Funcom confirms 400k players

By Oli Welsh Published 26 August, 2008

Correction: "players" not "payers".

Update, 1st September: Erling Ellingsen has told Eurogamer that he said "players", not "payers", when he referred to Age of Conan's installed base in an interview during Games Convention.

Original story: Following Funcom's claim of 415,000 "customers" in its financial report last week, Funcom has confirmed that this figure refers to active subscribers' accounts.

In a video interview with onlinewelten recorded at Leipzig last week, product manager Erling Ellingsen said that the game had "over 400,000 active payers".

Sceptics had questioned whether the figure in the financial report - which would make Age of Conan the most successful subscription-game launch since World of Warcraft - included players who had simply registered their copies for the free trial period.

Ellingsen also declared that Funcom was happy with the success of the game's launch, although it felt that some things could have gone better.

At Leipzig last week, Funcom revealed upcoming free update content, teased the first Age of Conan expansion pack, and mentioned a tie-in with the new Conan film.

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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 (12) Latest comment 3 years ago

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

  • thebuzzard #1 4 years ago

    The numbers are falling away fast.

  • viper_h #2 4 years ago

    Wow is there going to be one of these every week?

    Edit: I was able to play the free trial of this game without entering any details - I just said that I was "paying by cash" and it let me register. That's probably these "active payers".

    The game is toss.
    Edited by 1 at 26/08/08 @ 09:56

  • ciril #3 4 years ago

    @thebuzzard: And you know that.... how exactly? The internets told you?

  • anomagnus #4 4 years ago

    @ thebuzzard

    you have zero proof of that, other than what the forums have told you.

    AoC is another bandwagon for people to jump on. It'll still be here a year from now, mark my words

  • qoobah #5 4 years ago

    Good for them, if it's true.

    That doesn't change the fact that the game is largely broken, and Funcom is slow beyond decency at fixing it. I doubt their self-praising coupled with poor support for the game will win them many more subs.

  • paulf #6 4 years ago

    be interesting to see whether they can build on this number, and what will happen when WaR and WOTLK are released later on in the year. I played it for a good bit, I really enjoyed the first 20 levels but then found it became quite bland and offered me no incentive to go past level 40ish

  • LetsGo #7 4 years ago

    And what percentage of people are on their 'free trial' I wonder...?

  • thebuzzard #8 4 years ago

    I know first hand people are leaving conan because many of my guild which went to play it have now realised how bad it is, and quit playing. It probably will be around a while but with dwindling player numbers. People were desperate for something other than WoW to play and tried this but it hasnt lived up to the hype, Im sure equally big numbers will try WAR.
    Edited by 2 at 26/08/08 @ 11:20

  • Gaol #9 4 years ago

    Does anyone here actually know any active subscribers? Do they need help?

  • sizusizu #10 4 years ago

    Good to see that EG (more than any alternative site I visit) continues to publish all the Spin from Funcom.

    It feels like every week theres another positive spin on the current state of the game, yet the site fails to actually investigate the actual game's current condition.

    It would take a simple 5 minutes glance into various MMO site forums to see exactly what is happening. Entire guilds in the process of quitting, or are gone. No communication from Funcom (except the news about the expansion and upcoming "content" discussed at comic con and Leizpeg. The promised PVP patch for late June still isn't online with no current ETA. The advertised "exciting" August in the last Game Directors Letter became August with only one patch and no content. Raids are still broken, crafting is still broken, gem stacking is still broken, feats are still broken, quests from launch are still broken, memory leaks (apparently fixed) are still present, the forums now delete/close any thread which mentions a player leaving the game, promised stat guides explaining how the game works still not published (this was promised by community manager & developer for July)....it goes on and on.

    The game is a clusterfuck.

  • ZuluHero #11 4 years ago

    "blah blah blah blah blah my guild blah blah blah blah how bad it is blah blah..."

    Why is this sort of argument always used? I just wish the naysayers will realise that it is not in their interest to see big MMOs fail, and the sooner they grow up and realise that and stop with the childish playground comparrisons the better. One day your [insert favourite MMO here] will be relinquished to the top of the MMO graveyard pile just like all the games you drove into the ground before it, and guess what? There won't be any other MMOs around for you to jump ship - at least none of the quaility that you are used to - and where will you be then?

    I hear life is a pretty fun MMO mind...

    Edited by 3 at 27/08/08 @ 09:22

  • iokthemonkey #12 3 years ago

    "blah blah blah blah blah my guild blah blah blah blah how bad it is blah blah..."

    Why is this sort of argument always used? I just wish the naysayers will realise that it is not in their interest to see big MMOs fail, and the sooner they grow up and realise that and stop with the childish playground comparrisons the better. One day your [insert favourite MMO here] will be relinquished to the top of the MMO graveyard pile just like all the games you drove into the ground before it, and guess what? There won't be any other MMOs around for you to jump ship - at least none of the quaility that you are used to - and where will you be then?

    I hear life is a pretty fun MMO mind...

    -----------------------------

    How would you feel if you bought a new satellite system, paid for a subscription to Sky and found only half the channels were on-air, your decoder locked up every 30 minutes, their scheduling was full of commercials saying how great they were and how everything was hunky-dory and whenever you tried to speak to somebody in technical support, they ignored you in favour of your neighbour?

    The problem is that AoC is broken, plain and simple. They've sold defective goods to the players and - worst of all - are continuing to charge players, all the while stringing them along with promises they fail to deliver upon.

    AoC had potential. The first 20 levels are fun and the combat - for a short spell - is engaging. But it quickly drops off and by level 30-odd it's more a punishment to play than a pleasure, due to terrible design, programmers who can't fix anything without breaking another element and serious memory issues that render play for any period of time impossible.

    THAT'S what people are so angry about. It's not a "them vs us" thing or a fanboy argument. It's the fact that so many people have been shafted by Funcom over this absolute mess of a "game."