Age of Conan: Release Pushed Back

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.

Kayless

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...

judgebeo

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 ?

evilhuman

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

Lionexx

I knew it would happen hah..

Sabbicat

Dang now I have to change my vacation time.

CaesarsGhost

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

Thatim

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

Rainbird

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!

arctarus

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

daarco

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.

Centhan

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.

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. 

Ngeldu5t

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

Laserwolf

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.

DeciKaba

After the way FC released AO when it wasn't ready and the general hammering they got at the time you can appreciate they won't make that mistake again. Instead they are making all new ones by promising firm dates and then ignoring them.

I'd rather have a good game released late rather than the opposite but too late and people will just go someplace else.

summitus

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. 

 

Yeah you know you might just be right, I really feel sorry for the people that rushed and Pre Ordered.

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 !

ValaraukoGR

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.

brindy666

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.

 

cmi30

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

Leucent

I for one was going to try it maybe. I don t like alot of what i ve seen but i m the type to try almost any mmo out there. I have had some posts in the past about AOC addressing my concernsbut would more then likely have given it a shot. If i was suprised and liked it more then i thought i would have stuck with it i m sure. I tend to not to get excited about games etc so then i won t feel let down when it does come out. Unfortunately it s creeping closer to WAR s release(unless it gets pushed back again) thus i will wait a couple more months for that and not try this. That being said from some people i talked to this game is not ready and wouldn t be for march 25th. You people that are anxiously awaiting it s release should be happy they re taking more time. I do agree with an above poster the closer it comes to WAR s release the more it will hurt it. Oh well good luck to you that are going to play AOC.

Lobotomist

I think after it was originally planed for release 2006 , and 7 push backs AOC has officially entered the JOKE category

yayitsandy

personally i think this is a good thing . better to leave it a couple of months before release if it means the game is more polished . the mmorpg community dont need another vanguard type situation .

Leucent

If it is pushed back again and again and comes out sub par then it s in the joke category have to see i guess. According to someone i work with thats in beta he doubts this is even enough for it to be ready but he s a very picky guy

Deathstrike2

Originally posted by yayitsandy


personally i think this is a good thing . better to leave it a couple of months before release if it means the game is more polished . the mmorpg community dont need another vanguard type situation .

I see this comment a lot, and I generally agree with it.  However, at some point (after 4 or 5 push backs maybe?) continual push backs begin to be viewed as a bad thing.  It's starting to look like they're just picking release dates out of the air.  They're far enough off to say that they're using the time to polish the game, but they're close enough to keep hype and anticipation high.  I have no faith at all that the game will actually be released on 5/20/08.  Maybe it will, maybe it won't.  It's a crap shoot at this point.  From here on out, I'm just taking the stance that it'll be released when it's released.  I'm not buying into any more hype, and I'm taking their release dates as seriously as they are (not at all).

 

Shoal

I think this is very good news.

Now, if they will open up the Beta and do some fully open Stress Test weekends and such, they may find out what state AoC is really in.

Having a small cadre of dedicated beta testers if fine, as long as one realizes that what they have is a bucket of fan-boyz.  To really know where you are at, you need a large set of random people to have a go at it.

Let's hope they do that sooner rather than later.