And the Funcom accountants bow down to King Conan

Funcom was one of the few lucky companies in today's economy to outdo its own estimates for sales and revenue figures. Funcom made $13 million in Q2, $1 million over its estimates. That was largely due to Age of Conan box sales (roughly 800,000) and AoC Subscribers (roughly 415,000).

If you're noting that disparity between buyers and subscribers, you're not the only one. However, this does not spell doom and gloom for AoC, because those 800 thousand box sales have already handily covered the launch costs of $5.7 million. AoC is here, and it's here to stay.

Funcom expects revenues of $16 to $20 million in the third quarter, primarily from AoC subscription dollars, while the company says it'll aim to maximize the length of current user engagement while earning new subscribers.

The company says it's been issuing an average of one patch per week, and will continue to "commit enhancement and corrections" to AoC based on player feedback, as part of its retention strategy, with a focus on the "high end" parts of the game, along with items and bug fixes.

Funcom also says that the average playtime per player is lower than it expected, and suggests this might be due to the fact that the average player, at age 29, is older and likely has less time for long sessions, and that at this time during the year many are on summer vacation trips.

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