It’s been said on probably every blog and news site out there that Age of Conan is being delayed until March of 2008. This is no surprise to many, myself included, because we have grown to see release dates for what they truly are: hype. Look to the most recent MMORPG releases and to those coming out in the near future. Delays are just common practice now. World of Warcraft delayed over 6 months. Lord of the Rings saw a few months of delays. Pirates of the Burning Sea was due out in 2004 and it’s going to barely make Q4 2007. Warhammer Online will be 2008 instead of 2007 and Age of Conan is now 2008 instead of 2007. See the obvious pattern?
As much as I want a game to be released and as much as I wish developers could make their “projected estimates” on time it just rarely ever happens that way. I’m cynical and often a conspiracy theorist. I’m growing to believe that release dates are often an instrument in the hands of publishers and marketing to build hype and an early fan base for their product. We all know that feeling right before a MMO is released. It’s that uneasy feeling like you’ve just had too much caffeine and you can’t stop shaking. You can’t get your mind off of the game and you want nothing more than to play it right this very minute. Do they have you hooked yet?
Look what happened to Vanguard. In this unfortunate circumstance, as far as we know, the funding was up and the game had to be released. It was released so soon in fact that even the players waiting were shocked it was coming out and those of us beta testing said out right “it’s not done please do not release it”. Vanguard was months away from a stable release but they went ahead and shipped. The results are sadly all too painfully obvious.
People want something to hold on to; something virtually tangible they can cling to for hope! What if developers never gave release dates? What if instead we were given nothing more than “It will be released when it is done”. Do you think these games would have half the hype they do? We’re fish in a sea of hungry fishermen who want nothing more than to give us a little slack and a little bait just to real us in.
The point of my post is to try and shed light on what has become common. Making my rounds on the usual message boards today I see nothing but shock, dismay, anger, and near tantrums at the sight of this announcement. A little bit of disappointment is acceptable but why are you all so taken back? Don’t let it get to you that you have to wait a few more months to play that next best thing. You want the game to be the best it can be, right? You’ve waited this long so what’s a little longer? It will be done when it’s done. That’s my 2 coppers.
Mostly I want to add an “amen!” I’d rather a game be done right and come out a few months late than have it come out on time and suck.
The first goal for any game should be a stable, polished launch. However, I think that this is really bad for Age of Conan. AoC is going to have a very tough time competing head-to-head with Warhammer which is being launched at the same time. Don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating that it launch early just to launch before Warhammer, but I do think that this is going to really hurt AoC.
You know what company ACTUALLY says “It will be ready when its done” about every one of the games that they make?
Blizzard.
I’d say every other commpany out there would do well to take a page from their book. Blizzard track record = flawless.
@ Fred – You’re exactly right. I’m actually finishing up a blog entry that should be posted up this afternoon stating the reasons I feel AoC will struggle.