Funcom: Age of Conan player numbers 'will never match WoW's'

Funcom says Age of Conan will never attract the same number of players that have flocked to Blizzard's World of Warcraft.

"When it comes to World of Warcraft, it's going to run up to World of Warcraft and kick it in its knees, I think," product manager Erling Ellingsen quipped about the forthcoming MMO before adding: "It's never going to get the number of players World of Warcraft has."

Ellingsen likened WoW to Facebook, calling it a social phenomenon that's incredibly hard to copy. "...you can try and create the new Facebook, but will it ever become that popular?"

"But I think Age of Conan is going to appeal to a broad range of players, people who like MMOs, people who don't like MMOs," he continued.

"I've talked to so many people who have said, 'Oh I don't like MMOs', but then I start talking to them about Conan and they're like, 'Hmmm, yeah, this is maybe something I should try because this sounds different'."

Ellingsen thinks Funcom will score a lot of points from Age of Conan's combat system, which would feel right at home in a single-player action adventure game. He explained, "I think we're going to get a lot of players just because we're trying to do something different."

"I hope that the players are going to reward us for that," he said.

Courtesy of CVG.

Mar 19, 2008