Well, I'm responsible for 3 of those sales, but regardless it's good to see the low-grind, subscription free anti-MMO hit the five million mark.

If you haven't played Guild Wars, check out one of the free trials. It's basically a quasi-MMO built on the following concepts:

• PvP should be decided on skill, not who has tier 7 armor
• Grind should be optional and give only aesthetic rewards
• You shouldn't have to pay a monthly fee to get updates
• There's no reason a "free" MMO can't look damn good

Arenanet has posted a press release full of all kinds of spin, but either way, I think we should hand it to them for pulling such impressive numbers considering the formidable competition.

Press Release - February 26, 2008

Guild Wars Tops Five Million Units Sold

Guild Wars franchise breaks major milestone in less than three years.

Bellevue, WA. February 26, 2008—NCsoft® and ArenaNet® have announced that the Guild Wars® franchise of online roleplaying games has surpassed five million units sold in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Published by NCsoft and developed by ArenaNet, the Guild Wars franchise consists of the original Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions®, Guild Wars Nightfall®, and the recently released expansion, Guild Wars: Eye of the North^TM. The Guild Wars games have been commercial and critical successes since the release of the original campaign in April of 2005. Its award-winning content and innovative subscription-free business model have created a large and loyal following that is highly anticipating Guild Wars 2^TM.

"Guild Wars is a proven success and has set a new standard for online RPG games with its unique business model and superior playability," said NCsoft CEO Taek Jin Kim. "ArenaNet is dedicated to creating games that expand the market and provide great new content to our loyal player base. This success has built a great foundation from which the next generation of Guild Wars games will grow."

With the development of Guild Wars 2 underway, ArenaNet will continue to provide dedicated support to current Guild Wars games and its millions of customers.

"Reaching the five million mark is extremely gratifying for us at ArenaNet because it shows the hard work and dedication we put into our games has resonated with the fans," said Mike O'Brien, co-founder of ArenaNet. "We are committed to supporting all of our Guild Wars players, and at the same time, we're extremely excited to work on the game's evolution. Certainly the future of Guild Wars is as bright as its past and present."

For more information on the Guild Wars franchise, visit the Guild Wars website at www.guildwars.com. The award-winning Guild Wars series, including the recently released Guild Wars: Eye of the North, can be purchased from retailers or downloaded from the PlayNC store at secure.plaync.com/cgi-bin/Store.pl.

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