Age of Conan - 100,000 Beta Applications

In the face of Blizzard's 800lb gorilla and Turbine's World Tour, Funcom must surely be encouraged by the 100,000 beta applications received for Age of Conan over the Easter weekend.

Durham, USA – April 11th, 2007 – Funcom and Eidos announce that more than 100.000 gamers signed up for the ‘Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures’ Beta test over the Easter holiday. Just within the first 24 hours of the announcement more than 50.000 gamers signed up to test the game. Despite a demanding sign-up process the initial numbers bodes very well for the future of the most savage, sexy and action-packed MMO ever created.

“We’re naturally very pleased to see that so many dedicated gamers are signing up for the ‘Age of Conan’ Beta at such a rapid pace,” says Trond Arne Aas, CEO of Funcom. “With more than 100,000 gamers signed up in such a short time-frame our confidence in the game’s potential and its ability to be a major contender in the MMO genre continues to be strengthened.”

To avoid gamers that were simply looking for a free trial of the game already at this stage, Funcom launched a Beta sign-up process which involved filling out detailed personal information, as well as providing detailed technical information about the PC system. As such, the sign-up process has been created to ensure that those signing up would be dedicated to the testing of the game. As the game moves into more open Beta stages closer to the launch, further initiatives will be unveiled to expand the base of Beta testers.

“We’ve been developing this incredible world for years now and today more than 150 people are working hard on achieving the ambitious goals we set out for the game,” says Gaute Godager, founder of Funcom and Game Director on ‘Age of Conan’. “The team is very excited about the number of gamers who have signed up for the Beta so far, and we can’t wait to see them charging into the brutal battlefields of Hyboria!”

'Age of Conan' will release on the 30th of October. The game is consistently listed as one of the most anticipated PC games of 2007, and won 'Best MMO of E3' awards from IGN, GameSpot, GameSpy and Yahoo. 'Age of Conan' is a key title in Microsoft's Games for Windows line-up, as well as being a showcase DirectX 10 title for nVidia. More information, Beta sign-up, forums and a welcoming community portal can be found on www.ageofconan.com.

You still have a chance to secure a spot in the Beta by signing up at beta.ageofconan.com