Guild Wars 2 Announced
MSNBC’s Kristin Kalning calls it “an experiment that worked.” Guild Wars can run profitably without server fees because most of its game world is instantiated, cutting down data center costs. ArenaNet’s business model for the game consists of selling expansions of all sizes — from whole campaigns to PvP skill sets to character slots to soundtracks. While quite portable between multiple machines, all expansions are tied to user accounts, making piracy nearly impossible.
Looks like their episodic content business model worked even better than expected. Guild Wars 2 will host a persistent world on its servers — still without server fees. That will make Guild Wars 2 a true MMORPG, minus monthly subscription costs.
Having spent nearly two hundred hours in Guild Wars, I’m glad to hear the next Guild Wars expansion, Eye of the North, will include a Hall of Monuments allowing your Guild Wars 2 characters to inherit accomplishments from your Guild Wars characters. How’s that for a New Game Plus?
Read more on Guild Wars 2 and Eye of the North from Kotaku, Wired, About, and G4.
There it is, I’ve been wondering when you will post this, knowing you’re a GW fan (than WoW :p )
Now that GW2’s going MMO, I have even less reason to switch to WoW. Expect GW2’s virtual economy to become far more vibrant than GW’s.
Of course, I’m sure AMDG won’t have a problem with that, seeing as they’ll probably be selling both in the Philippines.
On a related note, wonder if Ragnarok 2 will sport a similar New Game Plus feature.
[...] I have even less reason to switch to [...]
[...] Wars: Eye of North, the expansion that will bridge Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, arrives August 31. Pre-ordering players can join the preview weekend on August 24-26. Longtime [...]