Age of Conan Director's Letter

To mark the first year since Age of Conan's release, game director Craig Morrison has penned this month's state of the game. Grab a peek at what he said below:

Update 1.05 incoming

The update has now been developing nicely on the test servers and we are getting close to when we will start to make the decision as to when it's ready for the live dimensions. The feedback from the public testing has been invaluable and things are shaping up nicely. Lots has been changed, tweaked, added and improved over the last few weeks as the update has been put through its paces.

There are still a few more builds to go on the test servers at least, but we are now in the home stretch and we are aiming to try and have things ready within the next few weeks. There is still of course time for something to crop up, but right now we are working through the remaining tasks full steam. This update has involved a lot of work for the entire team and we are really looking forward to seeing it make its debut on the live servers.

Sometimes it's the little things...

Large new outdoor playfield...check!
Dozens of new quests in said playfield with a cool, engaging new storyline...check!
New RPG System...check!
Ability, spell and feat updates for all classes...check!

There is much more to read so head to the link above and read the rest. It sounds like big things are in the works.

And while we're on the subject of AoC's first year, here's the official press release to celebrate:

'Age of Conan' Celebrates One Year Anniversary, Sees Significant Increase in Players

More and more players join Conan's online world, customer loyalty continues to improve

Durham, USA - May 18th, 2009 - This week Funcom and a worldwide community of gamers celebrate the one year anniversary of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game 'Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures'. One year after the mighty barbarian burst onto the online gaming market, shipping over 1.2 million copies around the world, Funcom is seeing a significant increase in players and new customers per month. Activity levels have risen significantly, and the communities are thriving with more and more players finding their way into the game.

"We are very pleased to see that more players are experiencing 'Age of Conan'," says Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Funcom, Morten Larssen. "The team has been working diligently on improving the game since launch, with several major updates that in addition to improving technology and client stability, also have added hours of more content, new gameplay features, and more. The fact that we are now also seeing longer average subscription periods is a testament to the fact that 'Age of Conan' is just getting better and better, and with the launch of the recent trial campaign there has never been a better time to check out the game than now!"

Since launching in May 2008, several major updates have been released for 'Age of Conan'. These updates have added hours upon hours of additional content such as new lands to explore, new quests to undertake, new equipment for characters, and several new gameplay features. The technology behind the game has also advanced significantly, with improved framerate, smoother gameplay and the inclusion of DirectX 10. There are currently 120 people working on 'Age of Conan' divided into the live team and the expansion team, with several exciting updates planned for the time ahead. The team is currently doing the finishing touches on Update 5, an update that will introduce a whole new itemization system, new game areas and more.

"It has been an interesting and challenging year, and I am very proud of the hard work that the team has put into improving the game," says Game Director on 'Age of Conan' Craig Morrison. "We have focused on adding content, improving existing content, and adding new gameplay features. Player feedback has been very important throughout the whole process, and will continue to be so as we continue improving the game."

In celebration of the one year anniversary, all characters in 'Age of Conan' will be treated to free fireworks this week, and a contest has been set up where players are urged to head out into the streets of Hyboria to color the sky and capture the festivities in a screenshot for a chance to win some exciting prizes! Soon players will be able to purchase additional character slots, and as an anniversary gift, Funcom is awarding all veteran players that have six months or more accumulated subscription time with a free character slot. For more information on the anniversary celebrations and the anniversary gifts, please visit the 'Age of Conan' community website.

Launching in May last year 'Age of Conan' quickly became a smash hit in retail, shipping over 1.2 million copies around the world. In North America, the most prominent online gaming market in the west, 'Age of Conan' became the third best-selling PC title of the year only beaten by 'Spore' and 'World of Warcraft'. In the weeks after launch 'Age of Conan' simultaneously topped the charts in 17 countries, and the game received critical acclaim from gaming press across the globe. 'Age of Conan' is now available in English, French, German, Spanish, Russian and Polish, and is being prepared for launch in Korea as well.

'Age of Conan' is currently available as a free trial. Download yours today at www.ageofconan.com/trial

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Marketing propaganda to use the line "shipping 1.2 million copies around the world" how much of that actually sold? let alone is still actively used?

Good thing they finally got DX10 tho

Nightfreak:
Marketing propaganda to use the line "shipping 1.2 million copies around the world" how much of that actually sold? let alone is still actively used?

Good thing they finally got DX10 tho

The way i read it, the game was installed 1.2m times between trials and sales. A while back their old CEO quit because they had less then 100k players left. They cleverly omitted those facts here. When i took the trail, i saw a giant total of 4 people who actually bought the game and another 10 or so with the trail. So from the looks of it that number is actually a lot lower. I'm surprised at them reporting growth. Unless they are lying, which wouldn't surprise me.

Unless they are lying, which wouldn't surprise me.

Their financial statements suggest otherwise.

http://www.funcom.com/funcom/frontend/files/CONTENT/FUNCOM-Q109-report.pdf