Yesterday's announcement that Age of Conan would be delayed until May the 20th. As can be expected, fan response to this announcement has ranged from disappointment to support. As a result of this, Gaute Godager, the game's Director explained the move in a post on the official Age of Conan forums.

It feels to me I am the Herald of bad news (no, it is not a new class). Rather, I am the grey faced postman always arriving with the bills. I am the guy with a yellow post-it on your windshield confessing a fender bender. I am the only one in the elevator when the door opens, and a pretty lady enters reaching for her nose. It seems I only write to you with bad news – that’s all I do! I want to write this update to encourage you – we are on the right track, and by Crom we are close to the finish!

Although you might not see it this way, and you are frustrated, we delay because - it is right. It is the right thing to do! Naturally I sound righteous, haughty and bordering on arrogant when I say this: This is the right thing to do. You want something better than what you would have gotten in March. You deserve something better! I want to apologize – not for what we did but because some of you might have gotten upset. For that I am sorry. For this decision, and every one leading up to it – I stand by it 100%! This game will rock!

Ok, enough with the emotions, though I simply needed to get this off my chest. Why do we delay again? It is simple and it is complex:

- The level of bugs.

The previous delay was for a major reason – the combat control and balance. This is no longer the case. We have the big things under control, although not all has reached beta in the speed I would have liked to have seen! It is now simply getting in the things we did, polished. We have continued to receive fantastic feedback for the previous changes. See this article for instance: http://www.computerandvideogames.com....php?id=178652 if you worry that the game has not progressed. The previous delay was correct and time spent wisely, so is this - and so will this time be spent!

The simplicity of this explanation (bugs) as the reason behind the delay is that you have heard it before by all major players in the industry and by all others making computer software. Bugs are controllable on a statistical level, but I guess sometimes statistics don’t really reflect the experience. Although we have seen bugs go down as predicted by statistics, the increase in polish didn’t really follow suit. This discrepancy can only be explained that the bugs we have fixed aren’t by themselves flawless. Two bugs out of beta and one in. Again a well known phenomena. The added time should now deal with it. We are on the right track.

I guess you saw we hosted a large community event at the end of last week, giving the awesome Conan fan- sites a chance to see, ask and learn as much as they could about the nuts and bolts of the game. (And meet so many of you really cool people – how did you like the Stygian restaurant?) This event was all about giving as much info as we were asked (in addition to us presenting a lot ourselves;-). I think it’s safe to say that many of us had a great time at the event, but since so much info came out of it I also see the need to clarify some things. I am creating a State of the game update so you can learn more about how we are moving ahead. Today, however, I wanted to speak about the additional eight weeks of development, and the new release date.

Reading your concerns and replies about the delay on our forums I see, and understand, that many of you are concerned about the status of the game. I also see that many of you support our decision in pushing it back, since you have played enough MMO’s to understand. Like me, you know that the last stretch of polish is what makes or breaks our MMO straight-after-launch-first-impression. Like me, many of you know that making games is not an exact science. We are dealing with emotions, and fun, and technology and what have you.

Launching in March was our clear goal, even up to last week. As a listed company we are forced to deal with release dates in a different manner, especially since a lot of our value is based on Age of Conan. And whenever something changes, we need to inform the market first. Most of our people only found out this morning due to legal requirements. The final decision was something I and some of our key management people made over the weekend. The premise was simple. As we now moved into the home stretch, we took that last, long look at the state of the game. How would it be come March? Would it become like we intended it to be if we launched in March? The final word from our CEO came on Saturday evening, after we discussed this through the day. And here we are.

Let me be very clear about this; as opposed to our last pushback in August we are not about redesigning parts of the game this time around. Now we are on the final stretch, with the goal plain in sight. I have assured you before, but we are neither the first nor the last gaming company to add more development time to our game in the last stretch. That is not an excuse though, but ultimately it’s the quality which matters. That is the only yardstick which truly matters. This additional time is about hope. In only four more months you will know if we made the right move. I feel confident we have!

Yours truly,

Gaute

Check it out for yourself here.

Great to see the Devs explaining the delay. And a 'state of the game' post will come soon too. This post has put my mind at ease about a further delay. Roll on May!

Another dull 0 risk 100% consensual pvp game gets delayed? What a shame! I guess I have the other dozen or so to play until May. Am I the only one who realizes that only the graphics are changing in these things?

Take all the time you need.  I'd rather the game get delayed than be released into a "pay beta stage" like Vanguard. 

Ha, my thread beat this one by 15 minutes or so.... at least I gave credit to the person who pointed this news out to me.

man, with almost a 2 year delay, this game better be polished :>)

pre order has been canceled..  Something just plain and simply seems wrong..

guess I will wait 5 months then see how the game is recieved something feels Vanguardish..

