ArenaNet has announced that its latest game Guild Wars 2 has broken new ground with the sale of over 2 million copies, earning within a week the same success it took over a year for the game’s predecessor, Guild Wars, to achieve.
The statement was made by ArenaNet’s president and co-founder Mike O’Brien, who put out a press release this morning announcing the breakthrough.
“Reactions from around the world justified the time and care we put into developing Guild Wars 2 and making it into the game it is today,” he wrote. “And this is only the beginning. We're continually fine-tuning the game to deliver the polished experience that our players expect, and we’re already working on new adventures and experiences to introduce into this truly dynamic online world.”
Since the game’s release, Guild Wars 2 has also managed to repeatedly meet the concurrent player record of 400,000 set over the headstart weekend. The large numbers of players have prompted ArenaNet to raise the threshold of its servers and for a time, the studio ceased online sales to cope with the rising population. The sales have since resumed, and show no signs of stopping any time soon.
Guild Wars 2 is expected to see the addition of new content over the coming year, with the possibility of paid expansions. The game follows the “pay once, play forever” model established by the first Guild Wars, and has shown great success in the wake of the recent failures exhibited by subscription-based games like Star Wars: The Old Republic and The Secret World.