Age of Conan Off to a Successful Start

[GameBanshee News]

Funcom sent out a press release today announcing that Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is one of the fastest selling PC games of all time with over 400,000 gamers logging in since launch.

Age of Conan one of the fastest selling PC games of all time

Over 400,000 gamers have entered game – First 20 reviews with an average review score above 90%

Durham, USA – May 26th, 2008 – Funcom is proud to announce that Age of Conan is one of the fastest selling PC games of all time. More than 400.000 gamers have entered Hyboria over the last few days, with almost half coming from the North American market. This amazing figure for a PC game shows that the positive pre-order trend has transferred into actual sales, and people from all over the world are now flocking to the most savage, sexy and brutal MMO ever created.

Over the weekend an astounding amount of concurrent gamers were logged on to the game, making Age of Conan one of the busiest MMOs in the western hemisphere. With stock flying out of several retail chains, Funcom expects the number to increase in the days to come. In addition to the many gamers logging in, there was also substantial traffic to the Age of Conan websites, with more than 2,2 million unique visitors during the last ten days.

As a result of the great launch, players and press have been raving about the unique qualities of the game, and the first 20 reviews give Age of Conan an average score above 90%. The first US reviews are also live, with Gamezone.com giving the game an Editor’s Choice Award, a 9.4 of 10 score, while heralding Age of Conan as a “Benchmark MMO”. Sci-Fi.com was also an early mover and gave the game a straight A, stating that “If Robert E. Howard had been a game designer.., this is the Conan he would have invented.”

“The initial sales and reviews are very encouraging, and it’s great to see that so many are enjoying Age of Conan,” said Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas. “This is just the beginning, and we already look forward to massive updates and cool new features. We believe our focus on making Conan unique and groundbreaking is a key reason for the initial success. This is a focus we will keep and reinforce, and players can expect continued quality and innovation as we enter a new era for the game.”

For more information about the game, please visit 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 http://www.funcom.com. For information about Funcom games visit http://www.anarchy-online.com, http://www.dreamfall.com, http://www.darkdaysarecoming.com or http://www.ageofconan.com. Funcom is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker FUNCOM.

About Conan Properties International LLC - Conan Properties International LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Paradox Entertainment Inc., controls rights to Conan, many associated characters and the Hyborian world, as created by Robert E. Howard and various rights expanded upon by many acclaimed authors and artists. Many consider Conan the world's best-known fantasy character. For more information about Conan Properties International LLC, visit www.conan.com. For information about Paradox Entertainment Inc., visit www.paradox-entertainment.com.

[Brother None]

20 reviews?

Man, English press must be way behind, I've seen only 2 so far.

Otherwise: cool. They needed it to be a hit and so it is.

[swcarter]

Let's see... 20+ ecstatic reviews for an MMORPG within a week of its release. What does that tell me? It tells me that the game must have had a great beta process. The reviews might as well be previews.

SWC

[Celos]

Actually the game had an awful beta process, at least from what I've read. The game often crashed, was choppy on even the most powerful rigs and so on (not for everybody of course, but for quite a few). That lasted up until release and many people canceled their pre-orders, because of the game being so utterly unfinished so close to release. Apparently Funcom worked with 3 different codes though (open beta, closed beta and internal) and pulled off a miracle release with a smooth client. The NDA wasn't lifted until actual release either.

I agree that no review will mean anything so close to release. Need to play it for a month or so to see how the end-game, economy and everything else important in a MMO plays out.