Conan is "steak" to WOW's "McDonald's"

By Oli Welsh Published 26 June, 2008

Funcom's Godager ribs rivals.

In an interview with Eurogamer published today, Gaute Godager, director of Funcom's hit new MMO Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, said his game is like steak and wine when compared to the McDonald's burger and Coke that is World of Warcraft.

"I enjoy playing WOW, I enjoy playing Lord of the Rings Online," confessed Godager, before taking a swipe at his American rivals.

"But you know... I'm going to be a bit cheeky now, but if you've been to McDonald's for four or five years, and had your burger and your Coke, sometimes it's great to just have a great steak and a glass of good wine.

"I think that's what we're trying to do. It's more expensive, it's not for everyone and perhaps it's not as easily accessible as WOW is. But it could be more meaty," Godager finished.

Age of Conan's launch has been a roaring success, with a million copies shipped to retailers, and the number of players far exceeding Funcom's initial projections. But many players have complained of unfinished content.

In the interview, Godager admitted that a substantial amount of what was planned for the game's launch had to be held back for polishing.

"What we chose to do at launch was to play it safe - to pick areas and zones and regions and hold them back, then finish them post-launch... The big zones that we're giving out this Autumn like Ymir's Pass and others - those are definitely pre-launch stuff that was cut or put on hold." Many quests and even game features - including the separate levelling system for player-versus-player combat - were also held back, he said.

Picture of Oli.

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 (47) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • MasterNameless #1 4 years ago

    I prefer my steak well done thanks. After it's been in the oven a little longer though, I may check it out. ^_^

  • bengray66 #2 4 years ago

    Way to defile steak.... Steak its the most manly of meals (Rare of course), whilst age of conan is more on par with a supermarket lasagne... Sure there is meat in there, but its of low quality and you have to wade your way through piles of disgusting pasta sheets to get to it...

  • Turambar #3 4 years ago

    There is nothing disgusting about pasta.

  • kangarootoo #4 4 years ago

    Nothing wrong with pasta (unless McDonalds served maspat; they could probably find a way to ruin it).

    Personally I love steak very rare, or I would do if I wasn't veggie (its a struggle without end, believe me).

    Never played Conan though. Is he saying if I play it I wouldn't be a vegetarian anymore? Way to confuse your customers Mr Godager!

    Edit: somehow I typo'd pasta into maspat! I was going to fix it, but then I figured if McDonalds made it, that might well be what they would call it (to avoid legal "dogooders" getting their noses all out of joint about what percentage of chicken's teeth pasta can contain before it can't be called pasta anymore).
    Edited by kangarootoo at 26/06/08 @ 16:17

  • kestral #5 4 years ago

    Steak with an arrogant waiter. First limitng the early access without emailing preorders that it was open, and now we're waiting for the guest passes.The game is out for a mont or more and there's no way to find out if it's good playing with your partner except for shelling out for a second copy!!
    Edited by kestral at 26/06/08 @ 16:21

  • kangarootoo #6 4 years ago

    @kestral

    Hey, if McDonalds served steak, there wouldn't BE a waiter. So think yourself lucky sonee jim.


    I actually like this analogy, 'cos it allows to me take part in the discussion :)

  • Skywise #7 4 years ago

    Comparing WoW to fast food, but WoW is anything but fast :S

  • jamespo #8 4 years ago

    crap analogy. mcdonalds is full of kids with spots and BO and WOW...

  • kangarootoo #9 4 years ago

    If you log onto WoW really late at night, do they make you buy only the big quests?

    And can you only fight goblins until 11am?

  • Kingofnothin #10 4 years ago

    I think he hit the nail on the head with that analogy, after a while I'd get sick of steak whereas people never seem to get sick of a good old reliable, accessible Big Mac......Next he'll be saying that Anarchy Online is the Ipod to Eve Online's Minidisc player!

  • kestral #11 4 years ago

    Am vegaterian, only macdonals has that option :p

  • drunkymonkey #12 4 years ago

    He's been saying this for a while now.

    Uh, and McDonalds isn't highly poloshed.

  • gingerlink #13 4 years ago

    They did NOT just use that pun....

  • Lamb #14 4 years ago

    We're going to Sizzler, we're going to Sizzler, bleh! Hah!

