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Guild wars hits two million!

paranoidpvpparanoidpvp Member Posts: 539
in Guild Wars

North America's Number One PC Game Confirms More than Two Million Units Sold

June 19, 2006 (BELLEVUE, WA) — ArenaNet®, developer of the world's leading subscription-free online roleplaying games Guild Wars® and Guild Wars FactionsTM, and NCsoft® Corporation, the world's leading developer and publisher of online computer games, announce today the Guild Wars franchise has sold more than two million units worldwide to date. In further news, sales data from The NPD Group shows Guild Wars Factions as the number one selling PC game in North America for the month of May 2006.

"The highly successful release of Guild Wars Factions has solidified the Guild Wars franchise as a mainstay with gamers," says Bob McKenzie, Senior VP of Merchandising, GameStop, Inc. "As a top seller for GameStop and EBGames, we watch with high interest how this property continues to make a stronghold for itself in the marketplace."

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.

"ArenaNet continues to take chances in both game design and business model, and it's great to have the fans respond so enthusiastically right out of the gate with Guild Wars Factions," says Patrick Wyatt, co-founder of ArenaNet. "Our fans have been overwhelmingly supportive of Guild Wars, and we will continue to make the Guild Wars franchise bigger and better with each release."

Just thought I'd post this here a brag post for all us GW fanboys, and gratz to A-Net!

You can check out this full article and others at http://www.guildwars.com/press/releases/

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Comments

  • SerlingSerling Member Posts: 662

    This is excellent news! WTG A-Net! Some simple math here: 2,000,000 x $49.95 (let's round to 50 to make the math easier) = $10,000,000! That's a nice ROI for a game that charges NO MONTHLY FEE TO PLAY! And it begs the question: would other MMOs sell more units if they didn't charge a monthly fee? I think I could've lived with all the nerfs in CoH had that game been a subscription-free service. But for $15/month, a game that gets nerfed as much as that one simply isn't worth it.

    GW is free, hopefully will remain free, and remains a blast to play almost a year later. Can't say the same about other MMOs out there (get the picture, Cryptic???)

  • VGJusticeVGJustice Member Posts: 640
    Congratulations to A.Net. 2 million is a big milestone, and they deserve every sale.

    --~~--
    Play Guild Wars? Go here - http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Main_Page
    And go here for the new official Guild Wars Wiki! http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Main_Page

  • ElnatorElnator Member Posts: 6,077

    Originally posted by Serling

    This is excellent news! WTG A-Net! Some simple math here: 2,000,000 x $49.95 (let's round to 50 to make the math easier) = $10,000,000! That's a nice ROI for a game that charges NO MONTHLY FEE TO PLAY! And it begs the question: would other MMOs sell more units if they didn't charge a monthly fee? I think I could've lived with all the nerfs in CoH had that game been a subscription-free service. But for $15/month, a game that gets nerfed as much as that one simply isn't worth it.
    GW is free, hopefully will remain free, and remains a blast to play almost a year later. Can't say the same about other MMOs out there (get the picture, Cryptic???)
    Someone failed basic math :)

    2,000,000 x 50 = 100,000,000 :)  LOL

    I do agree with your statement though :)

    Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
    Sig image Pending
    Still in: A couple Betas

  • AseenusAseenus Member UncommonPosts: 1,844
    this is great news indeed.. more noobs to pwn in hall of hearos :P

  • seabass2003seabass2003 Member Posts: 4,144

    Originally posted by Serling

    This is excellent news! WTG A-Net! Some simple math here: 2,000,000 x $49.95 (let's round to 50 to make the math easier) = $10,000,000! That's a nice ROI for a game that charges NO MONTHLY FEE TO PLAY! And it begs the question: would other MMOs sell more units if they didn't charge a monthly fee? I think I could've lived with all the nerfs in CoH had that game been a subscription-free service. But for $15/month, a game that gets nerfed as much as that one simply isn't worth it.
    GW is free, hopefully will remain free, and remains a blast to play almost a year later. Can't say the same about other MMOs out there (get the picture, Cryptic???)


    If every MMO was purchased but free to play I would probably buy them all but as it stands I only own 2 and play 1, other had to be cancelled.

    In America I have bad teeth. If I lived in England my teeth would be perfect.

