Guild Wars Franchise Sells Over 5 Million Copies

NCsoft and ArenaNet issued a press release this morning announcing the sale of over 5 million copies of Guild Wars, Guild Wars: Factions, Guild Wars: Nightfall, and Guild Wars: Eye of the North.

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™. 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™.

“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 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 totally 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.

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 titles, Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions, Guild Wars Nightfall, and Guild Wars: Eye of the North, are global online roleplaying games that allow gamers to play with anyone, anytime, and anywhere in the world. 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 four years and continues to support its franchises, which include Lineage®/Lineage II, City of Heroes®/City of Villains®, Guild Wars/Guild Wars Factions/Guild Wars Nightfall/Guild Wars: Eye of the North, Exteelâ„¢, Dungeon Runnersâ„¢, and Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa®. More information about NCsoft can be found at www.plaync.com.