    Mickey Ds is way better and so is Morton's or Shula's, and what about a bit of lamb shank!? ;)

  • creepylizard #15 4 years ago

    ah, he's just ripping off that paul newman quote....

  • Sildur #16 4 years ago

    Wow guys - is this really news?

    Why is Eurogamer getting into posting this kind of silly insignificant propagandizing 'information'?

    Either it's a slow news day or the Eurogamer staff have been replaced by a bunch of gossipy b*tching women.

  • Laika #17 4 years ago

    I'd rather have Subway, thanks.

    (LOTRO)

  • anomagnus #18 4 years ago

    hes got a point though

    wow is the mass market mmorpg. its accessible and its everywhere. you can have want ever you want. want hard core raiding, its there. Want solo adventures its there. Want a little pvp, its here. want hard core pvp its there. Buts its not exactly thrilling anymore. Its the safe choice.

    the new mmos, lotro, conan, warhammer, i imagine will offer different things to different people. they'll be the other place, the restaurant round the corner that has a nice atmosphere, maybe the menu isnt as varied, but they do one food really well

    competition will do no one any harm, and kick up the arse is what blizzard really needs now

    4 years they've had to put in a pvp zone and they wait until the launch of warhammer online. chance you say.... rip i say

  • kangarootoo #19 4 years ago

    @Sildur

    Cheer up dude. Better a gossipy bitchy woman than a whining little girl, surely? ;)

  • Keiko #20 4 years ago

    What arrogance. Age of Conan has to be the biggest pile of crap I have recently encountered. Combat that gets boring really fast, instanced world, crafting is beyond bad, another rpg with many different shades of.... brown.
    Now go and drink a glass of your cheap wine with mr. Brad McQuaid, you should get along nicely!

  • Feanor #21 4 years ago

    Money's too tight for steak.

  • muftak #22 4 years ago

    is this the same game which after the highly polished solo island is the most rough boring no content game ever?

  • lucasmax #23 4 years ago

    Id rather have a kebab with salad and garlic mayonaise, but no chilli sauce and no lettuce.

    (city of heroes)

    /confuses self

  • Pirotic #24 4 years ago

    funny, they didn't sound so smug when they emailed me the questionaire asking why I cancelled my sub within the first month.

  • danteire #25 4 years ago

    AoC is exactly like steak. At first you tuck into a delicious piece of succulent leveling, juicy and savory. Then by lvl 20, all the meat is gone, leaving only the gristle and fat on the edges. You chew through it in an attempt to clear your plate but there's no taste, it is bland, flavourless, to the point where you give up, realizing that your steak you order the sirloin and not the fillet.

  • Wyrm #26 4 years ago

    I think he got them the wrong way round myself.

  • paulf #27 4 years ago

    conan is an alright game - but wow is better, much better

  • Markusdragon #28 4 years ago

    Overpriced and tough as old boots?

  • notsteak #29 4 years ago

    AOC is not even close to steak, if it is, then its a rotten festering piece of roadkill. The devs in this game are arrogant and they seemingly fail to see what will kill this game, CUSTOMER SERVICE, i say again, CUSTOMER SERVICE, did you read that godager?!! your cheekyness and arrogance both hide your fears, your game is about to take a huge plunge when those free months go away. i HAVE already cancelled no sub for you pal. petitions that take 6 hours or more and then are deleted, broken quests that are still broken 2 months after release, crafting that is crap in both result and simply even being able to work.

    polished game?!! smooth launch?! your a joke gadager as is your game, have fun with your failure.

  • qoobah #30 4 years ago

    Is someone overconfident around here or what?

    AoC starts of fun, but it's highly unpolished, and plain disappointing in some areas. I find combat fun, the quests are ok, but the graphics, even on top settings are below what I expected from such a resource-heavy game, art direction is bland, and the UI defines the term "a mess". But the gamebreaker for me would have to be the instanced world. It just doesn't have the feeling of vastness and seamlessness, and tbh, thats what WoW made me expect from an MMORPG. So, no more subscription from me, sorry.
    Edited by qoobah at 26/06/08 @ 22:09

  • Eraysor #31 4 years ago

    EG deserves credit for not making 5 news pieces out of one interview as usual.

  • dudefella #32 4 years ago

    Oh dear oh dear... don't get ahead of yourself, mr Godager, your game is not even complete!

    '"But it could be more meaty," Godager finished.'

