Funcom: WoW is McDonald's, AoC is steak
It's just in the nature of game developers to talk a little trash -- whenever you work on something for so long, you'll pretty much say whatever you can when someone asks you to compare your game to someone else's. So we'll forgive Funcom's Gaute Godager (game director of Age of Conan) for what he says about World of Warcraft in this Eurogamer interview.WoW comes up first at the beginning of the interview, and Godager gracefully accepts props for AoC having the biggest launch since World of Warcraft. Which is true -- AoC has shipped over a million copies since launch (though Warcraft has gone on to sell nine million more, and AoC hasn't quite gotten there yet). But at the end of the interview, Godager really brings out the big guns -- he says that playing WoW is fun and all, but "if you've been to McDonald's for four or five years, and had your burger and your coke, sometimes it's great to just have a great steak and a glass of good wine."
Apparently Age of Conan is supposed to be that steak, and our little critically acclaimed and history-making game is supposed to be the culinary equivalent of McDonald's. Which isn't a bad comparison -- we can definitely see Age of Conan being called "steak." Especially since it was served so undercooked.
Filed under: Odds and ends, Blizzard, News items, Humor, Wrath of the Lich King
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
Aigarius Jun 26th 2008 3:14PM
WoW is like a pizza delivery - cheap, known-good, common.
AoC is like sushi delivery - rare, more expensive and possibly suspect.
Pucelle Jun 27th 2008 1:10AM
And possibly containing neurotoxin.
Hamtax Jun 26th 2008 3:16PM
I wonder how long he's been waiting to use that McDonald's vs. Steak line. Maybe he should have waited a little longer to use it.
andy Jun 26th 2008 3:17PM
Great closing line to this article. Wonder if the author has ever considered writing speeches for political candidates. It's got just enough get-under-the-skin bite to it without losing its humor.
Daniel Jun 26th 2008 3:20PM
o.o wow
i rather eat at burger king tho.
but damn there will never be a mmo like WoW and yeah it went from sorcery to sci-fi but now iits comming back to the sorcery-gothic style it used to be :D
but damn... if that dude compares AoC to a steak and a wine theres 2 reason that fit perfectly in there.
1) he was way too hungry and wanted a steak instead of a damn cheeseburger from McDonalds
2) AoC is like the steak you waited for 1 and half hour just to notice at the first bite, its cold, uncooked, and the damn fries are just frikken cold and hard to eat and the ketchup its just tomato juice!!!
burger king ftw
Shadeed Jun 26th 2008 3:34PM
Looks like i got beat to the comment but gotta say it anyway...
Steak? Sure. Waiter can you please take this back to the kitchen and have it cooked more thoroughly I wanted it well done. Oh and this Chianti tastest like it comes out of a box, ill just have a glass of water, thank you!
cvpuck Jun 26th 2008 3:37PM
Yeah... i played non stop for a while... then it just got to be a pain in the ass... nothing like dying 4yds from a rez spot... but appearing back 1500yds cuz you didnt "discover" it yet....
Got to level 36 and said... bleh... I miss wow.
Todd Jun 26th 2008 3:37PM
Lol if AOC is steak then it must be a Denny's special.
Jayus Jun 26th 2008 3:44PM
Gaute Godager can shut his pie-hole, I played AO when he was the lead dev there, during the lead up and development of the shadowlands expansion and I still remember his old quote of "There will be no camping in Shadowlands"
Something that if you'd ever played that expansion you'd laugh your ass off at, it was worse then EQ at its height.
He took the best Sci-Fi at the time and dumbed it down trying to cash in on the fantasy boom with shadow lands and sent it into the crapper.
I will never have anything to dow with another game hé's working on. As much as I enjoy WoW if he was hired as anything more then a coffee boy I'd quit that day.
Mat Shorics Jun 26th 2008 3:48PM
AoC has had a better launch then WoW did.
It has shipped with more features then WoW did.
It patches regularly twice a week in order to fix what needs to be fixed, more then any other MMO.
Let's see how AoC stacks up with WoW, after AoC has had some time to mature like WoW - cause as it stands right now AoC at launch is better then WoW was when it launched.
sephirah Jun 26th 2008 5:40PM
You forgot
AoC has much more bugs at launch then WoW had. (women 25% dps less than man?)
AoC has much less support then WoW had. (deleting posts from their forum?)
Aoc has many more unimplemented features than WoW had (sieges? DirectX 10?)
Finale Jun 26th 2008 3:50PM
People keep making the statement that WoW was buggy when it first came out and thus it is ok for AoC to be as well. This is a very stupid argument to make. This is like saying that Honda's cars didn't have a lot of features in the early 80s so it is alright for Hyundai to bring out the equivalent of a 1981 Civic today.
In terms of people spending money it doesn't matter where your product was, it matters where it stands at the time a purchase is to be made.
Tenchan Jun 26th 2008 3:59PM
The McDonalds allegory was spawned long ago by the players of AoC on the forums (maybe even earlier, who knows), it is not an evil invention by GG. On top of that, picking out a part of quote to put it into a new context and thus twist its implication is anything but good style.
Angry Joe Jun 26th 2008 4:01PM
Wow is Toyota, AoC is Chrysler. Enough said.
Todd Jun 26th 2008 5:10PM
That thing got a hemi?
Siorra Jun 26th 2008 4:05PM
Yeah, it's sold 1 million copies, but I can guarantee most of thme came from WoW hoping for change, and I would bet at least a third of them have gone back. I know I was one. But who's to judge? It's VERY unfinished.
Angel Jun 26th 2008 4:11PM
Agree! Yes it did Ship 1 Million Copies! But thats how many Game CD's Have been bought.... WoW Probably has about 50 Million if you decide it to count by CD's Shipped..
And hey Age of Conan released while it is the dry season of WoW, when we are all waiting for the next expansion! So players decided to check out what the fuss was about! But as soon as WoLK Comes out probably about 50% of AoC's population going to vanish (Trust me they all have flash powders). So yeh this is his been speach before he knows his doomed!
But thats my opinion! Enjoy it :D
Thanks!
Angel!
Milktub Jun 26th 2008 4:14PM
I wouldn't mind giving AoC a try.
However, I looked at the box. Even the minimum requirements are far beyond my computer purchasing limits are. I buy games to play on a computer; I don't buy a computer to play a game.
Nogun Jun 26th 2008 4:19PM
If WoW is McDonald's, AoC is more like caviar imo.
Requires some massive computer investments to play it and in the end all you get is leveling without any end game.
Yep pretty sure its caviar.
Kolo Jun 26th 2008 4:34PM
lol that last line was cruel, but true :D