Age Of Conan Revenues Double Following 'Free-To-Play' Re-Release

MMO Age of Conan, originally released in 2008, has seen over 300,000 new players in the space of a month after going free-to-play, as revenues have doubled, developer Funcom said. The studio announced back in May that it would re-release the title -- originally a monthly paid subscription game -- later in the summer as Age of Conan: Unchained, allowing both free players and premium subscribers to play together. Since the launch last month, Conan has seen over 300,000 downloads from new players, and revenue generated by the game has doubled. While the percentage increase in revenues is notable, the developer did not reveal actual revenue figures. Funcom's executive producer Craig Morrison noted that the company is "delighted." "We have been working hard to show that we are one of the best, and most unique, MMO experiences on the market," said Morrison. "Our focus now is to deliver even more content and new experiences to players, starting with the movie tie-in Adventure Pack that is launching in the near future." Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas added, "The launch of the hybrid business model has been very successful so far." "The activity levels on the servers are booming with a fourfold increase in players during July, we more than doubled the revenue generated from the game, and we have experienced a positive development in subscriber numbers." "This definitely gives us great hope for the game’s future," he concluded.