Funcom announced by means of a press release that the action-MMORPG Age of Conan will be going free-to-play later this summer, as the developer expects the title to attract a new influx of users due to the impending release of the new ‘Conan the Barbarian’ feature film. Additionally, despite years of speculation, Funcom has also finally confirmed that the game will not be making its way onto the Xbox 360, stating that “launching an MMO on a console was much more complicated than anyone had accounted for.”
When the game goes free-to-play this summer, the title will be renamed to Age of Conan: Unrated. Players will be able to purchase in-game items and content on a micro-transaction basis, but Funcom assured users that even players who choose not to make use of these offers, will be able to reach the maximum level.
Speaking about to Eurogamer about the cancelled 360 version of the title, which was originally slated to be released one year after the PC version, executive producer Craig Morrison has stated that while the organization continues to work on console technology, “there’s still some evolution to be done,” and that “there [are] no plans for [a console version] at the moment.”
However, Morrison indicates that Funcom games may eventually make it onto the 360, as “we still work particularly with Microsoft on looking at the technology platforms and working towards being able to have our Dreamworld technology at least working on the Microsoft consoles.”
Smart moves except for the name. Way too cheesy.
Totally agreed… the new name is ridiculous.
By the way, I noticed the guy spoke in plural about Microsoft consoles in the final quote: “have our Dreamworld technology at least working on the Microsoft consoleS.” If they’re already trying to get it to work on the new Xbox, it might actually not be 3 years out as the rumors suggest.