I’ve suspected that with the glut of potential blockbuster games and huge franchise titles set to arrive over the next four to five months, some of the less fortunate games might get pushed out of the crowded fall/holiday season release crunch and into 2008. It’s already happened with Rockstar’s Gtand Theft Auto IV, and now we have another title that has been delayed: Funcom’s MMO Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures.
Funcom announced today that Age of Conan, which was originally slated for an Oct. 30 launch this year, will now be released on March 25, 2008. The original launch date in October was picked to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the Conan franchise, which was began with Robert Howard’s pulp novels in the 1930s. Funcom said delaying the MMO’s release will allow the company to “continue the focus on honing, polishing and improving the heralded qualities of the game, ensuring a fantastic MMO experience.”
“We naturally regret that we have to push back ‘Age of Conan.’ However, after careful consideration, and analysis of recent Beta feedback, we believe that the new release date is in the best interest of the gamers, our company and our owners,” Trond Arne Aas, CEO of Funcom, said in a press statement. “We are fully committed to delivering games with absolute qualities, and in the current MMO marketplace we know that only the best is good enough to truly succeed. With the new release date we have therefore given ourselves more time to meet and deliver on the massive expectations for the game. We are certain that our choice will ultimately pay off, and that all ‘Age of Conan’ players will get a special online experience."
Apparently Funcom has received some feedback that it didn’t like during the beta trial. There hasn’t been any shortage in interest for the title, however; Funcom said more than 500,000 people signed up for the beta in the first 24 hours of availability back in April and a total of 100,000 people took part in the beta. The game won several accolades including best MMO of E3 from several gaming media outlets.
I didn’t have a chance to play the beta version of Age of Conan, but I did get to see the game in action during the Game Developer Conference last March. Funcom showed off Age of Conan to members of the media, and the game definitely looked like it had potential. For one thing, Funcom is putting an emphasis on more advanced combat gameplay than what is traditionally seen in many fantasy MMOs. And the graphics look superior to most competing titles, too. Whether that will be enough for Funcom’s game to compete in the MMO market remains to be seen.
