Age of Conan turns corner, says Funcom

By Oli Welsh Published 18 May, 2009

More players staying for longer, it claims.

In Funcom's latest financial report, there's some encouraging news regarding the performance of its troubled MMO Age of Conan - although nothing as concrete as subscriber numbers.

The report for the first quarter of 2009 says that the fantasy MMO's subscriber retention has improved and "a significant increase in new customers in Q1 compared to Q4 has led to a stable and solid subscriber base". Players are spending longer in the game on average, too.

The company reported earnings of USD 7.7m, largely from Age of Conan subscriptions. That's actually a dip from the USD 8.7m it made in the last quarter of 2008. But the painful USD 23m losses of that period have been replaced by a modest USD 1.5m operating profit.

Elsewhere, the report indulges in some self-congratulation about the Secret World reveal at GDC and mentions two free-to-play MMOs that Funcom has in development.

The games, revealed in 2008's final report, are a Java-based game aimed at kids and a browser game with a broader market. The latest news is that they are "progressing well" and expected to go into beta at the end of this year.

Funcom launched a charm offensive on Age of Conan last month aimed at encouraging players to give the game a second chance, opening free trials (we still have some keys if you want one). We took a look and found it much improved. Another substantial update to the game is expected soon, including a complete overhaul of its RPG system.

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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 (24) Latest comment 3 years ago

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

  • Pirotic #1 3 years ago

    so they are making a small profit off it now? that's not too bad.

    unfortunately the 8500 unclaimed 'free trial' keys show just how badly they burnt all of the original players by releasing it in the state they did.
    Edited by 1 at 18/05/09 @ 09:35

  • paulf #2 3 years ago

    the sort of behaviour you can look forward to -

    http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=s-rl3RPC_Mw

  • Spekingur #3 3 years ago

    paul, that video is old.. very old..

  • Slabbathepave #4 3 years ago

    I have been quite vocal in the past regarding AoC's disastrous release. I thought i would give the trial a whizz through anyway and decide for myself.

    Its very good and very stable. Excellent performance so far. Alot of very nice UI changes too, a global chat channel (should have been in on release for such a heavily instanced game) really livens up the game world, nowhere near as disjointed as before. Plenty of people around even in Tortage. I went for a PvE server this time to avoid all the massive twats and its made a huge difference to how much overall fun AoC is.

    If they get the next patch right and the itemisation and movesets arent too butchered i think i'll subscribe again.

    *Keeps an eye on Craig Morrison*

  • UncleLou #5 3 years ago

    I coincidentally skim-read the forums a little this weekend, and the general buzz seems to be quite positive now. I might resub to see how things look now, as I always liked it.

  • paulf #6 3 years ago

    @Spekingur - only a year old mate ;) - I only saw it for the first time last week though

  • Jockie #7 3 years ago

    Last time I subbed I moved all my characters from aquilonia RP-PVP server to the straight PVP server, using the free transfer. It was bloody awful, everywhere you went there were spawn campers and exploiters, trying to quest was suicidal. The problem is i actually enjoy PVP its fun, fast and brutal. But you end up having to treat every player as a mob. But sadly I don't think I can transfer my characters to the PVE server, which is annoying as I have a level 78 Bear Shaman who was awesome to play. Perhaps i'll start fresh once the next big update comes along.

  • iokthemonkey #8 3 years ago

    In other "news" I heard the other day that something happened and somebody said something.

  • spudsbuckley #9 3 years ago

    I started playing a couple of weeks ago because of the positive stuff i was hearing about the game lately (and the fact i got a key for Offgamers for less than €10) and i'm really impressed with it. I'm leveling a Priest of Mitra and a Tempest of Set at the moment and they're both great fun and very different to play even though they're the same archetype. The ToS in particular is a absolute breeze to level because they're just a buzz saw of a class.

    I'm enjoying leveling in it much more than i ever did in WoW, CoH, LOTRO or GW. I've staying up past 2am the past couple of nights when i really shouldn't have :D

  • Plewt #10 3 years ago

    And we still don't care about those keys.

  • iokthemonkey #11 3 years ago


    8000 left out of 20.000 isn't that surprising to me.

    ----

    Turbine/Codemasters gave away 2000 digital copies of LOTRO (essentially the same deal as this except you got 30 days to play) and they all went within about 25 minutes.

  • spudsbuckley #12 3 years ago

    The free trial on the Conan website is 7 days isn't it?

    Why would anyone bother with a 4 day key from EG in that case?

  • iokthemonkey #13 3 years ago

    It was a 14 day trial, IIRC.

  • spudsbuckley #14 3 years ago

    Makes a bit more sense.

  • Eraysor #15 3 years ago

    I played the trial. It was alright, but nothing matches WoW.

  • ExplodingClown #16 3 years ago

    Picked it up for £5.98 in the Game sale and enjoying it greatly. Not so po-faced as LOTRO, not so infested with Roflcopters and general twats as WoW (plus doesn't look like a goddamn cartoon), and I haven't met one Furry so far.

    Top violence too.

  • Darkjinxter #17 3 years ago

    I'm still slugging in out in Hyboria, almost a year now.
    It does need more, and it needs it soon. There's always something around the corner with Funcom, that corner better be imminent for their sake and the sake of the game. It's now a game I enjoy more than LotRO. There's no doubt the game has come far in the last few months, but there's masses of improvement needed.
    I hope Funcom can come up with the goods very soon.

  • spudsbuckley #18 3 years ago

    You on Crom Darkjinxter? Name is familiar.

    Patch 1.05 seems to be the next big thing.

  • TheJediWookie #19 3 years ago

    I tried this a month after release on a PvE server and really enjoyed Tortage, thought the combat was a lot more interesting than WoW, LOTRO et al and I loved the fact that there were voices (with fairly good voice acting IMO). Got out of Tortage and I was stunned by the contrast, no voice acting, dull quests, huge amounts of nothing and quite a few random crashes. Needless to say I cancelled my subscription sharpish.

    I might give this another shot if it really is that improved.

  • spudsbuckley #20 3 years ago

    I didn't play at launch but i'm enjoying the post Tortage bits anyway.

    I'm absolutely in love with the game and my Tempest.

  • ZuluHero #21 3 years ago

    Enjoyinging it post Tortage? Have they made level 20 plus better now then? I loved the starter zone, but after it let me loose in the mainland i couldn't stomach it...

  • TheJediWookie #22 3 years ago

    ZuluHero, that was exactly how I felt. I'd love for them to have brought the rest of the game up to the same standard as Tortage, but I just can't see them being able to do it; especially given their financial situation (AoC hasn't made them anywhere near as much as they'd hoped for). I would love to be proven wrong though.

  • Orange #23 3 years ago

    The game did have some terrific ideas in it, not sure I can be tempted back even if it's improved all the flaws.

  • Darkjinxter #24 3 years ago

    You on Crom Darkjinxter? Name is familiar.

    Patch 1.05 seems to be the next big thing.

    Yes I am Spudsbuckley, 80 barb, still hanging in there. See you there.