I'd also like to add that while they are delaying the game to 'polish' it to a very high standard, they could be shooting themselves in the foot if they deliver anything but a 'polished' product now. If they release a buggy game after so many delays, people will be asking some serious questions about why the game was delayed to be 'polished' and yet was still released 'unpolished'. Basically, they are raising peoples hopes for a good quality product and they better deliver.

Excellent decision to delay the launch for 8 more weeks of polish.  I remember playing Anarchy Online back in the day and was totally frustrated and felt let down by the game because of the many bugs it had at release.  Funcom does not want this, and neither do we.

It will be further delayed may is too soon from some people i ve talked to.

At first I was frustrated when I heard this game was delayed yet again, especially after finally hearing such good things from beta testers in regards to the changes brought about from the last delay.  This explanation concurs with what many beta players have been saying though - the core game is finally there, and now the devs just need to fix some nag-bugs and polish.  To be honest, I was a bit concerned that the game hadn't been delayed again, since the previous delay was initiated to fix a major game mechanic failure.  Kudos to Gaute for shedding some light and being up-front about the process.  I'm also glad to see the approach they're taking to truly fixing the bugs - not just patching-em-ups.  I've seen enough band-aid-on-bullet-hole "hotfixes" (that are never re-evaluated) in mmos to appreciate solid fixes when they occur.

I think it should be a law in the game industry to put the word "Estimated" before all release dates, unless the game is ON it's way to the manufacturer as the release date is being posted.

I say this not for myself, I already know how it works when companies give players a release date that's set in the near future. The Carrot (release date) is just out of reach so the Horse (gamers/fans) keep following it and following it as the Rider (devs) keep pushing it forward until everyone arrives at the destination...1-3 years later then the Carrot was first offered! This way the Horse won't lose interest midway and the Rider has a chance to cover up any major detours with the extra time.

The fact that most of us don't even really believe the release dates we hear anymore, or take them with quite a bit more then a grain of salt, tells you that we know better now and you should too. It's all good and well to polish your game so it isn't a sub par piece o' ****(and that's great if that's what your actually doing), but come on, it's this type of marketing that just ends up casting your company in a bad light.

This isn't a "I hate Funcom or Conan" post. I'm actually looking forward to the game. I'd just like to see companies in general be more responsible with what they tell their fans (who some might be our future game devs) that look up to them.

thank you.  please don't make the launch feel like a beta.  The expectation will be high that the launch is a polished launch and not the craptastic launch that other games are known for (DnD online for example)

There are enough other mmo in the market that there is no room for a bad game.

Good choice of pursponing it, if its not at the stage the game should be.. we dont want another VANGUARD dissapointment in our faces thank you!

 I stand by my previous posts that this was a good decision.  Again the quality of the game is gonna make or break em in the first month or so so they want it right the first time.  Like I said before this is where Vanguard shot themselves in the foot. And with LotR right there to pick up their losses.  Conan does not want to screw up with a bad launch and lose everyone to WAR (since they are so close together).

 So I applaud their decision to hold off and focus on quality. It could very well be the one up they need. And I wouldn't be surprised if WAR follows suit...

If the game has a flawless launch, then we'll all have forgotten this by next january.  If the game has an awful, bug filled launch, well honestly I can argue that Anarchy Online NEVER recovered.  Ever. 

I'm pissed, and I'm confused, and I'm annoyed, but I'm not canceling the preorder yet.  Funcom's still got me on board... for now.

One more, and I'm through. 

Originally posted by Sathonys

pre order has been canceled..  Something just plain and simply seems wrong..

 

guess I will wait 5 months then see how the game is recieved something feels Vanguardish..

Maybe they're just gonna come out with better packages ... or more inciting ones seeing as they will be closer to the WAR release date...

Originally posted by Sharajat

If the game has an awful, bug filled launch, well honestly I can argue that Anarchy Online NEVER recovered.  Ever. 

That is so true.

AO is the reason I'm leaning more towards WAR than Conan cause both Conan and WAR look good... (excpt in WAR you can level with PvP, Conan should do that)
But if you compared AO and DAoC... the best game would be DAoC hands down...

The lesson here is track record counts (ask SOE or on the flipside ask Blizzard or Bioware) and Funcom cannot afford another botched launch... if they do it again they will forever be known as a company that can't get it together.

Once is an exception, twice is a habit.

Originally posted by DrowNoble

Take all the time you need.  I'd rather the game get delayed than be released into a "pay beta stage" like Vanguard. 

Yes, if it takes until 2012, that's fine with all of us.  We are a patient group of people.