Age of Conan to be released in Korea

By Oli Welsh Published 12 November, 2008

First Asian version for Funcom's MMO.

Funcom has announced that Age of Conan is to be released in Korea. It's the first deal to bring the fantasy MMO to the crucial Asian market.

Neowiz Games will publish and operate the game in Korea, and work with Funcom to adapt it for the local market. Neowiz owns a game portal and social network, and runs the likes of FIFA Online and Battlefield for EA, but Age of Conan will be its first "large-scale" MMO.

"We are very excited to introduce the world-class large-scale MMORPG Age of Conan with its popularity and great reputation in the industry," said Neowiz boss Choi Gwan-ho.

"This will be the first large-scale MMORPG for Neowiz Games and both companies will also work tightly together to adapt and implement a fully localised game for Korean users," he added.

"Bringing Age of Conan to Korea is something we have wanted to do for a long time now," said Funcom chief Trond Arne Aas. "This is a very exciting and highly dynamic market, and we know that Korean gamers are amongst the most active online gamers in the world."

Age of Conan launched in the US and Europe back in May to strong sales, but quickly gained a reputation for unfinished content in the later stages, something new game director Craig Morrison has been tasked with correcting.

We'll be examining his recent changes in the coming weeks. In the meantime, you'll find more info, including our recent re-review, at the Age of Conan gamepage.

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (18) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • iokthemonkey #1 3 years ago

    Funcom to adapt it for the local market.

    -----

    What, by actually making it not shit?

  • HMAN #2 3 years ago

    Lets make as much money as possible before we finally admit its a pile of shit and leave it to die

  • ZuluHero #3 3 years ago

    its not shit. Its just unfinished.

  • viper_h #4 3 years ago

    Poor Korea.

    And no amount of finishing is going to stop it being shit.
    Edited by 1 at 12/11/08 @ 16:30

  • Byzanite #5 3 years ago

    Koreans wont notice its shit. Dont they play RF Online?

    @HMAN: Totally my thoughts too!

  • ZuluHero #6 3 years ago

    For the first 20 levels its one of the best mmo’s you'll ever play. I've never seen an mmo use interwoven storyline with each class explaining different parts of it to encourage you to try all of them. Also AoC has some of the most interesting hybrid classes as well. My HoX was a mage with a broadsword that could change into a daemon!

    Also i commend the attempt at making the combat more engaging beyond the usual mmo standard of auto-attack and spamming 1-0. It made me quite sad to see that they didn't have the courage of the convictions when they said that they were simplifying the combo system though :(

  • iokthemonkey #7 3 years ago

    its not shit. Its just unfinished.

    ----

    Remind me to use that one next time I leave a floater in the toilet.

  • makeamazing #8 3 years ago

    Glad the posters at EG are getting better at more intelligent conversations.

    Anyway back on alittle bit of topic, wouldnt the resources be better applied to adding more content... i do agree it seems like what HMAN says.. AOC is on the way down it seems.

  • 1simen1 #9 3 years ago

    New content is arriveing as we speak. This week the new playfield Ymirs Pass will be added.
    Check the official forums: http://fo rums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthre...
    Edited by 1 at 12/11/08 @ 21:35

  • HMAN #10 3 years ago

    They are only just adding Ymir's Pass :S

    They were saying it would be out within a few weeks back when I stopped playing (which was June)

  • SleepyMagpie #11 3 years ago

    "For the first 20 levels its one of the best mmo’s you'll ever play."

    No. Just... no.

    I've played almost all MMORPG's since Ultima Online launched in `97, and no... no my friend, you are sadly mistaken.

  • Darkjinxter #12 3 years ago

    I was roaming around Ymir's Pass last night.
    Funcon have done a good job re-arrangiing old assets into the jumble that is this new area. Egliophian Mountains with a touch more snow and ice, It's so cold there the Frost Giant's daughter's (adult rated) nipples have disappeared.

