Guild Wars Factions Ships Worldwide

ArenaNet and NCsoft issued a press release earlier today announcing that Guild Wars Factions has shipped to retail stores worldwide.

Guild Wars Factions Ships Worldwide

One of the Year’s Most Anticipated Games Hits Store Shelves This Week

April 26, 2006 (BELLEVUE, WA) ArenaNet®, developer of the award-winning online roleplaying game Guild Wars®, and NCsoft® Corporation, the world’s leading developer and publisher of online computer games, announce today that one of the year’s most-anticipated PC titles, Guild Wars Factionsâ„¢, has officially shipped. For fans of the game that revolutionized online roleplaying, the wait is nearly over as Guild Wars Factions goes out today to retail stores worldwide.

Guild Wars Factions is the stand-alone follow-up to Guild Wars, the game that set new standards in online gaming with fresh design, innovative technology and no-subscription-fee pricing. With an expected retail price of $49.99, Guild Wars Factions will be available worldwide and servers supporting the new release will (go live) at 12:01 AM PDT /7:01 GMT on April 28, 2006.

Those who pre-ordered the game will be able to participate in the exclusive Guild Wars Factions Head Start Event beginning at 12:01 AM PDT/7:01 AM GMT on April 27, 2006. These lucky gamers will have access to the game for a total of 48 hours, including a full 24 hours before the game’s global release. During the first 24 hours of the Head Start Event, ArenaNet has planned an exclusive in-game event titled “Day of the Tengu,” in which players will join one-day-only “Day of the Tengu” quests, and earn exclusive in-game rewards.

(New features in Guild Wars Factions such as guild scrimmages, alliance battles, ranked character titles, and some surprises still to come all resulted from our drive to create a truly unique gaming experience for existing and new fans of the Guild Wars universe,) says Mike O’Brien, co-founder of ArenaNet. (With a full year of development and a passionate design team, we think what we’ve created delivers on that and much, much more. Either played as a stand-alone game, or linked with your original Guild Wars account, Guild Wars Factions is a game we are thoroughly proud of and still carries no subscription fee.)

Guild Wars Factions takes place on the Asian-inspired continent of Cantha, where players create a character from eight distinct professions including the newly created Assassin and Ritualist and join an epic quest that pits two warring factions, the Luxons and the Kurzicks, against an ancient evil, and against each other. As players become embroiled in this brutal war of conquest, new missions will provide both roleplaying fans and competitive PvP players the opportunity to help determine the fate of Cantha.

Guild Wars Factions is rated T for Teen. For more information, please visit www.guildwars.com .

About ArenaNet

ArenaNet, located in Bellevue, Washington, is a wholly owned subsidiary of NCsoft Corporation. ArenaNet has built a state-of-the-art, interactive game network and develops premier multiplayer online games for dedicated game players. ArenaNet’s first title, Guild Wars, is a global online roleplaying game that allows gamers to play with anyone, anytime and anywhere in the world. Its highly anticipated follow up, Guild Wars Factions, will be released spring 2006. More information about ArenaNet can be found at www.arena.net .

About NCsoft Corporation

NCsoft North America is headquartered in Austin, Texas and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Korea-based NCsoft Corporation. NCsoft, with its own development and publishing offices in Texas and California, also works with other NCsoft subsidiaries and third party developers throughout North America to develop and publish innovative online entertainment software products. The company has successfully launched multiple online titles in the last three years and continues to support its AAA franchises that include Lineage®/Lineage II, City of Heroes®/City of Villains™, Guild Wars/Guild Wars Factions and Auto Assault®. More information about NCsoft can be found at http://www.plaync.com .