  • dumbnewbsdumbnewbs Member Posts: 2
    Im so glad for A-Net, I think they deserve more users because of the calibar of the game. its such a good game and eveyrone should appreciate it and play it more then wow. hehe. obviously im a guild wars fanatic, but everyone has to agree thats its a solid game.

  • cooldevocooldevo Member Posts: 371

    Originally posted by Serling

    That's a nice ROI for a game that charges NO MONTHLY FEE TO PLAY! And it begs the question: would other MMOs sell more units if they didn't charge a monthly fee?
    Guaranteed they would sell more units.  But for an extra $15/month they can make more and become "profitable."  Although I have yet to see ANet announce losing money on GW.  In fact they are offering 100k USD in their big tourney.  Doesn't sound like a company losing money on a game.

    I have never undrestood why I should have to pay $50 for a game and then pay $15/month just for the privilige of playing the game.  That's why I got rid of my SWG account, and Asheron's call, and all the other games I've played.  It's been proven profitable with no monthly sub, but companies are still rolling out games with monthly fees.  Until people start talking with their wallets, it will be a niche market to have no sub fee.
  • exanimoexanimo Member UncommonPosts: 1,301

    /PARTY

    guildwars will reach a size that most of people cant imagine right now

    its gona be huge

    congratz ANET , and keep buying servers cose its not going to stop that easy

    Guild - http://lightness.goodforum.net/

    Blog - http://www.pierrecarlier.com/

  • ChessackChessack Member Posts: 978
    Wow... 100 million dollars worth of sales.

    Of course they didn't get ALL of that money... but even if they got half (the rest going to distributors etc), that's 50 mil. That's a lot of greenbacks.

    C


  • TeeBeeNZTeeBeeNZ Member Posts: 259
    Not even close to half. Publushers take the vast majority.

  • max001max001 Member UncommonPosts: 95

    Originally posted by Serling

    This is excellent news! WTG A-Net! Some simple math here: 2,000,000 x $49.95 (let's round to 50 to make the math easier) = $10,000,000! That's a nice ROI for a game that charges NO MONTHLY FEE TO PLAY! And it begs the question: would other MMOs sell more units if they didn't charge a monthly fee? I think I could've lived with all the nerfs in CoH had that game been a subscription-free service. But for $15/month, a game that gets nerfed as much as that one simply isn't worth it.
    GW is free, hopefully will remain free, and remains a blast to play almost a year later. Can't say the same about other MMOs out there (get the picture, Cryptic???)
    GW and CoH belong to the same company >> NCsoft

    check > www.ncsoft.com

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  • paranoidpvpparanoidpvp Member Posts: 539
    Ncsoft only gives funding and promotes the game, the servers and generally the entire rest of the game content is ArenaNet

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  • ElnatorElnator Member Posts: 6,077

    Originally posted by paranoidpvp
    Ncsoft only gives funding and promotes the game, the servers and generally the entire rest of the game content is ArenaNet
    NCSoft is the publisher.  They get a big chunk of the profit.  Most of the price of any game, including Guild Wars, is Publisher mark-up.

    Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
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  • paranoidpvpparanoidpvp Member Posts: 539

    Originally posted by Elnator

    Originally posted by paranoidpvp
    Ncsoft only gives funding and promotes the game, the servers and generally the entire rest of the game content is ArenaNet
    NCSoft is the publisher.  They get a big chunk of the profit.  Most of the price of any game, including Guild Wars, is Publisher mark-up.

    I said that without all the technical jibberish..... right?

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  • g0lf3r4twg0lf3r4tw Member Posts: 1
    Wow i never thought of it that way, but thats alot of money. hey but get this stat blizzard has 6 million current users and they make 60 million a month!!!!!!  think about the amount of money that they make. when i heard that i was blown away. neways Im really glad for A net and how they are doing a great job in guild wars. take it easy peeps.


  • KillaxerKillaxer Member Posts: 6
    Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2 million!!!!!!!!!!! Thats like uhhh a billion Zero's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol well i play guild wars my self pretty good with it and ive unlocked ALL of the PvP Weapons But come to think of it ive never gotten the factions so maybe not ALL of the PvP just the expantion pack ones i havent gotten

    Danny Chhin

  • Mikes123Mikes123 Member Posts: 114
    you guys want a real shocker? go look up what  kinda money Walmart pushes 

  • ElnatorElnator Member Posts: 6,077

    Originally posted by g0lf3r4tw
    Wow i never thought of it that way, but thats alot of money. hey but get this stat blizzard has 6 million current users and they make 60 million a month!!!!!!  think about the amount of money that they make. when i heard that i was blown away. neways Im really glad for A net and how they are doing a great job in guild wars. take it easy peeps.