    STill, looking on the plus side, there's little chance some poor Korean will drop dead at the keyboard whilst playing AoC.
    Edited by 1 at 13/11/08 @ 08:42

  • iokthemonkey #13 3 years ago

    They are only just adding Ymir's Pass :S

    They were saying it would be out within a few weeks back when I stopped playing (which was June)

    ----

    Yeah, but they had other, more important things to do, like implement the PvP system without consequences to allow serverwide ganking. Or the patch that introduced consequences to PvP that didn't actually affect this at all. And then there's the fix for all the exploits that.. they've done nothing about.

    And don't forget that DX10 they promised out of the box! Or the bar brawling they promised would be a key feature at launch! Both of which are still nowhere in sight... Unless you consider them being mentioned in a press release to be "in sight..."

    Anyway, good luck to anybody who plays this pile of pish, but make the most of it, as AoC is a dead duck.

  • 1simen1 #14 3 years ago

    iokthemonkey ,guess you are still an authority on AOC since you haven't been playing it since before the PVP sytem launched?

    Still don't get why you are on a "crusade"against AOC.

    If you read what the the people that are actually playing the game think, you will found that most are very pleased with the new playsone Ymirs pass.

    Some bugs here and there and some slowdown ,but mostly good gameing.

    And before you start again. No i still haven't played the game. But i'd rather listen to the people in the official forums playing AOC every day than you.

    Oh and here you can see the last three patches:

    29'th october : http://fo rums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthre... (huge patch)

    4'th november : http://fo rums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthre... (fixed an exploit within the notority system)

    12'th november : http://fo rums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthre... (adding Ymirs pass)

    So the morale of the story is : Never listen to one crazed monkey, when u can listen to humans instead in the official forums. You know the ones that are playing the game....

  • iokthemonkey #15 3 years ago

    Well, that didn't take long.

  • HMAN #16 3 years ago

    @1simen1-you can't polish a turd

    Without a doubt the worst MMO i've played. Yeah Tortage was fun but that was also a stupid design choice. Only one are for 1-20? Thats not a lot of fun second/third time through

    @1simen1 again-In regards to the patches this is stuff which was promised for the summer.
    They still have features which should have been there at release (they sold the game to people on the back of this, suprised Americans haven't filed a lawsuit) and still are nowhere in sight.

    Its a dog of an MMO and dying a slow death. Someone should put it out of its misery
    Edited by 1 at 14/11/08 @ 12:38

  • iokthemonkey #17 3 years ago

    @1simen1-you can't polish a turd

    ----

    I really wouldn't waste your time trying to debate with him. He hasn't even PLAYED the game yet continually defends it and tries to tell those of us who have about our gaming experience... /hmm.

    Were I a suspicious sort, I'd think his real name was Thor Torgensen or somesuch... Not that I'm implying anything there, of course cough*SHILL*cough.

  • 1simen1 #18 3 years ago

    Still judgeing the game from how it was months ago are we?
    A MMO should always be judged as it stands in the present not the past.

    When was the last time you played the game monkeyboy? Early september? Much have happend since then. For instance the last 4 major patches.

    And you HMAN when was the last time you played AOC?

    Is it bad that other people might have other tastes than your own?

    I am not a funcom employee, and i don't own the game. You guys on the other hand must have some kind of agenda always jumping into every AOC news story throwing in your great arguments like "This game is a turd", "You can't polish a turd" and sofort.

    Ever tried adding a litte because behind the "this game is a turd" argument of yours?
    I suspect the reason might be that most of your gripes and concerns have been fixed already or will be in a coupple of months.

    Here is the lastes letter from the game director : [link url=http://community.ageofconan .com/wsp/conan/frontend.cgi?func=publish.show&tem%0Aplate=co ntent&func_id=2707&table=CONTENT&utm_source=newsletter&utm_m edium=email&utm_campaign=Clan_of_Conan&utm_content=issue19
    ]    http://co mmunity.ageofconan.com/wsp/cona...[/link]

    Basically what i am saying is this : As long as you keep dissing a game you don't play, i will continue to provide a different view using the official forums and patch notes and news.

    The only reason beeing that someone should.
    Edited by 1 at 15/11/08 @ 00:03