Guild Wars, EVE Online Announce Subscription Milestones

Two notable PC massively multiplayer titles have announced significant, although significantly differing subscription milestones. Firstly, according to MMO firm NCSoft, its title Guild Wars has now reached a total of one million account activations in both Europe and North America. This figure, not including South Korean sales, where around 27,000 licenses had been sold in the first month of availability, has been reached five months after the worldwide launch of Guild Wars. The ArenaNet-developed title is particularly unique since it has featured heavily in U.S. PC retail charts, but does not have a monthly subscription price. Instead, the game, unlike other NCSoft titles such as City Of Heroes and the majority of MMOs, will rely solely on retail sales and forthcoming expansion packs for its revenue. Robert Garriott, president of NCsoft North America, commented: "We've reached this lofty goal in an extremely short period of time. With our no subscription required model, we believe we've created a quality online product that is hitting a chord with gamers everywhere." In addition to this announcement, Icelandic-headquartered game firm CCP has revealed a total of 70,000 active subscriber mark on its extremely involved, Machiavellian space combat and trading simulation PC MMO EVE:Online, following the launch of the enhanced EVE Online: Cold War Edition. In addition, the game has recently surpassed 15,000 concurrent users, all playing in the same game universe, and EVE Online's niche appeal but steady growth mirrors similar success stories at the lower end of the MMO market, with other focused MMOs such as Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates seeing slower starts, but a much more stable player base than some larger titles. Gamasutra will be running an in-depth interview with CCP's Nathan Richardsson discussing this trend in the near future. Magnus Bergsson, CMO of CCP Games, commented in regard to this announcement: "“We are humbled and pleased by the success of EVE. EVE is built on the ideal that games can be non-linear and require the gamer to be an active participant in the games evolution, and seeing the gamers' acceptance of that ideal is all the reward we need."