    Correction:  They gross $90m a month from subscriptions... or did you mean they net 60mil a month?

    Either way... just immagine:  They make 10-12x as much money as GuildWars... yet guildwars is just as fun, if not more fun, to play.

    Figure that one out... oh... and I think I read that you will have to $$BUY$$ the expansion that Blizzard is releasing as well :)

    Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
    Sig image Pending
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  • JJ Member Posts: 11

    Originally posted by Serling

    This is excellent news! WTG A-Net! Some simple math here: 2,000,000 x $49.95 (let's round to 50 to make the math easier) = $10,000,000! That's a nice ROI for a game that charges NO MONTHLY FEE TO PLAY! And it begs the question: would other MMOs sell more units if they didn't charge a monthly fee? I think I could've lived with all the nerfs in CoH had that game been a subscription-free service. But for $15/month, a game that gets nerfed as much as that one simply isn't worth it.
    GW is free, hopefully will remain free, and remains a blast to play almost a year later. Can't say the same about other MMOs out there (get the picture, Cryptic???)
    FREE! Whoo Hoo! and yes they would sell more units, if WoW was free every game player would own a version
  • Mikes123Mikes123 Member Posts: 114

    Originally posted by Jímbo


    FREE! Whoo Hoo! and yes they would sell more units, if WoW was free every game player would own a version


    own? maybe. Play? Personally i would not want to play WoW anymore even if someone PAID me 15$ for it a month,... i wouldn t have believed anyone but SoE could screw up an MMO endgame that badly, boy was i wrong.
    (and yeah 1-60 WoW is fun, but after that.......  i guess that s why their "average retention rate" is only around 2 months too, the majority of gamers can t seem to put up with it much longer )
  • sempiternalsempiternal Member UncommonPosts: 1,082

    "If every MMO was purchased but free to play I would probably buy them all but as it stands I only own 2 and play 1, other had to be cancelled." -Originally posted by seabass2003

    And that certainly is a good point for developers.

  • KonyoKonyo Member Posts: 17
    That sure is alot! 

    Sadly the number of sales doesn't matter much. If you think about it quite a few "people" I have met on it don't really have enough brain cells to have a decent conversation with.


  • ElnatorElnator Member Posts: 6,077

    Originally posted by Konyo
    That sure is alot! 

    Sadly the number of sales doesn't matter much. If you think about it quite a few "people" I have met on it don't really have enough brain cells to have a decent conversation with.



    True for any game really :)  LOL

    Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
    Sig image Pending
    Still in: A couple Betas

  • Mikes123Mikes123 Member Posts: 114

    Originally posted by Elnator

    Originally posted by Konyo
    That sure is alot! 

    Sadly the number of sales doesn't matter much. If you think about it quite a few "people" I have met on it don't really have enough brain cells to have a decent conversation with.



    True for any game really :)  LOL



    indeed. Planescape Torment was a flop saleswise, but i have yet to find any person that played it and wasn t totally in love with it. -> salesnumbers are pretty meaningless for players, what counts is that you like the game.
  • acrienacrien Member Posts: 18

    Originally posted by Mikes123

    Originally posted by Jímbo


    FREE! Whoo Hoo! and yes they would sell more units, if WoW was free every game player would own a version


    own? maybe. Play? Personally i would not want to play WoW anymore even if someone PAID me 15$ for it a month,... i wouldn t have believed anyone but SoE could screw up an MMO endgame that badly, boy was i wrong.
    (and yeah 1-60 WoW is fun, but after that.......  i guess that s why their "average retention rate" is only around 2 months too, the majority of gamers can t seem to put up with it much longer )

    That means that by the time the free trial is over, the average gamer would be half done with the game!  WoW can charge the monthly fee because they have a fan base, which will pretty much do anything to play their games. 

    Blizzard hit 6 million, at $13 / month will give you $78 million a month.  for one year, they'd make close to a billion dollars on subscription fees alone.  Although they are losing their player base fast.

    Since publishers put up the money for investment, this is pretty much the same as Venture Capital, but in games.  VC takes generally 70 - 80% of profit, With a team like Arenanet (proven record at Blizzard), they'll probably take 50 - 60% depending on negotiation.
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