Guild Wars Tops 2 Million Sales

It only took about half a year for World of Warcraft to reach a virtual population of 2 million players, and twice that long for Guild Wars to gather the same amount of sales, since its release in late April 2005. Nevertheless, it's a major accomplishment for both ArenaNet and NCsoft, whose Guild Wars: Factions expansion is also said to have been the number one selling PC game in North America for the month of May 2006 (according to sales data provided by the NPD Group).

The press release jointly issued by the two companies goes on to claim that Guild Wars: Factions was the number one game in Europe, as well, during May:

"When the first installment in this award-winning series, Guild Wars, launched in April 2005, it revolutionized online gaming and was an instant bestseller worldwide. Not to be outdone, ArenaNet's hotly anticipated Guild Wars Factions, released April 28, 2006, was the number one game in both North America and Europe for the month of May."

By now it's pretty clear that Guild Wars' subscription-free model can be as successful as any other paid MMORPG out there. Furthermore, the game should get plenty of promotion in the coming weeks, as the second world tournament draws near. More than 7000 guilds worldwide are currently competing in the Guild Wars Factions tournament season, the finalists of which will be flown to Leipzig, Germany in August to compete for more than $100,000 in cash and prizes. For complete tournament rules, visit www.guildwars.com.

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)