14 DAY TRIAL // ArenaNet and NCsoft Europe announced today that the studio's latest release, Guild Wars Factions, is now the top PC game in Europe and North America. In the UK, Chart-Track's weekly sales report showed Guild Wars Factions as the number one selling PC game for three consecutive weeks since its release on the 28th of April.
Geoff Heath, CEO of NCsoft Europe, said: "What has become increasingly obvious over the past year is that our policy of exploring new business models and pricing structures in the MMO space has proved to be a big hit with our player base, who have put the Guild Wars series at the top of the charts for the second year."
Guild Wars Factions was one of the year's most anticipated releases, and in its first few weeks out of the gate has wowed fans, press, and retail alike.
"The popularity of MMOGs is on the rise and quickly becoming one of the strongest performing genres on the PC platform. From 2004 to 2005, usage of MMOGs grew nearly 29 percent, and that combined with the significant increase of sales at retail for these products illustrates the growing importance of this genre", said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group.
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 provide both roleplaying fans and competitive PvP players the opportunity to help determine the fate of Cantha.