'Guild Wars': An experiment that worked

Brisk sales
By August 2005, “Guild Wars Prophecies” had sold 1 million units. The following April, ArenaNet released its next campaign, “Guild Wars Factions” and followed it up in short order with “Nightfall” in October 2006. At the end of last year, the company announced that the game had sold a total of 3 million copies worldwide — a bonafide success by any metric.

“Certainly you can look at business model as a big reason for the success of ‘Guild Wars,” says Strain. “But another reason is that people who love games but don’t want to spend their whole lives playing games can enjoy playing ‘Guild Wars.’”

But despite this success, “Guild Wars” exists mostly below the radar. Although the company’s games have a passionate fan base, some hardcore gamers sneer that it’s tailored for newbies, and lacks the mechanics of a traditional MMO.

“They want ‘World of Warcraft’ with no monthly fee, and I don't think it's fair,” says Amanda Rogers-Hays, a 36 year-old “Guild Wars” fan from the U.K. who often plays the game with her husband. “You’re never going to please everyone, and we enjoy the game for what it is.”

'There's no obligation to play'
Like many players on “Guild Wars,” Rogers-Hays was new to MMOs when she started playing the game a year ago. And for her, the lack of a subscription fee was a definite incentive. “I can walk away from it for a week, a month,” she says. “There’s no obligation to play ‘Guild Wars.’”

But “Guild Wars” also has a number of fans that have played plenty of MMOs in the past — and found them wanting. Thom Gavin, 39, has been playing games for 25 years and online games for 10. 

“I have played games that require a fee and have found them to be hardly worth the original price,” he says. “This is simply not the case with the ‘Guild Wars’ franchise.”

Many fans cited the constant updates to “Guild Wars” as a major reason to keep playing. Log in around Christmas and you’re likely to find a winter wonderland complete with candy canes and gingerbread men.

“They try to keep it fresh with these little mini-events,” says Rogers-Hays. “They don’t have to do these things. But they do it because they obviously love the game,” she says. 

The next phase
At the end of 2007, ArenaNet will ship the final installment of what has become the “Guild Wars 1” set of games. But this chapter, unlike the previous, full-fledged campaigns, will be an add-on, the company’s first expansion, called “Eye of the North.” It will add new content, wrap up the storyline, and cost fans less than the $50 they'd pay for a campaign.

“Eye of the North” will also build a bridge to “Guild Wars 2,” whole new game scheduled to release in 2008.

So why are some fans freaked out? Because “Guild Wars 2” adds some features that are typically seen in those other, traditional MMOs. And because fans are used to getting a brand-new campaign every six months or so — not some cheesy expansion pack. Expansions are what other game developers do to milk their hard-up fans between full versions. Could ArenaNet be forgetting its fans?

Strain insists that ArenaNet is not messing with success — or their loyal fan base. But “Guild Wars” is now seven years old. And each stand-alone campaign had the tricky proposition of having to appeal to new players — and existing ones. It was becoming complex — even bloated.

“The campaign model is designed to bring people back in a cyclical fashion,” says Strain. “The expansion is meant to support our existing player community.”

Whether “Eye of the North” can hold over players until 2008 is another story. “Waiting will probably drive me to start watching TV again," says Gavin. "But I will be first in line to get [the new version] when the time comes."

For those fans that like their current “Guild Wars” just fine, Strain asks for their indulgence — and trust.

“’Guild Wars’ has been a phenomenal success, and we’re proud of it,” he says. “We’re not going to ruin it by making it more like every other MMO on the market.”

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