So what's Mass Market Again? Conan hits 1M (shipped).

[Ratman_tf]

This is where that conversation about large project management, software dev standards and the mythical man hour happened last time.  Can we not do that again?

Procedural generation?

[Triforcer]

Devs could do what Numtini requested if they just thought outside the box and revolutionized their paradigm. 

[tmp]

Procedural generation?

There's been some of that with the AO dungeons and such, but while mad libs are cute people see through them and figure out the templates very very fast. Not to say it's undoable, but suspect the number of parts that'd need to be hand-crafted to provide any kind of variety would need to be huge, on par with development of regular content pack. And then people would pick on the underlying patterns fast and demand "something new, not this boring same shit all over again" anyway.

But yeah, what Triforcer said (i'm presuming it's green)

[Triforcer]

But yeah, what Triforcer said (i'm presuming it's green)

Not green is the new green.

[UnSub]

I thought it was 50/50 on tech vs gameplay issues. here is one question:

Give us your rating on a scale of 1-5 regarding the following gameplay issues in Age of Conan. 5 being "I had constant problems" and 1 being "I did not experience this"
    1   2   3   4   5
Class balance                   
Difficulty - too easy                   
Difficulty - too hard                   
Items                   
Lack of content                   
PvP                   
Quests                   
Tired of game / bored                   
Other                   
    

Plus you had a chance to add a block of text at the end.

What an awful, awful question. What the hell does "I had constant problems" in relation to PvP even mean? Or for items?

[Simond]

Have Funcom released any one-month subs figures yet, out of interest?

[Adam Tiler]

I thought it was 50/50 on tech vs gameplay issues. here is one question:

Give us your rating on a scale of 1-5 regarding the following gameplay issues in Age of Conan. 5 being "I had constant problems" and 1 being "I did not experience this"
    1   2   3   4   5
Class balance                   
Difficulty - too easy                   
Difficulty - too hard                   
Items                   
Lack of content                   
PvP                   
Quests                   
Tired of game / bored                   
Other                   
    

Plus you had a chance to add a block of text at the end.

What an awful, awful question. What the hell does "I had constant problems" in relation to PvP even mean? Or for items?

"I did not experience items."

[Simond]

Funcom director: "You see, WoW is like McDonalds..."
 

[cevik]

At least when I order from McDonald's 9 times out of 10 they put everything I ordered in the bag, Gaute.

I'd love to find the McDonalds this guy shops at, because the one by my house gets my order right about 60% of the time at best.  I have started sitting in the drive thru and not moving my car until I count each and every thing in the bag. ;)

[sinij]

Have Funcom released any one-month subs figures yet, out of interest?

It *is* very interesting to see what long-term effect of this going to be. I dare to guess - AO-like.

Well lets talk about what AoC got right - newbie experience. I think 'day/night' beats camping the same rat spawn with hundreds of people on release day.

[Merusk]

At least when I order from McDonald's 9 times out of 10 they put everything I ordered in the bag, Gaute.

I'd love to find the McDonalds this guy shops at, because the one by my house gets my order right about 60% of the time at best.  I have started sitting in the drive thru and not moving my car until I count each and every thing in the bag. ;)

Your store must be privately owned.  Report them to corporate every time you have this problem.  Not only will you get a lot of free food, you'll see the service there improve.  At least it worked for the one I lived near before my current house.  I even got a letter of apology from the district manager at one point.

[sinij]

Given a choice why would you voluntarily eat that crap or play that crap?

[Ratman_tf]

I like how he compares AoC to a steak dinner. 

It's fucking subjective. While I haven't played Conan, everything I've heard leads me to believe that it's just another MMOG. No better or worse than WoW. It's only real edge is that it's the "new shiny"- until WAR comes out. 

[rk47]

It's a steak alright, the meat is all the same, though. Grind meat. 

[Slayerik]

Nice one rk :)

[Falconeer]

Eurogamer: You've had somewhere over a million sales of the game in its first month - did you expect that level of success?

Gaute Godager: We've actually had over a million sell-ins, which means that that's the number of copies that have gone to shops. That's a bit different from sell-through. We expect those to go out in the first four to six weeks - but we don't really know exactly how many copies have sold through to customers.

Eurogamer: Have you had any teething trouble, given the large number of players at launch?

Gaute Godager: Technically it's been smooth, in fact a lot smoother than we'd expected. I was actually a bit surprised at that, because based on previous launches and what we've seen from other games, I was expecting more technical troubles. The servers have coped miraculously well.

What we weren't able to ramp up was customer service... We had a sales projection, and we went with that in terms of hiring customer service staff - and then we sold a lot more. We were caught out by our own success there. We're really doing absolutely everything we can to deal with that issue as fast as we can.

Source: http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=159843&page=1

[Venkman]

I haven't had anything approaching red meat from McDs since hey launched "Chicken" McNuggets. MUCH safer in my mind to experiment with notChicken than notBeef.

