Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures

Funcom had a massive best selling hit in late May with the release of the long awaited fantasy MMO Age of Conan. However, the "fun" has gone out of Funcom a bit over the summer with Blizzard execs reporting they have gotten back a sizable fraction of their World of Warcraft subscribers that went over to Age of Conan.

Now it looks like the developer is doing some cutting of their personnel numbers in their US offices. According to a rumor story at TenTonHammer, Funcom laid off 70 percent of their US positions late last week, mostly in their customers service and QA departments. The report was unclear as to the specific numbers of layoffs. Funcom has issued an official response but even that was fairly unclear: "We did have some staffing cuts at Funcom this week as well as new positions opening in the organization as part of our ongoing cost based efficiency and performance initiatives that are vital to any business."

Last week Funcom issues out a major new content update for their fantasy MMO Age of Conan. However the update did not include the long promised DirectX10 graphical features. However Funcom is promising that the next major update to the game will include the DirectX10 version of the game.

In his November newsletter, new Funcom game director Craig Morrison stated, "Since the outset we have been determined that the new DirectX 10 functionality would not just be a 'gimmick' addition to the game and would add visual quality to the game, we feel that the version we are preparing now for testing does achieve this and in a way that will find the right balance between visuals and performance." He added that all the new graphical effects are customizable so "... so that you can find the right balance between features for the performance level of your hardware."

This week Blizzard released their commercial expansion pack for World of Warcraft and CCP launched a free content update for EVE Online. Today Funcom said, "Us too," with the announcement of a major free content update for their fantasy MMO Age of Conan.

Funcom says the update is the largest since the game launched last May, adding the new outdoor area called Ymir's Pass to the game. New questions, a new dungeon, new monsters to kill and a new storyline are all a part of the Ymir's Pass free update. Funcom's press release states that two more dungeons for high level characters will be added to Age of Conan "soon".

On the official Age of Conan forums the titles game director has confirmed the development team has begun preparations to merge servers in North America and Europe for more enjoyable online experience. The server merge hasn't been given a date but the team hopes to make the transition as "fair and streamlined as possible" and hope the change "[Serves] as a positive injection to the social scene in the game."

Internally,DirectX 10 servers have been in the testing phase for a number of weeks and Funcom promises the long-awaited feature will showcase a number of visual treats for players. Age of Conan's game director promises that, as early as the next mandatory update, players will begin to see some DirectX 10 features as the team publicly tests the new additions until it is considered strong enough for a live release.

Erling Ellingson, Product Manager for Age of Conan, presents upcoming features and content that will soon be included in the game. New areas for high level characters and amazing DirectX 10 visuals are among some of the things that are coming to Hyboria.

Download HD Age of Conan: Hyborian Insider Episode 4 (121 MB)
Download HD Age of Conan: Hyborian Insider Episode 2 (43 MB)

In what can be described as a bit of a surprise, Funcom has just announced that Gaute Godager, one of its founders and the producer/design director for its recent fantasy MMO release Age of Conan, has decided to resign from the developer after 16 years. In a statement that's rather bold and open for an official press release, Godager is quoted as saying, "I have done my very best making this fabulous game, but I have concluded there are elements which I am dissatisfied with. I have decided to act on this, and as a result I have chosen to leave Funcom." While he doesn't state specifically what he will be doing next, Godager says it will be something "outside the gaming industry."

Godager's replacement has already been named. Craig Morrison, previously the producer and design director for Funcom's first MMO game Anarchy Online, will now handle those duties for Age of Conan. Morrison's own statement says his first priority to players of the game is to "...listen to, and act on, player concerns, while ensuring we add additional great content to the game."

Big Iron had the opportunity to catch up with Funcom's Jorgen Tharaldsen (JT) at Dragon*Con, and was able to ask him some questions about what's in store for the hardware freaks as far as Age of Conan is concerned. Their willingness to speak frankly about what the player base has brought up as points of concern is great to see, and the fact that they're so up-front about what they're doing to address these items is laudable.

From their July Developer's Note (for those who haven't seen it):

You can add more more game that's now available via Valve's Steam download service. Funcom's fantasy MMO Age of Conan has now joined the growing line up of titles on Steam. As usual with introducing a new game, Steam is offering a 10 percent off sale for anyone purchasing Age of Conan before Sept. 11.

Funcom recently announced plans for a commercial expansion pack for Age of Conan that will be released in 2009; they will also continue to expand the game with free content updates for its subscribers. They also plan to release a DirectX10 graphics patch for Age of Conan that should improve the title's visuals greatly. The big question: will the release later this month of Warhammer Online affect Age of Conan's subscriber base?

