Funcom released an update to their investors concerning the launch plan for their head-chopping MMO, Age of Conan. Instead of just dry business talk, there were some interesting bits in the document (available as PDF from Funcom here). The most important one is probably the pricing.

So, pretty standard pricing for a MMO - no huge surprises there. Perhaps the US retail box is bit on the expensive side, but considering the ever-sliding value of dollar, it's to be expected. Read on for the rest of the interesting details.

Open beta is also confirmed - but we pretty much knew that already.

So, anyone (or, at least anyone subscribing to FilePlanet, based on the pre-signup at FilePlanet) will get to try it for free, starting May 1st. This is obviously a good thing, and a promising sign as it means that Funcom is actually daring to show their stuff to everyone before actual launch.

The cynic in me can't avoid noting that this "Open Beta" is little more than stress test and a free demo - the discs are already being pressed in the manufacturing plants. They even list the Open Beta as part of the "pre-launch marketing" in the investor PDF, so anyone still pretending that "it's beta" over any remaining bugs and problems at that point is just kidding themselves. Sure, some of the outstanding bugs will be fixed before launch (and many more after it), but there won't be any last minute magic patches that suddenly change any outstanding fundamental issues.

Funcom also spells out their initial expectations for the title;

This is pretty far off when compared to Blizzard, but based on data charted at MMOGChart.com, it's almost three times as much as Lord of the Rings Online managed after the initial launch, and close to EverQuest numbers when it was popular, so there should be plenty of server capacity and game boxes at retail when the game launches.

YouGamers is naturally preparing a full review of Age of Conan after the launch dust settles and the game can be fully dissected. I hope it will turn out well, as any serious competition in the MMO market to keep Blizzard awake is always a good thing.

Comments

	admiralFlameberg 2008-04-23 #1 60 dollars for standard. thats a rip. I wasnt gonna buy it any way. If there gonna charge 60 to buy the game they might as well lower the p2p price.
	IeatNvidiots 2008-04-23 #2 how much u think 50 euro is thats 80 so best for europe users to buy amerika version pay 37,50 euro and 9,37 a month
	Jarnis 2008-04-23 #3 Quote: Originally Posted by admiralFlameberg 60 dollars for standard. thats a rip. I wasnt gonna buy it any way. If there gonna charge 60 to buy the game they might as well lower the p2p price. No, it is the first indication that price of everything - including games - is going to go up in the US as dollar keeps going down. There is always lag as re-pricing happens slowly, but with Euro closing on 1.5 dollars, the US price should be closer to 1.5x the European price. As to why Euro is worth so much more than USD right now, that's somewhat off-topic for a gaming forum :) ...and Funcom being a Norwegian company, not paying their expenses in dollars, they just have to set the price like that.
	IeatNvidiots 2008-04-23 #4 Euro is not closing in on 1,5 it just dropped 0.002 from 1,6 Amerikan devolpers must be happy with games selling in europe ^^ I guess its a first for Amerika to pay somewhat closer to euro prices, its still a third cheaper
	Jarnis 2008-04-23 #5 Quote: Originally Posted by IeatNvidiots Euro is not closing in on 1,5 it just dropped 0.002 from 1,6 Amerikan devolpers must be happy with games selling in europe ^^ I guess its a first for Amerika to pay somewhat closer to euro prices, its still a third cheaper 1,6? heh.. Hadn't followed it that closely for a while... oh my. USD is rapidly turning into monopoly money, it seems...
	IeatNvidiots 2008-04-23 #6 default vista add on keeps me up to date 24/7 1,587 dollar per euro atm and 1,979 per pound and and exactly 100 yen is 1 dollar