The newest trend in the MMO landscape, going free-to-play, has proven to be successful for yet another triple-A title - Age of Conan (or Age of Conan: Unchained, as the F2P evolution of the game is being called).

There's no debating the fact the Age of Conan has never been the runaway success Funcom hoped and expected it to be, but the mature barbarian simulator may finally be finding its audience.

According to Funcom's CEO Trond Arne Aas, there were four times as many players on the servers in July, the amount of revenue the company was pulling in doubled, and subscriber numbers went way up. The 300,000 new players have managed to tip the scales to just over 2,000,000 players overall. These new developments not only mean that Age of Conan has likely extended its expiration date quite significantly, but also an increase in awareness for the upcoming Conan the Barbarian movie.

As if all this were not enough, the good news just keeps on flowing, like blood from a freshly sliced, half-dressed warrior. There are plans to integrate a movie tie-in Adventure pack called 'Savage Coast of Turan,' which will introduce "all new world areas, as well as monsters, characters and player equipment that audiences can experience in the movie as it hits theatres on August 18th."

This is only the beginning, of course. As the new initiates begins to climb their way to endgame, Funcom plans to expand on the, already very extensive, content the game has featured since its release. It has only been a month, so it is yet to be seen whether or not this explosive growth will continue, but with a movie property coming soon and a stream of updates in the near future, the employees at Funcom have set themselves up for success.

You can download Age of Conan: Unchained and start playing for free today.

Source: Funcom