Funcom has launched Age of Conan in two places that most people don’t associate fun with, Russia and Poland. Independent developer and publisher Funcom specializes in online games for the PC and its previous titles include The Longest Journey, Dreamfall: The Longest Journey and Anarchy Online.
“Eastern Europe is quickly becoming one of the most important markets for massive online games, and it will be a continued focus for Funcom to strengthen our presence there. Together with our partners we will therefore focus on making the game a success for many years to come,” remarked Morten Larssen, VP of sales and marketing at Funcom. “Since we launched Age of Conan last year, the game has taken large strides. This means that all new customers get a fuller Conan experience and nothing pleases us more.”
Age of Conan turned into a retail success soon after it was launched in May last year. The game has since shipped more than 1.2 million copies worldwide and was the third best-selling game for the PC in 2008. Funcom experienced decreased customer retention than what was expected in 2008. With Age of Conan though, things are starting to turn around for Funcom as gamers are registering more in-game time. As of now, Funcom has put about 120 people to work on the game.
The obstacles from 2008 are slowly morphing into positive gainful prospects and the content updates have made for an improved gaming experience. This is gauged by Eastern European feedback and that from active players. In addition to the new markets that the game is catering to, Funcom is also working on an expansion pack to be released sometime in 2009. For Age of Conan, Funcom partners 1C and CD Projekt whose responsibilities are set as customer service, community management and localization, plus sales and marketing.