Age of Conan – Page 3

Age Of Conan Implements Patchless Events

Don’t you hate temporary events in MMOs? Forgetting the other issues around the time-limited nature of the event itself, then you have to put up with the obnoxious issue of the game requiring a patch (and thus downtime) both before the event begins and once it ends. Wouldn’t it be easier if there was a way to, oh, let’s say update an MMO with temporary event content without having to patch the servers? Well you are in luck! Age of Conan’s latest Game Director letter details a new system put into action with the recent fifth anniversary event. From now on, Funcom no longer has to patch the games to boot up or wind down a game event.

The new system allows us to create events and activate them whenever we wish. This means that we can run events on the fly, without taking down the servers and escalate them on the fly, as we did each day of the 5th Anniversary event. It means that a GM can kick start one of these events in the game by running a simple command. Obviously this has many applications, but the upshot of it is this – you can expect to see a wider variety of events in Age of Conan going forward.

The letter also reminds us that the merger of servers with similar rulesets is still coming this summer, along with a new network layer to improve server stability after everyone is tossed into one location.

(Source: Age of Conan)

Age of Conan Still Veering Toward New Server Tech

What’s that? A Crom joke? You aren’t the boss of me, mom! As we mentioned way back in the long ago days of July 2012, Age of Conan is still on track for a server merger that will mimic that of The Secret World’s single-server technology. That said, it’s been a while and not a whole lot of information has been released about how exactly Funcom plans on merging the services down to just one hub. In this month’s Game Director Letter, those secrets have been spilled all over our nice new carpeting, so let’s dive and and see what Funcom has stored in its coal hole.

The server transition for Age of Conan will take place in three phases. Phase one will see the movement of the physical servers to one physical location, setting the stage for phase two. Secondly, servers that share the same ruleset will be merged, including US and EU servers being merged together. After phase two, players will be left with one mega server for both PvE and PvP. Finally in phase three, cross server network layers will be implemented, allowing players on the PvE and PvP rulesets, although segregated, to queue for the same instances.

You can read the entire letter, including notes about upcoming changes to the tradeskill system and more. The team hopes to get the server mergers underway during May.

(Source: Age of Conan)

70,000 Copies of The Secret World Sold Since Buy To Play

Alright, so first the bad news. Funcom has released a brand new press release where they discuss that the company will be undergoing some continued restructuring. Costs will be reduced through the closure and consolidation of offices to create a more unified organization. The goal is to use Funcom’s new streamlined technology to better serve their existing MMOs (Secret World, Anarchy Online, Age of Conan) as well as focusing on upcoming, smaller yet high quality titles including the Lego minifigure MMO. The good news, however, is that The Secret World’s transition to buy to play was a completely unsurprising success. Since December, over seventy thousand new units of The Secret World have been sold. As new players come into the game and old players return, activity levels in game have jumped 400%.

“We are building the basis of a very sustainable business. With a restructured organization, we will have a joint team of the best-of-the-best working together to expand our existing online worlds and to create new, exciting and memorable online experiences such as our upcoming ‘LEGO Minifigures’ game.”
-Ole Schreiner, CEO of Funcom

More details will be available in the future, once the process is complete.

(Source: Funcom)

Age of Conan: Double The Free, Double The Play

Were you excited when Age of Conan went free to play, and then dismayed when you found out the restrictions on classes and dungeons? Boy do I have good news for you. Apparently Funcom has rehired into the “give everything for free” department, as following the announcement of The Secret World becoming buy to play, Age of Conan has been updated to remove some of the restrictions from free players. Players will find that all classes have been unlocked, regardless of subscription status, and that free players can now accumulate up to ten gold. Additionally, all classic dungeons up to level 80 have been unlocked for free players.

(Source: Age of Conan)

Funcom Q3 2012 Finances

The third quarter results are in for Funcom, and the news is a mix. The Secret World has launched and revenues for the third quarter are 10,963 TUSD, more than double for the same quarter in 2011 and far higher than in the second quarter of this year. Unfortunately due to the poor launch of The Secret World in July, new estimates show that the company may not achieve a positive cash flow in 2013. All of Funcom’s titles that have launched are in a position of bringing in a positive cash flow, while development continues for Funcom’s Lego Minifigures MMO, as well as Project A revealed previously and in conceptual stages. The Lego MMO is set for a 2014 launch.

Now for some juicy speculation. Funcom stated that 30-40% of The Secret World’s income is from the cash shop. Since The Secret World pulled in $1.1 million USD in October, and we’ll go the low route and say 70% is from subscriptions and they are all people paying the $15 a month. That leaves Funcom with approximately fifty one thousand subscribers for The Secret World in October. This number is either great or terrible, depending on your perspective. Hopefully it is more than enough to keep the MMO going.