    Keyword: COULD. He's even admitting it himself!

    Also WoW has like 5 times as much content, so I have no idea what he is basing his comments on. Oh right, it must be the fact that item stats are completely broken in Conan!

  • dudefella #33 4 years ago

    Also, this thread needs more Gaol.

  • Skurmedel #34 4 years ago

    Let's all compare a 1 month old MMO to one that's been out for ages. Yes, let's do that. Let's do like Discovery Channel and compare a sword to a high powered carbine.

  • dudefella #35 4 years ago

    Uhh he's actually doing it himself, so it's absolutely fair game for us to do the same thing.

  • Skurmedel #36 4 years ago

    Who said he was excluded from the statement.

  • Nikalai88 #37 4 years ago

    You know AoC is hardly that hardcore MMO in the same crowd as EVE/UP/L2 or EQ/FFXI so I am not sure what he talks about it being not as accesible, infact as it stands WoW is more hardcore than AoC because it actualy has the hardcore content.
    Edited by Nikalai88 at 26/06/08 @ 23:53

  • Gaol #38 4 years ago

    Nikalai makes a good point - WoW actually has the depth at endgame, far too hardcore for me anyway, wheras AoC has neither the content or the class mechanics to support 'meaty' gameplay. And why comment that AoC is less accessible? It pretty easy to pick up and play, as is WoW - it's just that WoW gives you progressively deeper combat and grouping as you level, while AoC just keeps going with its 'left, middle or right' mashathon.

    Maybe they should have the Strike-It-Lucky theme tune as the combat music :D

  • zootle #39 4 years ago

    If AoC is steak and wine, then it's a badly burnt steak and the wine is too warm and served in a coffee stained mug with a broken handle, and the waiter serving it hates you and has pissed in the wine and smeared shit over the steak. Only then is a steak and wine like AoC.

  • Bitkari #40 4 years ago

    Nah, I'd say that Age of Conan is more the meth to World of Warcraft's crack.

  • Scribble #41 4 years ago

    Age of Conan is like steak to WoW's McDonald's...

    Well you know what you're getting from McDonald's, and if you like it you like it...

    And the AoC steak? Well it's so underdone that the parasites aren't dead and it makes you ill, and the wine has been made with anti-freeze...

    I cancelled my wife and my AoC accounts after waiting 28 hours for a GM to port me out of a broken solo instance and then discovering that the post-20 game was NOT less boring than Tortage. It asked why I was cancelling and I said "Because the game is not actually fun." I know 6 people who went into AoC and were very into it, got to their 40s in days, and then quit as "The combat is rubbish, mash WASD to dodge and win".

    Warhammer might be a WoW killer, AoC is most definitely not.

    (Oh, and all the cancelled accounts count in their 1 million shipped... Hmmmm)
    Edited by Scribble at 27/06/08 @ 09:15

  • IronCladChicken #42 4 years ago

    @Scribble
    You cancelled your wife? - Harsh man, very harsh

  • rudedudejude #43 4 years ago

    Cancelled your wife LOL.

  • MaxiSleep #44 4 years ago

    It is always worrying when a mmo publisher starts spouting crap like this. We have all become used to the fact that MMO's launch in a very challenged state, the key think is how quickly are they fixed. This sort of delusional comment does not give confidence that Goadager really appreciates just how urgently they need to fix things.

    Its hard at present to see how they can move far enough fast enough to prevent people from giving up on the game in droves. The disjoint at level 20 is a real issue and the feeling of the game being a number of (sometimes very pretty) levels rather then a world is a challange to those of us used to continuous worlds. To be clear I dont think the approach is wrong per se, just that at present the enviroments realised in the game dont give a sense of a real breathing world.

    Lets hope they avoid the curse of Diablo.

  • anomagnus #45 4 years ago

    have to say, dived back into wow for a few days

    christ, what happened to the community there. Hss anyone noticed that middle strata of normal folks has vanished.

    The population seems to be 80% of solo/casual players and 20% obnoxious wankers. Theres nothing in between anymore.

    The boards have become AWFUL as well.

  • warlockuk #46 4 years ago

    Man I love me some steak, but I wish those goldsellers would stop bothering me while I'm eating.

  • Bluetribe #47 4 years ago

    Lovely to see a developer make such a cocky statement when Funcom is on the verge of losing the majority of their current players.