I like that he was honest about sell-in vs sell-through though. Rare to see someone not #1 correcting a number of subs/sales down.

Well lets talk about what AoC got right - newbie experience. I think 'day/night' beats camping the same rat spawn with hundreds of people on release day.

Yes. The first two times only though. After that you're looking for the tried and true ways for grinding past that noise, but without any of the persistent-world tools other games give you. It's not a slow process though, with practice. I think I can hit 20 again in about 8 hours /played? Haven't tried recently.

[Trippy]

I like that he was honest about sell-in vs sell-through though. Rare to see someone not #1 correcting a number of subs/sales

They are a public company whose primary business is MMOs. Not correcting that sort of thing would be a serious problem.

[Threash]

The fact that even they were surprised their game didn't run like total crap is hilarious, he even mentions their previous launches in a kinda "hey we are funcom, if it doesnt format your drive we call it a success" way. 

[Falconeer]

Investors material: http://www.funcom.com/funcom/frontend/files/CONTENT/080630_Funcom%20Update.pdf

FUNCOM NEWS
Funcom would like to provide an outlook for its second quarter 2008 revenue and results
Status of the launch
Funcom is pleased with the very successful launch of the ‘Age of Conan’ game, making it one of the largest western world PC launches in this decade. So far the product has sold through over 700.000 copies (i.e. customers that have bought a game client and entered their game client key and payment details into Funcom’s billing database).
Key success factors going forward will be Funcom’s ability to maximize the average longevity of subscription as well as the continued rate of customer acquisition. To maximize the average longevity of subscription Funcom will continue to expand and improve the product. To maximize the rate of customer acquisition Funcom will among other initiatives enter new markets with localized versions and optimize the Company’s sales and marketing initiatives. The Company is so far satisfied with the initial figures on customer retention and churn levels.
It is expected that the sales curves for the ‘Age of Conan’ game over time will be similar to the sales curves over time of other MMOs. So far the sales seem to follow the customary sales development.
Outlook for Q2 2008
The revenue in the second quarter of 2008 (Q208) is estimated to be between USD 11 million and USD 12 million and the EBIT in this period is estimated to in the range of from USD -5.5 million to USD -6,5 million.
Some key parameters in this estimate are:
•
Box revenue estimation:
o
The number of activated game keys in the ‘Age of Conan’ game is used as an estimate for retail sales in Q208. Funcom will receive reports from its co-publisher SCI Eidos after the end of each fiscal quarter.
o
The Company expects to receive approximately 20% of the box revenues sold through the retail channel and somewhat less in some export markets like countries in Eastern Europe.
•
Subscription revenue estimation:
o
Estimations regarding subscription revenues are based on early service renewal data, and have therefore a degree of uncertainty related to them.
o
Funcom follows a percentage of completion (time apportioned) basis of revenue recognition for service related revenues (subscription revenues). Subscription revenue is therefore recognized over the subscription period. The first subscription payments for the ‘Age of Conan’ game started on June 19. Therefore, relatively low subscription revenues have been booked in the second quarter.
•
Cost Estimation:
o
Funcom bases its cost estimation on closed accounts for the months April and May as well as estimates for the month of June.
o
The Company has had extraordinary cost levels in the areas of marketing, hosting, hardware purchases, personnel costs and operations related to the launch of the ‘Age of Conan’ game.
o
From the launch in May the company has started expensing a significant part of the costs related to the ‘Age of Conan’ project.
o
From the launch in May the company has started to amortize the intangible asset related to the ‘Age of Conan’ game.
The Company will present its Q208 financials on August 15th 2008.
For risk evaluation, please see previous communication from the Company.
The Management Board of Funcom N.V.
Dübendorf, June 30, 2008

And press release: http://www.funcom.com/wsp/funcom/frontend.cgi?func=publish.show&func_id=1305&table=CONTENT&item=1004

Age of Conan continues to dominate retail charts

The best selling PC game of May continues to hold the #1 spot in most markets.
More than 700.000 gamers have registered an Age of Conan account so far.

Durham, USA – June 30, 2008 – Funcom is proud to announce that Age of Conan continues to dominate the PC sales charts in all markets where the game is available. Over the last few weeks it has remained the overall #1 PC game in most European markets, while also performing tremendously well on several all-format charts. In the US, Age of Conan impressively conquered the #1 PC spot for the first two weeks of available NPD data. Due to the amazing interest surrounding the game, more than 700.000 gamers have now signed up for an Age of Conan account. In the second month after release it is also clear that Age of Conan has taken the position as the undisputed #2 subscription MMO in the western world.

