Funcom's Age of Conan has adopted a free-to-play business model for its entrance into the Korean market, according to a report by
MMO Culture. While this isn't exactly news (since basically every game in Korea is F2P), it was interesting to note executive producer and game director Craig "Silirrion" Morrison's response. Morrison quickly doused speculation of any conversion with regard to the North American version of the game, but he did leave the door open to the possibility, citing
EverQuest II's vanity items as an example.
"
That isn't a 'yes, it will happen' or a 'no, it will never happen,' it's a 'we will always keep our options open and be open minded to business models that will most benefit the project,'" Morrison says in a
post on the North American
Age of Conan forums.
He goes on to illustrate the differences between the Korean market (where free-to-play dominates) and the U.S., while pointing out that
Funcom was one of the first companies to adopt a hybrid business model with
Anarchy Online.
