Age of Conan

http://www.newsweb.no/newsweb/atmnt/080606_Funcom+Update.pdf?id=56103

The above link is a link to Funcoms reports to it's shareholders on the progress of AoC.

Currently the game has 500,000 registered copies of AoC to date; but with the current problems and the dissapointment experienced by players we can only expect the number of actual subscribers to drop significantly during this quarter.

Funcom also reported that it had hit the 1 million copies shipped mark; translating this into actual subscribers is going to be difficult due to the current trend in dissapointment with the game; it's bugs and its lack of immersion and a "massive world".

Could Funcom be in trouble?

Here is their risk document: http://www.funcom.com/funcom/frontend/files/CONTENT/FuncomRiskFactors.pdf

This clearly states that AoC is the now main source of income for Funcom and if AoC fails; it will have a severe impact on the future for Funcom.

I like some of the statements made in some of the other documents too in which they say that allowing players to buy in-game items with real life money is an important aspect for the future of MMO's and that they expect a negative community to have a negative impact on the sales of AoC hence the massive PR wagon at the moment with MMORPG kissing Funcoms arse.

Sad really; but fact.

Based entirely on this information alone I would say the most important questions are:-

Wonder if we will see Sony pick up this game for station pass.  That would be kinda cool although I'd hate to have them split development resources to supporting this game and take away from other games....

AGAIN

who cares about subscriber numbers!

we are players not stock holders. we are players and should care about game play. and the reviews prove its a incomplete but very fun game.

Originally posted by Polarization

Based entirely on this information alone I would say the most important questions are:-

How many of the 500k users who have registered their copy’s will subscribe after their free month.

How many months will the majority of those that choose to subscribe continue to subscribe

How long will it take for the other 500k boxes sitting on shelves to get sold.

How many box sales and more importantly subscriber numbers does Funcom need to recoup its investment costs within a reasonable time frame.

How many subscribers does Funcom need to financially justify actively maintaining the game or more importantly continuing to improve it.

In other press releases in the past they posted they were expecting around 400-500k subs.  What do they need from this game?  Probably quite a bit less.  maybe 200k would be good.  The question outstanding is what will they have and what will they do if it isn't enough.  At this point I'm thinking they are in trouble and if they don't deliver on their promisses for the month of June then it will be really bad..

So far I'm pretty unimpressed with their patches.  They have them frequently for sure but they don't do much and it seems like each patch takes a step back in terms of bugs and issues.

Well i don't think it was hard to figure.  Funcom is playing big with AOC, of course if it fails it will hurt the company a lot.   Unfortunatly it seems the game wont be as succesful as they tought.   Like the previous posters says, how many of the 500k will stay past the free month ?   With the amount of whining i'm hearing, not many i would guess, and to have a succesful mmo you need month to month subscribers.

Originally posted by ethion

Wonder if we will see Sony pick up this game for station pass.  That would be kinda cool although I'd hate to have them split development resources to supporting this game and take away from other games....

oooh it burns lol

Originally posted by Banok

AGAIN

who cares about subscriber numbers!

you have no idea at all, have you?

Originally posted by Banok

AGAIN

who cares about subscriber numbers!

we are players not stock holders. we are players and should care about game play. and the reviews prove its a incomplete but very fun game.

no subscription numbers = no revenue.

no revenue = no updates, free content and limited scope of expansions

the more subscriptions an MMO has, the more content you can generate, as you can afford to have more developers.