As promised, Funcom's barbaric MMORPG Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures has switched to the increasingly popular free-to-play model. Age of Conan: Unchained, as it's now called, is available now.

As is standard for the model, Age of Conan will be supported both by microtransactions and an optional premium subscriptions. Non-paying players will have access to fewer character classes, areas, dungeons, raids, character slots, bank space, and other assorted disadvantages. Premuium subscriptions cost the same $15 monthly fee they always have. Read more »

Mere days after the third birthday of Age of Conan, developer Funcom has announced that the MMORPG based upon Robert E. Howard's fantasy stories will be relaunched under a free-to-play model this summer. On top of that, it's planning a burst of good, old-fashioned sex and violence for all to enjoy.

With the launch of Age of Conan: Unrated, as it'll be called, all and sundry will be able to download and play the MMO completely free. Age of Conan will become funded by an in-game item store, selling "exclusive content such as weaponry and mounts" for real money, and optional "premium" subscriptions. Funcom says these subscriptions are the same as the current regular subs, which cost--now, at least--$14.99 per month. Read more »

Temporarily expanding the previous seven-day free trial, developer Funcom is offering an "unlimited free trial" for its PC MMO Age of Conan, which the company is now billing as "the most savage, sexy and brutal MMO ever created."

Anyone who downloads, registers, and starts playing the trial before January 1st 2010 will be able to enjoy all of level one to twenty...without ever having to upgrade to a full account or pay a subscription fee," explained the company. Trading, public chat, in-game mail and forum posting are restricted due to spam and gold farmer fears. Read more »

Funcom announced the first expansion pack for its MMO Age of Conan today, an Asian-themed pack dubbed "Rise of the Godslayer."

According to Eurogamer, the expansion does not include a raise of the level cap or new classes. Instead, a new Khitan race, an alternate advancement system, and a new continent with both low-level and high-level content is planned. Read more »

Now that Age of Conan has celebrated its first birthday, developer Funcom has launched a "re-evaluation campaign" to promote the "slew of massive updates and improvements" that were made to the PC MMORPG across its first year on the market.

As part of the campaign, inactive accounts can be reactivated, at no cost, from July 8 to July 22, with those returning to the world of Hyboria getting two weeks of free play. Read more »

The fifth Age of Conan update, dubbed the "Gangs of Tarantia," has now gone live, bringing the most significant changes yet seen to the Funcom-developed MMO.

In addition to the new region of Tarantia, which the developer says will add "several hours" worth of content, the game has also seen fundamental changes to its item and questing systems.

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Following up on word that face import technology is coming to Age of Conan "soon," developer Funcom has denied any current plans to bring such tech into its PC MMO.

"While Big Stage may be planning to implement the technology in games soon, it is not currently slated for implementation into Age of Conan," said Funcom. Read more »

Update: Funcom has denied plans to bring face import tech into the game itself.

Players of Funcom's Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures will soon be able to bring their own faces and voices into the mature PC MMO thanks to a three-way collaboration between Big Stage Entertainment, GGL Global Gaming, and developer Funcom.

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Age of Conan developer Funcom today announced a fourth quarter loss of $23 million, with an overall 2008 net loss of $33.8 million.

The news comes along with the announcement that Funcom's chief financial officer, Olav Sandnes, has resigned from the company.

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The forthcoming server mergers for Funcom's Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures will result in a total of 18 global servers for the PC MMO, down from 49 worldwide.

Following the initial merger of the Bloodspire and Hyperborea servers on January 7, the developer saw no major issues, and has now unveiled the next phase. Read more »

Though there's been no official word for a while and developer Funcom recently laid off some staff, the studio is still planning to deliver the long-promised Xbox 360 edition of its mature MMO Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures.

"The Xbox 360 version of the game is still in production, but as before we are not committing to any specific dates," product manager Erling Ellingsen told MTV Multiplayer. "I wish I could give you more information, but I can't at the time being." Read more »

Age of Conan developer Funcom today confirmed reports that it has laid off a number of its US employees.

"We did have some staffing cuts at Funcom this week as well as new positions opening in the organization as part of our ongoing cost based efficiency and performance initiatives that are vital to any business," said a Funcom representative to TenTonHammer. Read more »

The long-promised DirectX 10 support for Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures will arrive in the "next major game update" for the PC MMO, developer Funcom has revealed.

Funcom today released what it calls the largest free update yet to its fantasy MMO Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures.

The free update adds a new outdoor area called Ymir's Pass, as well as a dungeon called The Amphitheater--the latter apparently containing an "epic" monster encounter.

Check out some media from the update below. Read more »

Over half of the subscribers that left World of Warcraft to play Funcom's rival PC MMO Age of Conan have since returned to World of Warcraft, developer Blizzard has revealed, adding that the return rate from Mythic's Warhammer Online is currently at 46%.