"Age of Conan" Release Date Delayed to March 25th, 2008!!

I honestly can't say I was surprised...but I am sad. Still, I'd prefer they put out a good game than charge us for a sub-par beta.

Per the Age of Conan Forums:

Friday Update: Letter from the Game Director

Greetings everyone

Today is a definition of mixed feelings for me, and many in the Conan team. We hate being late. We hate not delivering on what we have promised. We hate letting you guys and girls down. We all want to hide somewhere dark and be ashamed of ourselves. And naturally, here is a good time to profoundly apologize to you, our loyal and patient community. We are sorry for another delay, we truly are, but hopefully this WILL turn into something better for all of us.

As you have seen over the last period, and as we have stated again and again, our clear intension was to launch in October. But what happens when you learn that the game you have needs more development time? Do you continue to force through towards a release, like we did with Anarchy Online? This time we did the right thing. I am proud by the fact that we work in a company that knows what the game truly needs, and are willing to follow and support the best interest of the game.

I am very happy to see that many of you, our community, actually support this decision. Naturally, there would be resentments and aggravations because of this. There is nothing wrong with that, but the logic is sound and I would like you to lend me your ear when I go through this.

“It's that first few hours. Either explain how it takes 5 months to fix the first few hours, or explain the full reason behind the delay. And don't take us for idiots.”

The combos are tied closely with feats. The combos are also tied closely with the five directions in the game. Today all classes get five directions, even when you are a nuker wizard that never even bothers getting in close combat. We wanted to make sure that the classes not wanting melee, actually wouldn’t have a superfluous system thrust on them (all five directions, combos etc). We wanted to make sure that the complexity of knowing which combos do I start when I press a direction to be clearer (this is complex even for me who love this system). We wanted to know that people got a larger component of instant gratification in combos. We wanted to remove the confusing elements of combo cooldowns that you cannot click on, but that looks like icons.

For many of you, who are not in the beta, this might not mean a lot. Let me break down what we are doing instead:

1. You don’t start with 5 directions, you start with 3. Non- melee classes don’t get the full five directions. We keep the depth and complexity in what we do, but we present it easier. The melee classes get the 5 directions.

2. We give people the opportunity to not only have 2,4,6 or 8 combos available, but as many as they want! To do this, they have to start the combo with a clickable, but the gui around this is much more uniform. You still have to do up-right, left etc to execute the combo though. (Today there are 8 slots for spells. 4 Slots for clickables, 8 slots (that you cannot click on) for combos. It will be now, hotkey bars where you put what you want where you want.)

3. We can now speed up combat, and enhance the action elements – positioning and directions because people aren’t struggling with knowing which combos they are starting.

4. We can add a certain dash of effect on the first key, on the second key and on any key in the combo, as we KNOW which combo is actually being executed. This will make it much, much more appealing to the players.

Why does this take 5 months? To make it we must go through every combo in the game, reassign keys, make icons etc. To make it does not take 5 months. We should be done around Christmas. We wanted the 5 months to make sure we could make another iteration if feedback was as still less than stellar. We wanted a solid buffer.

“It's 2 months before release that you "realize" that the combat system is a bit hard to understand in the beginning”

I know I am not perfect, by a long shot. This delay reveals my humanity in a quite demeaning way. You see, I personally love the combat. I love the combos, the fast-paced hack and slash, the dodging and weaving. I love it all. Also, the initial reactions by many have been very favorable. No, stunning actually!

But then, I have actually had 3 years to learn the combat. Not listening to experienced beta testers initial reactions is the most dangerous thing to do. I know I have lost face, and most likely a lot of credibility to a lot of people. I am still professional enough to realize that sometimes you must have the balls to pull your own pants off, standing there in all your glory, and admit your mistakes.

Luckily we do not change what I love! We change the way you learn it. I have explained why it takes time, and that is unfortunate. I am dead certain I shall be vindicated in this decision! Hey, we could have given you some bull**** reason about needing more time to polish a startup area or whatnot. This is the truth. It stings.

Come on! It is 5 months. It is not years.

“AoC is being dumbed down to appeal to the LotRO/WoW crowd so that FC can get more subs”

Conan is its own entity. We keep what is great, but we let people access it more easily. Are you saying the beta testers feedback comes because they are dumb? I hope not. The directions, the combos, the hands-on-action. It is all there.

The community often complains that we aren’t detailed enough in our statements. This is the reason. This exactly this, is why. We sometime need to adjust methods, input configurations, feedback systems and so on.

We are NOT changing the vision! It stays the same! Not dumber, not less deep or compless, but less convoluted. How can you accuse me, the many years Game Director of Anarchy Online of making dumbed-down games. You needed a Phd to get into that game, and even then it wasn’t a certainty ;p Funcoms “problem” has never been dumbed-down anything!

“March? The expected release of the 360 version?”

Xbox 360 will also be delayed because of this. How much, I cannot tell you.

“IMO it is better to make the game a star from start,”

Thank you for pointing this out! I cannot agree more. We only have one chance to become a success. People can have many reasons to want success; monetary- , being part of something they are proud of- , making a name for themselves-, loving what they have created and wanting it to live forever-, it does not matter!

Whatever reason, we all want the same thing. This to succeed!

“beta testers are not at fault for complaining”

No, on the contrary, we love to get concrete, detailed feedback from our beta testers. I would like to address this directly to you, if you are a tester. I would like to say – this is an homage to your integrity, your sincerity and to how much we value your input. You are but the messenger. I hope you appreciate to what degree we listen to your input!

