Eidos explains accessing Conan early

By Robert Purchese Published 23 April, 2008

Where to pre-order, what to do.

Eidos has explained how the three-day early-access pre-order campaign for Age of Conan will work, and pointed out the retailers taking part.

Speaking to Eurogamer, the publisher said those pre-ordering the game will be able to download a client and pay a small fee to play for three days before launch. After that you will need your full product key that is included in the retail, boxed copy of Age of Conan.

"Eidos UK is supporting the three-day early access offer for Age of Conan Hyborian Adventures through a select group of online retailers," Eidos told Eurogamer.

"The following retailers are supporting this unique opportunity: GAME, Play.com, Amazon.co.uk, and Gamestation.co.uk."

"You will be able to download the client six days before the launch date, and for a nominal fee of EUR 5 you will be able to play Age Of Conan three days before anyone else. To continue playing you must collect the full boxed copy of the game from retail and enter your unique product key," added Eidos.

Age of Conan recently went gold, shortly after it announced its beta gates would open to the public on 1st May.

The full game is due out on 20th May, and you can find plenty more information on our Age of Conan gamepage.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (13) Latest comment 4 years ago

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

  • Dizzy #1 4 years ago

    "the publisher said those pre-ordering the game will be able to download a client and pay a small fee to play for three days before launch"

    Fuck that.

    Very tempted to not play the game at all now.

    Oh BTW the client is ONLY 13 GB.
    Edited by 2 at 23/04/08 @ 09:45

  • bushwod #2 4 years ago

    that does seem a bit cheeky.

    Still, this MMO has me more excited than most.

  • Darkjinxter #3 4 years ago

    A nominal fee indeed.
    Eidos can take a running jump, the greedy bastards.
    Nothing unique about early access as Eidos proclaims btw, many have done this before, but none have had the gall to charge for it. I have this on preorder from Play.com and I'll happily wait until the 20th to play it.

  • ZuluHero #4 4 years ago

    i thought i heard somewhere that you get some extra game-time back after launch though if you pay this 'nominal fee'? something like 10 days?

  • henneth #5 4 years ago

    Aye - the fee includes 10 days of gametime (which may actually work out cheaper, per-day, than the regular subscription). Still a bit cheeky but what the hell, at least it means I should be able to get on the server and nab all my character names.

  • Kami #6 4 years ago

    Yup, nothing unique about early access and to my knowledge, I can't remember anyone charging for it.

    I think early access for those who have pre-ordered is a good and necessary thing. But no, no-one will be thankful they have to pay extra to get in three days early. Tabula Rasa we got 10 days, there was early access for Hellgate Londoneers and those playing Vanguard (despite it was crap but they did it so it counts!), LOTRO did it too, and there're plenty more MMO's which have let their fanbase in a little earlier than the rest. People didn't have to pay for that kind of honour though. They pre-ordered, they got early access keys, they played and got their game and all was well.

    Let's see how it goes, I remember all the hype of Vanguard last year up to it's release and we all know how that went... if I've learned anything about the MMO market, it's never, ever to assume something is safe...

  • Darkjinxter #7 4 years ago

    Aye Vanguard was one of those Kami, I remember it well hahaha, well and truly nobbled we were.

  • Kami #8 4 years ago

    I've just come to an acceptance of MMO's in general that they inevitably get rushed out and cocked up for at least the first six to twelve months of their life. If it survives, then it'll live on, if not, it dies and dies horribly...

    There's very little else that can be said, a while back I'd have said AoC was a sure-fire hit but there's so much quiet discontent over the beta, bugged accounts that means people can't even get into the beta and this lovely deal - all are sounding off a few warning alarms that there's going to be a bit of trouble ahead...

    We'll see how it goes but it's not going to be smooth sailing for this game.

  • ZuluHero #9 4 years ago

    it could also be said that the fact that they want ppl to pay (and that ppl are willing to pay) how confident they are in their product. I have high hopes for this, i've pre-ordered and yes i might be willing to pay a paltry sum to get 10 extra days (as someone said earlier it works out cheaper than 1/3rd sub) plus ill get to play a few days early and reserve my name.

    the proof as they say is in the eating though, i'll conceed.

  • Machinator #10 4 years ago

    It's the developer thats charging you a fiver not the publisher

  • etherfiend #11 4 years ago

    The fanbase that pre-orders have been spoiled by early entry periods, however opening early and then charging for it is basically saying 'the actual release date is 3 days earlier if you are prepared to blow your monthly bandwith allowance with your ISP and pay us more cash'

    This has actually made me think twice about lookign into this game, what happens when the servers go down? Most MMO operators give credit, looking at this blatant stunt they are after one thing: money and they wouldnt then give it back.

    As for the comment about them being confident in their product, I hope that is the case. Otherwise they are at the other end of the spectrum where they know it is not what it should be and it could go the way of vanguard, meaning they expect sales to die after pre-order and word of mouth/community gets going and are just looking for another few pounds on top upfront from those foolish enough to pay extra upfront. Also 3 days isnt potentially enough for you to realise it's rubbish and cancel the pre-order!

    Fingers crossed the game will be what it promises on the age of conan homepage though.

  • Sasco #12 4 years ago

    Since you get 10 days play time included does it really matter? You are just paying for those 10 days and happen to get in 3 days early

  • actionfitz #13 4 years ago

    6 days early now...
    Funcom just anounced that Europe will get its early access on the 17th now as well as the yanks.
    our game still hits shops on the 23rd.


    "The launch date for early access in Europe has been moved forward! Both the US and EU servers open on the 17th of May (5pm GMT). This date used to be the 20th for the EU servers, thus European players are now getting 6 days of early access until the regular launch on May 23rd!"