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Jørgen Tharaldsen: Relief!!! Almost everything has gone as smooth as we planned for, which was a lot more than we could have hoped for. *smiles* From what tens of people have told me the last few days we have had the smoothest MMO launch ever. I guess all the paranoia we got from having the worst launch ever has actually helped us a lot. *winks* AO was just a completely different ballgame. We thought we knew a lot about games, but looking back we were newbs about so many things.   

I seldom enjoy our many small victories, like ever, as there is always something which can improved, but for once I have convinced myself to just happy for a few days. Relief, indeed!  

Jørgen: Polish polish polish, crunch crunch crunch, sacrifice sacrifice sacrifice. Add to that a healthy dose of upset girlfriends and friends (mine for one), and just an incredible focus on making the game ship as good as possible, and you have it. All the work involved includes so many levels across so many countries, but for the devs it’s been mostly about finding the right focus. Luckily we have a lot of really senior devs who been able to prioritize dead hard on the end goal (launch), and it has paid off.  It’s a mastodontic task, but we made it! So far. *smiles*  

Jørgen: I don’t think any names in Funcom have been known to a big degree until recently as we have focused primarily on the games (perhaps with Ragnar and Gaute as the exceptions).  As we have evolved we have seen this change, and the way we have it today works better within our current framework I think. Gaute and Erling have become household names for many MMO fans by now, and I think it’s great we now have a name and standing where amazing people like them are allowed to shine.

Working in Funcom has always been great, but it has also been an incredible challenge, where the word sacrifice seems to stand strong. In the wake of the AO launch from 2001 to 2003 we saw massive downscaling, with most people in the company fired (my dept. went from 17 to 3 people, for instance), but we were fixed on the fact that we knew we could create magic if we got the chance.  As the years have passed, and AO has continued, Dreamfall: The Longest Journey released and Conan evolved, I think we have grown a lot as a company. What we have now I think is a strong foundation for the future. At the same time we know what it’s like to struggle, and we vividly remember that “knife on your throat” threat we had for some years. Hopefully is has instilled a certain sense of humility, hopefully enough to keep us down should we potentially experience a success with future games.      

Jørgen: It feels good. *winks*  Personally I have looked tremendously forward to the day when we could start Hyboria, especially seeing how many years we have worked on the game. The launch is but the start of a long adventure, and I hope many will join us for the ride.

We are now working on the roadmap for the times to come, and in cooperation with our players I feel certain we will continue to build Hyboria for a long time to come.

Jørgen: Wow, thanks, that was nice of you. I don’t agree though, but it’s a nice hobby.

I love travelling so I always have a vacation plan (and I am always broke because of it). This summer I am going to camp a few days at a festival in Hungary “where the unreal becomes reality” and that should be a nice one for photos. I guess my proper summer vacation is Argentina and Uruguay. I will snowboard the steeps in the Andes mountain for 9 days in August, which I _really_ look forward to.  The one thing I am most tingly about right now is an upcoming bicycle tour through Ghana, Togo and Benin around Christmas. It’s months away, but it’s a world I know nothing about so can’t quite get my head around it. It’s a low-budget vacation, but cycling down and into the countries which compromise the “slave coast” and “gold coast” will be an interesting adventure for sure.   

Jørgen: We won’t be as hard on the circuit as last year as we don’t have new stuff to show quite yet, but we will be at E3 for sure, and perhaps Comic-Con to some degree. Then we gear up towards Leipzig and DX10 stuff, and then Dragon*con in September with our yearly community gathering. We do have some stuff a LAN parties here and there. Hmm, adding it up, I guess we ARE doing a full round, at least compared to most gaming companies.   

Jørgen: It’s been nothing but good, and since I am fan myself I can fully relate. As we now move beyond the “honeymoon” and into reality I hope that people will continue to support us, and in return we will for sure continue to support anyone who plays the game. We are nothing without the fans and players, and regardless of what happens we will be doing the best we can to make the game a great place to be.

Jørgen: I wrote a thing about this in the art book, and even though that was art related I think it can be altered to something like "Gaute, Didrik and everyone else who have made this game; I am certain you would have made Robert E. Howard proud, and this is the game to prove it."  

Jørgen: It’s already in development, and seen from our perspective I think it comes just at the right time (2009).

Jørgen: It must be April 20th 2005, the day when we first announced Age of Conan, and when people started to send mail about how much they looked forward to the game. During that day and the subsequent ones leading up to E3 that year was really inspiring, when we started to grasp we could have something big on our hands.

If Age of Conan eventually will become big remains to be seen, but so far so good, we are off to a good start, if nothing else. We are super-anxious to see where this goes of course, and I think the weeks to come will be crucial. Interesting times indeed. *smiles*