We do not fault you, we honor you.

And with that I hope I have at least commented on some of the aspects I have seen on the forums and around the news today. Right now we are gearing up for the show in Leipzig, and the way it stands right now, if you get a chance to get there (bring a video camera so you can film the game from the showfloor, you too WILL be able to play the game.

You will love it!

- gaute
__________________
Shannon 'Pharamond' Drake
Community Manager – Funcom

And the release date:

Letter to the Community On The New Release Date

Hello everybody,

As you saw from the press release, we've decided to delay the game until March 25, 2008. As you all understand, this is obviously one of the hardest decisions we could've made as a company, but this is done to ensure that you all the get the best possible experience when the game is done next March.

While we have seen that the overall reactions to our game has in general been extremely favorable, we as a company can only go for the best possible experience for our users. We are a MMO company, and we know that the only thing which matters when building a long-term community is the quality of the game. When our beta testers have come back to us with concerns in a couple of different areas, we have therefore been listening. The feedback has especially been on the entry barriers to the game, and how people are learning and coping with the combat system in the first few hours of gameplay. While most are having a fantastic time with it once they learn it, we also see that it is new and different to a lot of people, and that it takes longer to get into than what we have anticipated. This means that we need to ease the barrier, and make the first few hours of gameplay more accessible.

After careful consideration we have therefore decided that this must be improved for the overall good of the game. We are now putting considerable extra efforts into improving the game, despite the fact that a whole world is raving about the qualities of what we have shown them. It was not an easy decision to make, but we felt it was necessary, both for you and ourselves.

We would also like to point out that the pushback does not affect the beta. General beta is currently ongoing, it will still go on in the weeks and months to come (and escalate) and invitations will continue to go out. As a part of this, rest assured that Funcom will continue to listen to our beta testers, who are an invaluable source of honest feedback, and that we together will create a special game.

A lot of you have shown an incredible amount of patience with us through the production process and we appreciate it tremendously. These next few months will give us time to deliver to you what you want as bad as us; a great MMO game.

Thanks,

The Funcom Team
__________________
Shannon 'Pharamond' Drake
Community Manager – Funcom

Official Press Release:

Funcom and Eidos announce new release date for 'Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures'.

Durham, USA – August 10th, 2007 – Funcom and Eidos announce a new release date for 'Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures'. The highly anticipated MMO is now set to release on the 25th of March 2008. By setting a new release date for the game, Funcom can continue the focus on honing, polishing and improving the heralded qualities of the game, ensuring a fantastic MMO experience when it launches next spring.

“We naturally regret that we have to push back ‘Age of Conan’. However, after careful consideration, and analysis of recent Beta feedback, we believe that the new release date is in the best interest of the gamers, our company and our owners,” said Trond Arne Aas, CEO of Funcom. “We are fully committed to delivering games with absolute qualities, and in the current MMO marketplace we know that only the best is good enough to truly succeed. With the new release date we have therefore given ourselves more time to meet and deliver on the massive expectations for the game. We are certain that our choice will ultimately pay off, and that all ‘Age of Conan’ players will get a special online experience."

”We are honored by the immense reception our game is constantly getting, with an astounding amount of positive press coverage, awards and magazine covers, but we still see that we need to polish some aspects of the game even further, especially when it comes to the entry barriers,” said Gaute Godager, founder of Funcom and Producer / Director on ‘Age of Conan’. “With the added development time we can now deliver something even more unique and powerful, something which is worthy of the incredible Conan legacy.”

‘Age of Conan’ is consistently mentioned as one of the most anticipated PC games in development. It has received numerous magazine covers and awards, including 'Best MMO of E3' awards from IGN, GameSpot, GameSpy and Yahoo. ‘Age of Conan’ is a key title in Microsoft's Games for Windows line-up, as well as being a showcase DirectX 10 title for nVidia. The game is currently in general Beta, and applications for testing are available at www.ageofconan.com.

_ _ _


ABOUT FUNCOM - Funcom is an independent developer and publisher of online games for PC, consoles and mobile platforms. Funcom has provided outstanding entertainment since 1993 and continues to expand its track-record of more than twenty released games. Recent titles include 'The Longest Journey', 'Anarchy Online' and 'Dreamfall: The Longest Journey'. For corporate information please visit www.funcom.com. For information about Funcom games visit www.anarchy-online.com www.dreamfall.com, www.darkdaysarecoming.com or www.ageofconan.com. Funcom is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker FUNCOM.

ABOUT CONAN PROPERTIES INTERNATIONAL - Conan Properties International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Paradox Entertainment Inc., controls all rights to Conan, associated characters and the Hyborian world, as created by Robert E. Howard and expanded upon by acclaimed authors and artists for decades. Conan is considered to be the world's best-known fantasy character. For more information about Conan Properties International, visit www.conan.com. For information about Paradox Entertainment Inc., visit www.paradox-entertainment.com.

ABOUT EIDOS INTERACTIVE LTD - Eidos Interactive Ltd is part of SCi Entertainment Group Plc (SEG) one of the world's leading publishers and developers of entertainment software. Eidos consists of publishing operations across Europe and the US and several development studios including Crystal Dynamics, IO Interactive, Beautiful Game Studios, Eidos Hungary, Eidos Sweden and Pivotal Games. The Group has a valuable combined portfolio of intellectual property including: Tomb Raider, Hitman, Deus Ex, Championship Manager, Carmageddon, Battlestations Midway, the Conflict series and Just Cause. Some of the titles currently in development include: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, Crossfire, Highlander and Age of Conan.