Things are starting to look up for the Norwegian publisher and developer.  After being dragged through the mud regarding their lack of interest in Conan and server closures, the company initiated a free trial marketing program that looks to have helped stop the leaks.  In addition, the companies’ latest financial report talks about not one, but two upcoming free-to-play titles, with a nod to the fact that we should expect more where that came from.

Age of Conan

The report states that the number of new customers/month has been on the steady increase, and is significantly higher in 2009 than in late 2008.  Funcom also points to the early trial marketing as a key contributor.  Maybe everyone’s reached their level 80(s) in WoW?  Funcom also reports that in-game activity levels are significantly higher than in previous periods, with a solid, stable customer base Jan-May 2009.

As with any major MMO, most customers anticipate, if not expect major updates and enhancements to their current game.  Funcom acknowledges this and has plenty of goodies in store for dedicated Conan fans with a major change and improvement to the overall RPG system, as well as expanded guild and social features.

Conan as also celebrating his official one year on the market birthday, and will be rewarding players in-game.

“We are very pleased to see that more players are experiencing ‘Age of Conan’,” says VP of Sales and Marketing at Funcom, Morten Larssen. “The team has been working diligently on improving the game since launch, with several major updates that in addition to improving technology and client stability, also have added hours of more content, new gameplay features, and more. The fact that we are now also seeing longer average subscription periods is a testament to the fact that ‘Age of Conan’ is just getting better and better, and with the launch of the recent trial campaign there has never been a better time to check out the game than now!”

Free-to-play

The Funcom report is the first mention of not one, but two free-to-play titles that Funcom has in the works (or at least that I’ve heard about).  Are the Norwegians biting off more than they can chew, or moreover, self saturating their own market?  Not really, as evidenced by the report, one of the free-to-plays will be browser based, while the other is being developed as a Java based MMO.

The Java based MMO is being aimed at a “Young demographic” (think CampFU, Club Penguin, etc.), has a 17 person team working day and night on it, and is currently conducting focus testing and game play tweaking with a vertical slice due this summer.

The browser based MMO in comparison will be targeted at the “Gamer demographic”, and the 14 person team is currently developing the MMO technology with a combat milestone due this summer.

And now, if that wasn’t enough to get the free-to-play crowd jazzed, Funcom also chucks in one extra header and four bullet points:

• Casual MMOs in Funcom
• Synergies on technology and competence
• Smaller budgets and faster development
• Business models with combination of microtransactions, subscriptions and advertising

They also go on to highlight growing market trends including utilizing Facebook as a gaming platform, the growth of free-to-play database games like Travian, Gameforge etc., and the continued growth of casual online games

Do with that what you will, but the way I’m reading that is – hang on to your hats folks, ‘cause we gotta whole lot more in the free-to-play/microtransaction stable, and we’ll be letting the horses out soon.

So while I’ll admit, perhaps my own coverage of Conan’s pending demise may (note the italics?) have been a bit harsh, it looks like Funcom has taken the punches, learned from their mistakes, and are charging ahead.