Gamertell

Funcom, developers of the highly anticipated MMO Age of Conan, announced today (August 10th, 2007) that the game will be delayed until March of 2008. This latest pushback comes after three previous delays beyond the game’s originally scheduled release in 2006. This latest delay comes as little surprise to the legions of fans who’ve been eagerly awaiting the game’s release.

Funcom insists that the lengthy development time is due to the exacting standards they’ve set in terms of quality content for the game:

“We naturally regret that we have to push back Age of Conan. However, after careful consideration, and analysis of recent Beta feedback, we believe that the new release date is in the best interest of the gamers, our company and our owners,” said Trond Arne Aas, CEO of Funcom. “We are fully committed to delivering games with absolute qualities, and in the current MMO marketplace we know that only the best is good enough to truly succeed. With the new release date we have therefore given ourselves more time to meet and deliver on the massive expectations for the game. We are certain that our choice will ultimately pay off, and that all Age of Conan players will get a special online experience.”

That isn’t a hard line to swallow considering that any serious contender against World of Warcraft is going to have to be damn near perfect to have even a chance of dethroning the reigning king of MMO’s. Usually I’m against these ridiculously long development times, but it looks like Age of Conan is going to be something special. Hang in there everybody, it’ll be worth it.

See [Gamespot] Also See [Funcom]