When Age of Conan stormed into retail stores as the most pre-ordered original PC game in history, it instantly became the best selling PC game of May. The pace at which Age of Conan sold made it one of the fastest selling PC games of all times, and Funcom is therefore very satisfied to see the positive sales trend continue. As all countries report sales differently, it is not possible to get a complete overview of the exact box sales at the time of writing, but Age of Conan remains the top selling PC game in most all released markets. This includes being the #1 overall PC game in June in the Nordic countries, Oceania, Germany, France and Spain, as well a top three contender in all other markets where the game is out. No substantial sales data for June is yet available from the US market, but Age of Conan was the #1 PC game in the latest official NPD update.

“That Age of Conan remains #1 in retail stores several weeks after release is of incredible importance to us, and proves that the game has a large potential beyond the early adopters,” said Morten Larssen, VP of Sales & Marketing in Funcom. “With more than 700.000 accounts created so far we have a fantastic platform to build from, and we will continue our marketing spend to further drive numbers in the months to come. It also means that Funcom can dedicate significant development resources on evolving the game even further, naturally giving us a great hope for the future of Age of Conan.”

“We are incredibly pleased to see Age of Conan turning into an MMO phenomena,” said Gaute Godager, Game Director on Age of Conan. “As a MMO company we know that a good start is but the beginning for a virtual world. All we care about now is to make Age of Conan into an even better game, and we have extensive plans to ensure that Age of Conan remains a top MMO alternative for many years to come.”

[schild]

All we care about now is to make Age of Conan into an even better game, and we have extensive plans to ensure that Age of Conan remains a top MMO alternative for many years to come.”

That's what things that aren't WoW are called now? MMO Alternative?

[Lakov_Sanite]

All we care about now is to make Age of Conan into an even better game, and we have extensive plans to ensure that Age of Conan remains a top MMO alternative for many years to come.”

That's what things that aren't WoW are called now? MMO Alternative?

Read: Wendy's

[Bzalthek]

Man, it doesn't even rate a Burger King?  Sad.

[HaemishM]

They only recoup 20% of the box sales? Is Funcom the publisher as well? Because if that's the case, I can see why so many PC game devs go broke. If the developer/publisher split averages around 20% for the PC game industry, box sales are shit revenue on anything but the biggest sellers.

[Engels]

Eidos is the publisher

[Ratman_tf]

Man, it doesn't even rate a Burger King?  Sad.

Frosty's are pretty bomb.

[Simond]

The Company will present its Q208 financials on August 15th 2008.

There we go, that should be long enough to start getting a clearer picture.

[MahrinSkel]

They only recoup 20% of the box sales? Is Funcom the publisher as well? Because if that's the case, I can see why so many PC game devs go broke. If the developer/publisher split averages around 20% for the PC game industry, box sales are shit revenue on anything but the biggest sellers.

That's actually a fairly good deal, these days.  Not great, but not bad.  Of course, it helps that they didn't actually take any advances from Eidos, and probably they gave up a few points in order to get Eidos to commit to POS and "Market Development" funds.

Your typical publisher-funding developer deal would be several points lower, might be calculated against the wholesale instead of the retail, and every dime the publisher spent (including charges for every time anyone at the publisher even thought about the game) would come out *first*.  Odds are very high that a moderately successful PC game will never earn the developer a dime in royalties.  If you go through the traditional model, anyway.

Funcom is probably factoring (borrowing against) those payments in order to raise cash they need now to operate the game (since they won't be paid for at least another 6 months).

--Dave

[cevik]

Funcom is probably factoring (borrowing against) those payments in order to raise cash they need now to operate the game (since they won't be paid for at least another 6 months).

I'm not much of a financial guy, but they said they has $47 million cash on hand in March.

[Falconeer]

Server 'Fury' has reached player limit
The PvP server 'Fury' has reached the maximum amount of player characters today. This means that at the moment no new characters can be created on 'Fury'.

This limit will be increased on the next update (planned for Wednesday) so new characters can be created again.

Thank you.
__________________

Funcom   Oliver 'Tarib' Kunz
Senior Community Manager

That was yesterday.

Source: http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=60815

[Trippy]

That's a very odd backend design.

[Oban]

Too many alts being made requires either a software license upgrade for the database or more storage.

Meh, normal.

[Trippy]

When was the last time you heard of this happening just for character creation? I.e. not talking about taking things down to upgrade hardware to support more simultaneous users or reduce the existing server lag.

[Mrbloodworth]

When was the last time you heard of this happening just for character creation? I.e. not talking about taking things down to upgrade hardware to support more simultaneous users or reduce the existing server lag.

I don't think this means just that, it could very well be that they looked at the total number of character's and then looked at the typical average for concurrent connections at peak time (estimated or potential) and said...no more.

They could potentially just add a new server to that world, as every zone is an instance, it could pick up some of the slack.

[cevik]

This happened on my server a few weeks back.  Couldn't make new characters for a few days and then on the next patch we could make them again.