NCsoft Aims For 2011 Guild Wars 2 Release

ArenaNet and NCsoft's upcoming online PC role-playing game Guild Wars 2 is aiming for a 2011 launch, following a planned testing phase sometime next year, according to a report on consumer site GameSpot. "I believe there will be a certain public event in the year 2010, so at this point it could be at least a closed beta test for [Guild Wars 2 and Korea-oriented martial-arms MMOG Blade & Soul]," said NCsoft West CEO Jaeho Lee in a conference call. "The commercialization will be expected at this point probably sometime in the year 2011." The original Guild Wars did not adopt a monthly subscription business model like many of its competitors. Instead, NCsoft sold standalone campaigns at regular intervals -- with the exception of Eye of the North -- for premium prices. The Eye of the North expansion required that the player have a previous Guild Wars campaign. NCsoft has confirmed that Guild Wars 2 will not have a monthly subscription fee. Originally, NCsoft's Bellevue, Wash.-based ArenaNet, expected to launch a beta for the game in late 2008, with a launch in 2009. NCsoft's conference call came on the heels of a strong fiscal Q3, which saw sales and profits rise thanks to the worldwide release of the massively multiplayer online game Aion. The game sold around 970,000 boxed units in North America and Europe combined during the quarter ended September 30.