Funcom has retained ABG Sundal Collier and GP Bullhound, leading some to believe that the development studio is on the verge of selling itself off to the highest bidder.

Funcom Q2 2012 Highlights

Funcom’s second quarter finances are out, and the results are rather predictable. Since we already know from previous reports that The Secret World failed to meet up to Funcom’s expectations, and greatly so, it comes as little surprise that the recently launched MMO has pulled in less than half of Funcom’s previous “Conan-like” scenario. The second quarter also has the bad luck of taking in all of The Secret World’s development costs with little of its income, due to head start not beginning until the end of July.

The Company still considers it likely that sales for the 12 months period following launch of the game will be less than half of what was presented in the Conan-like scenario in 1Q presentation.

Revenue was down once again compared to the previous quarter, due to Funcom’s main source of revenue (Age of Conan) taking yet another hit in sales. That being said, all of Funcom’s currently launched MMOs are rated as “cash flow positive.” The Secret World has sold more than 200,000 copies since launch, as noted in the filing, with what Funcom says is a strong and positive reaction from its user base. Funcom recently launched a number of titles, including The Secret World, the MOBA Bloodline Champions, and a couple of free to play social games.

For the future, Funcom has a few titles under its belt. Revealed earlier this year, Funcom has partnered with Lego to create an MMO based on the mini-figures. Additionally, the report mentions a large-scale MMO titled “Project A.” No doubt we will be hearing more about that in the future.

(Source: Funcom Investor)

Age of Conan Server Mergers Coming August 7th

Early next year, Funcom plans on integrating the single server technology from The Secret World into Age of Conan. In the announcement, Funcom revealed that while it may be possible to merge the different rule sets into one server, the game’s antiquated technology prevents North American and European players from interacting with one another. With the long road ahead until the single mega-server technology is fully integrated and ready to roll out, Funcom has begun announcing server mergers to get the community ready.

On August 7th, the US servers Set and Wicana will be merged into one server: Set. The next day, the EU will see its servers Mitra and Asgard merged into one: Mitra. Characters will keep their names on the basis of activity, level (if both active), registration (if same level), and last login (if registered same month). After the server merge has taken place, characters will be given a free transfer that can be used cross-ruleset (but not cross-region) good for one month. You can read more at the server FAQ below.

(Source: Age of Conan)

(Also: Age of Conan EU)

Age of Conan’s Upcoming Single Server Technology

I know what you are thinking: “Crom… grant me one request. Grant me single server technology! And if you do not listen, then to HELL with you!” You aren’t? Well, is this your card? Funcom’s recently launched The Secret World carried a rather significant upgrade to the Dreamworld engine. The Secret World runs on one server with several dimensions, allowing players to group up with one another even if their “home” dimensions are not the same. This also allows players with friends on other continents to play seamlessly and without the need for a separate account or subscription.

Well that tech is coming to Age of Conan. According to a recent blog post, on August 7th/8th, Funcom will be updating Age of Conan to allow for the future consolidation of databases. When servers are finally merged, Age of Conan will be left with one server of each type (PvE, PvP, Blood and Glory) for each region (NA and EU). Unfortunately due to the manner in which Age of Conan was coded, long before the single server technology was even thought of, implementing the cross-continent technology from The Secret World is impossible and players from North America and Europe will remain separated.

And yes, a server merger by any other name is still a server merger. According to several of my Age of Conan on-the-field informants, Funcom had expressed interest in combining the separate server types into one server. This may be confirmation that such a merger will not happen for an unknown reason.

(Source: Age of Conan Forums)

Age of Conan's Upcoming Single Server Technology

(Source: Age of Conan Forums)

Funcom Q1 2012 Finances

Funcom today released the financial details for the first quarter of 2012, and the results are mixed. Age of Conan continues to be Funcom’s major source of income, although revenue is down due to the release of a “large competitor.” Revenues dropped from 3,389 TUSD in Q1 2011 to 2,293 TUSD this quarter. The Secret World continues to be a major drain on Funcom’s finances.

On the good side, Funcom’s current flock of titles (Age of Conan, Anarchy Online, Bloodline Champions) continue to remain at a positive cash flow, bringing in some much needed funds to keep The Secret World going. Funcom notes much more positive reactions to The Secret World than Age of Conan at the same time before its launch, and projects a higher retention rate than Age of Conan.

At the current rate, The Secret World is projected to sell 30% more than Age of Conan, with in-game store sales marking 35% of the game’s projected revenue, and a healthy retention rate of 490 thousand subscribers. A poor retention rate would be around 280 thousand.

Additionally, Funcom has come upon $22 million in standby equity which can be drawn upon as the company desires.

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