While it was not mentioned during this past week's press tour, Funcom has announced today that Age of Conan will be released on May 20th rather than on March 25th as we had thought.

The moves comes in order to "stress game systems and polish the game further leading up to launch".

The highly anticipated MMO receives 8 more weeks of development, allowing Funcom to deliver a more polished MMO experience when the game launches on the 20th of May 2008. Despite great feedback on vital aspects like immersion, fun factor and the exciting combat system, the management of Funcom has decided to polish the game even more. Eight weeks of development work is therefore added to stress game systems and polish the game further leading up to launch.

 

Funcom is fully committed to its communities and the quality-level they demand and deserve, and has previously postponed the Age of Conan launch. The changes implemented as the game was moved to a 2008 release have proven to greatly improve the experience for newcomers, while introducing a more involving and accessible character progression throughout the game. Press and beta feedback in the aftermath of these changes has been very positive. As a result, the ongoing presentations of the game have continued to increase the anticipation for Age of Conan. To date, Age of Conan has received more than 20 magazine covers and 15 industry awards, and is widely considered to be one of the most anticipated MMOs in development.

Read the entire explanation here.

I have to say that although a bit disappointed, I was hoping this would tide me over till WAR, I'm not that surprised.

Is this going to coincide with WARs release, I think that was Q2 as well wasn't it?

If AoC doesn't get released before WAR I think the numbers will be disappointing...

Originally posted by Stradden

While it was not mentioned during this past week's press tour, Funcom has announced today that Age of Conan will be released on May 20th rather than on March 25th as we had thought.

The moves comes in order to "stress game systems and polish the game further leading up to launch".

The highly anticipated MMO receives 8 more weeks of development, allowing Funcom to deliver a more polished MMO experience when the game launches on the 20th of May 2008. Despite great feedback on vital aspects like immersion, fun factor and the exciting combat system, the management of Funcom has decided to polish the game even more. Eight weeks of development work is therefore added to stress game systems and polish the game further leading up to launch.

 

Funcom is fully committed to its communities and the quality-level they demand and deserve, and has previously postponed the Age of Conan launch. The changes implemented as the game was moved to a 2008 release have proven to greatly improve the experience for newcomers, while introducing a more involving and accessible character progression throughout the game. Press and beta feedback in the aftermath of these changes has been very positive. As a result, the ongoing presentations of the game have continued to increase the anticipation for Age of Conan. To date, Age of Conan has received more than 20 magazine covers and 15 industry awards, and is widely considered to be one of the most anticipated MMOs in development.

Read the entire explanation here.

And again and again and again ... will say the same that before: better got a finished game on may than unfinished buggy on march but... if now we are like this, how the F$%&" were they thinking about when said that it will be finished on 2007 ?

jesus enough already!!!!!!!!! stop giving freaking specific dates

if you can't hold them fitty times in a row!! just say it will be released in 2008

I knew it would happen hah..

Dang now I have to change my vacation time.

"When it's done." should be the release date until you're pressing the discs and boxes...

Ghehehehe

Bwahahaha

*evil kuckel*

Yea sorry that was the TCoS fanboiii in me.

But serious now, dont be disapointed. I mean, if you release the game this buggy, who will enjoy it? And there will be tons of trolls who will bash the game to the ground. So, this is the wisest to do.

But why are they giving specif dates. I want to know which PR team thought that is good for hyping and such. *sigh*

Oh btw, I might be a TCoS fanboi, but if that game doenst make up its promises, ill be playing AoC if it does make it up. No please flame on the poster above me or something who is saying stuff about not-a-2007-release. kkthxbye

And here I was hoping they'd do this, only because of what has been said in reviews...

But I still wanna play the damn game! Aaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhh!

sign..... thought i just have to endure 2 more months..... just 2 more months....... just...... j........

Let em take the time they need. We have seen to many good MMOs beeing released to early and with horrible results.

I rather played a good delayed game, then a bad released one.

This is just my personal opinion, but this seems to be more a marketing ploy than anything else.  I suspect they are trying to release it as close as possible to WAR's release (ala EQ2 and WoW releases).

This way people will not play AoC for about 2 or 3 months, then all jump ship to try WAR when they grow "bored" of AoC.

But as someone else said, stop giving "firm" dates, then constantly push them back.  This doesn't show me you are "dedicated to releasing a finely tuned game", this shows me you can't keep your word and are trying to build up false hype.

Originally posted by Thatim

But why are they giving specif dates. I want to know which PR team thought that is good for hyping and such. *sigh*

i`m ready to wait 2 or 3 more months for this game and i`m not so eager to play WAR when I see all the goodies in AoC

Gives me a chance to save for a cpu. Right now I don't even have one that can play the original Everquest. Plus, with MMORPGs, I never have a problem with delays.

Originally posted by Deathstrike2

 

Originally posted by Thatim

But why are they giving specif dates. I want to know which PR team thought that is good for hyping and such. *sigh*

I'm guessing that giving the March 25th date really helped their pre-order sales.  They hype the game up a little, announce a collector's edition and hype that, slap a release date on it, tell everyone it's being polished, and sales are good.  After the bulk of people who are going to preorder do so, they push the date back again. 

 

I must admit I nearly did myself but now I'll just wait till its on the shelves. Its va very cynical move if it is true !

I’m gonna buy AoC just to try it, so the extra delay means nothing to me. Probably it’s a good thing, since the game will be “better”; FC will get a better chance to gain an extra "solid" subscriber. From my point of view, this delay was necessary, judging by the major changes that took place within the last month. On the other hand, publishing an exact false date it’s more than annoying.

i'm not surprised either - and now i'm not really bothered.  the attitude of the moderators on the forums is appauling, so i imagine that the gms will be similar.  for saying it's an adult rated game, they still censor adult content and opinion on the forums.

anyway, there are several other mmos which will be out the door before this one happens.  i suspect they are having problems translating to xbox 360, which i believe they were going live with at the same time.  mmos - on a console?  not a good idea, imho.  maybe on the wii  though...

but why continue to disappoint people?  just say it'll be out january 2009 and release early.  rather than promising this amazing game and keep pushing it back.  manage expectations!!

if people are waiting for something to tide them over till WAR, i recommend pirates of the burning sea.

Its gonna be a very busy summer......