "When will things move forward? I actually don't know... It'll be a while, but we're not going to ask you to wait forever."