Conan Exiles went into Early Access just over a month ago, and it's going full-scale retail launch in the first quarter of 2018. One year in Early Access, that's it. Funcom has drawn a line. I admire that timeline. Notice how many survival games enjoy wallowing in Steam Early Access for indefinite lengths of time? DayZ: three-and-a-half years. Rust: three-and-a-half years. 7 Days to Die: three-and-a-half years. The Forest: three years. H1Z1: two years. ARK: Survival Evolved: two years. ARK even launched an expansion pack while still in Early Access. Who knows how long the expansion pack will stay in Early Access. And I only just heard about Stranded Deep, but it's been in Early Access for two years, too.
Conan Exiles is a unicorn for developer Funcom. The game grossed $1 million in its first hour. The entire development budget was made back in less than a week. In its first month, it pushed half a million copies out the door. Those are good numbers, I don't care who you are. Funcom announced that it's investing another five or 10 million dollars into its Early Access development. It's got a winner, and it knows it.
Six major content updates are on the way this year: Siege Warfare, Settlements, The Purge (hordes of NPC warriors sweeping in and attacking player settlements), Mounts, Sorcery, and a Highland Biome.
A Game Preview release will be on Xbox One in Q3 of this year. And full launch will expand from PC to PlayStation 4 and, of course, Xbox One in Q1 2018. Game mechanics-wise, Conan Exiles isn't the most complicated open world survival game out there. It's all about collecting, crafting, and killing. Easy peasy. But it's pretty. It's devoted to the Conan cause. It shamelessly fetishizes both male and female anatomy. And yeah, again, it's pretty. That never hurts.
So, Xbox One owners, look for that beta as we get close to Fall 2017. And it'll be great seeing Conan Exiles take on ARK in the console space for open world survival games. I think Conan will do great there.
HERE IS THE FUTURE OF CONAN EXILES
– Funcom sells nearly half a million units of Conan Exiles first month, plans to more than double the investment during Early Access –
– Full launch in Q1 2018, six major updates during Early Access, game coming for both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One –
Oslo, Norway – March 6th, 2017 – Funcom is excited to reveal the future of Conan Exiles, the studio's open world survival game which entered into Early Access on January 31st this year. The game sold nearly half a million copies the first month and grossed a whopping 1 million USD the first sixty minutes after it went live on Steam. The entire development budget was recouped in less than one week. Today Funcom is thrilled to share with the community what the future has in store for Conan Exiles. Funcom is fully committed to making sure Conan Exiles has a successful Early Access period, and will be investing another 5 to 10 million USD into the development before final launch.
This investment will give players six major content updates, a Game Preview release on Xbox One in Q3 2017 and full launch on Playstation 4, PC, and Xbox One in Q1 2018.
Siege Warfare: Players can attack each other's settlements with powerful war machines, such as siege towers or trebuchets, and fling rotting corpses over the walls of their enemies to spread pestilence in their streets.
The Purge: Hordes of NPC warriors will sweep down into the Exiles Lands and attack player settlements. Players must ready their defenses against this brutal attack, but can also go on the offensive and capture new thralls and strong gear.
Mounts: You will be able to enjoy mounted combat on horses and capturing camels, rhinos or even elephants to be used for pack animals or crushing your opponents walls. Mounted combat will also make its way to Conan Exiles.
Sorcery: Embrace the dark corruption of magic to summon demons or raise the undead to create an army of skeletons. Magic in the world of Conan is more than shooting fireballs out of your hands: it's dark, terrible, and twisted.
Settlement System: Create a living city, where you command your thralls to guard, patrol, craft, gather or trade based on your own schedules. Build roads, set up schedules for your thralls, and breathe life into your settlement.
Highland Biome: An all new area expanding the existing map into the highlands, with new creatures, armors, religions and a temperature system. Explore vast forests and scale tall mountains in this rugged, weather-beaten part of Hyboria.
All content updates will be free to all Conan Exiles players.
For more details, check out our latest Development Blog over on www.conanexiles.com
"We are very excited to share with the community our plans for Conan Exiles going forward," says Funcom Creative Director Joel Bylos. "With six major updates and two console releases, players will see Conan Exiles grow and evolve in the months ahead as we head towards full launch. We look forward to working directly with the community every step of the way and we will be putting out continuous patched in between the major updates to constantly better the experience."
Funcom is also excited to be present on the show floor at PAX East in Boston, where gamers can drop by to play the game and chat with the developers. Funcom will also be handing out exclusive print copies of its custom Conan Exiles comic book produced by Dark Horse Comics.
You can learn more about Conan Exiles and see the latest updates from the developers on www.conanexiles.com For more information about Funcom, please visit www.funcom.com