Earlier today we reported that Funcom had announced plans for a commercial expansion pack for their fantasy MMO Age of Conan. The developer also announced plans for free content for current subscribers to the game and we now have some screenshots that show off what they have planned.

Along with the free content screenshots, Funcom also released some visuals from the upcoming DirectX10 graphics upgrade, along with some comparison screenshots from the DirectX9 version. Volumetic fog, HDR, specular reflections and other features will be added to the game with the DirectX10 version is released. So far there's no word on when the new content or the graphics upgrade will be available for download.

It's not really a surprise considering the game's high sales, but Funcom announced during a press briefling at Games Convention this week that they will indeed release a commercial expansion pack to their fantasy MMO Age of Conan. No details were revealed on the expansion, partly because Funcom wants fans to speculate on their own; Funcom might even take some of their ideas into consideration.

In the meantime, Funcom showed a piece of concept artwork for th expansio and Gamespy reports that it had "three warriors wearing facemasks encrusted with green stones, wielding curved swords and hooked axes. In the background are standards with dragons rendered on them, and buildings that look vaguely Chinese in design." Funcom does plan to expand the game in the coming months with free updates, including the promised DirectX10 graphical update.

Funcom released its regular quarterly financial results on Friday, giving some more info about their post launch results for their fantasy MMO Age of Conan. According to the report the game currently has about 415,000 customers but that play time in the game for each customer has been less than expected. So far 800,000 copies of the game have been sold to customers.

Revenues for Funcom increased higher than expected but the company still had an operating loss for the quarter. However the company still feels it is in good financial shape with a lot of cash available. Funcom plans to expand Age of Conan to other territories in the coming months and is working on other projects, including two casual MMOs expected to launch in 2009. Their next major MMO, The Secret World, is ramping up development but no word yet on a release date.

One of the big dissapointments in the launch last May for Age of Conan was the last minute announcement that the fantasy MMO would not have a DirectX10 version at launch. Today developer Funcom announced that members of the press will be able to see the DirectX10 graphics for the game next week in a behind-closed-doors session at the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany.
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The general public who attend the show will also get to see some upcoming new content for the game including " brand new and never-before-seen locations, content and features." Also a demo on how the game can be played via a gamepad with software from Blue Orb and a three-monitor setup from TripleHead2Go. Funcom will also give out their cool inflatable Age of Conan swords and free trial accounts for the game with limited edition DVDs of Age of Conan. This is apparently the first time that Funcom will give out free trial accounts for the title.

According to a story posted on Avisen, Funcom has terminated an Age of Conan GM (Game Master) for having cyber sex with a player. A complete transcript of the sometimes lewd conversation, complete with screenshots, is available at MMORPG.com.

Funcom responded promptly to the situation, stating that they are "aware of this matter, and necessary measures have been taken" against the offending GM. Funcom was firm in asserting that it maintains strict behavior protocol for all staff and that "if the guidelines are broken there are consequences."

Like an undercover sting operation, much of the dialogue between the GM and the player hints that the encounter might have been pre-meditated in order to definitively catch the GM in the act of disobeying employee guidelines.

Ask Conan what's best in life, and he'll give you his usual rundown with one extra addition: to hear the lamentations of Blizzard Entertainment when they notice a decline in World of WarCraft subscribers. During a conference call made earlier this week, Blizzard's Mike Morhaime admitted that many of Age of Conan: Hyborin Adventures' new players have been raided from the Alliance and the Horde, but feels confident that most WoW players will return to Azeroth.

After leaving to try out Age of Conan, Morhaime claims that "about 40 per cent of those players return to World of Warcraft," leaving Blizzard to speculate (perhaps correctly) that most players only tried Age of Conan because it was the new kid on the block.

Morhaime touted just that during the conference call, boasting that any new MMO "isn't just competing with the amount and breadth of content that we launched with back in 2004" -- World of WarCraft's countless content update and fixes have honed the MMO to what it is today: the most popular kid on the block, even if it won't ever be the newest.

Speaking of new, the highly anticipated World of WarCraft: Wrath of the Lich King expansion will be released during the fourth quarter of 2008.

Earlier this week we reported that Blizzard was close to launching local Russian servers for their hit fantasy MMO World of Warcraft. Now Funcom is holding up it's hand and saying, "Us too. Us too." The developer announced today that it will have a localized Russian version of their own fantasy MMO Age of Conan.

In fact the Russian conversion will be handled by one of the biggest Russian publishers 1C Company. They will handle the actual voice and text translation and provide local customer support and take care of the community, local web site and in-game events. The Russian port of Age of Conan is due to launch in the fourth quarter of 2008.