ArenaNet Founder Mike O'Brien Will Be Satisfied When Guild Wars 2 Is The Most Successful MMO, Period
BELLEVUE, Washington – Look out Blizzard, NCsoft developer ArenaNet is gunning for the top spot in the massively multiplayer online (MMO) games space with its ambitious Guild Wars 2. Mike O’Brien, studio head at ArenaNet, started the company, originally called TriForge, in 2000 after leaving Blizzard Entertainment along with Patrick Wyatt and Jeff Strain. NCsoft acquired the company in December 2002.
“We wanted to try new things and offer players new experiences,” said O’Brien from his new Bellevue, Washington-based studio. “Online worlds have always been about leveling up. We thought it’d be great to take best elements of role-playing and strategy games, allowing players to build up extremely rich characters and then see how it stacks up against friends.”
Gamers immediately connected with this concept, which was more akin to Magic: The Gathering than Dungeons & Dragons. ArenaNet sold over 7 million copies of Guild Wars around the globe. The game maker also took the unprecedented approach (at least back in 2005 when the game first launched) of only charging players for the boxed copy of the game, allowing for a AAA game experience minus the monthly subscription fees that Blizzard charges for World of Warcraft. The free-to-play business model, which has thrived in Asia, connected with gamers around the world as they explored Tyria. Micro-transactions continue to generate revenue for players who want to save time in the game world or want to further customize their creations.
“Guild Wars beat all of our expectations and our company grew as we put out four expansions and we came together as a team and learned how to build content,” said O’Brien. “We got to a point where we wanted to see what we could accomplish next, so in 2007 we announced to our fans that we were going to start working on Guild Wars 2 and we’d be quiet for a while.”
That long wait is finally coming to a close with an open beta test this coming weekend, where fans will get their first tour of the new Tyria, set 250 years after the events of the first game.
“We’re in it to win it this time,” said O’Brien. “We were number two to World of Warcraft with Guild Wars, now we want to beat them. We’ll be satisfied when the Guild Wars 2 is the most successful MMO. I think we have something unique here and players are going to see it and understand why dynamic events are a way better content model than people have experienced before in online worlds. Word-of-mouth will get people to understand that we really are doing something new and different. The sky’s the limit once this game is out. Online worlds have a networking effect. People will bring friends to Guild Wars 2. We hope all the people who play the beta weekend will tell their friends about it.”
O’Brien has learned enough about the online worlds business to know not to judge sales of the game or active user base in the first year. Game worlds take time to grow an audience, but the company has the advantage of a huge installed base of Guild Wars fans who have been waiting five years for this game to come out.
As for the World of Warcraft-killer slogan that has been bandied about in the press, O’Brien said “nothing is going to kill WoW other than WoW. Games just don’t die. But do gamers think we’ve seen the most popular online game we’ve ever seen and we’ll never see something more popular than that? I don’t think so. One MMO has been on the top of the heap for seven years now, but there’s been a progression in the industry for other games being able to attract more and more players. And we’re set to climb to the top.”
O’Brien said ArenaNet and NCsoft are in this for the long run with Guild Wars 2. The team already has exciting new content that’s in the works for expanding the new game world, although he’s keeping mum on details right now.
“We want people to enjoy the game so much that they bring in friends and hang out year after year,” said O’Brien. “We have so many things we’re excited to introduce to the game over time to keep driving this living world, but our biggest challenge is getting the word out for anything that’s new and different, The game really does provide the experience we set out to make when we created our manifesto video at the beginning of development.”
Now it’s time for fans to experience Guild Wars 2 for the first time, getting a taste of something unique enough to change the dynamics of the MMO games business. Whether ArenaNet, which is now 270 employees strong, can topple the giant Blizzard Entertainment, is in the hands of Guild Wars 1 fans and PC gamers, in general. Let the games begin.
BELLEVUE, Washington – Look out Blizzard, NCsoft developer ArenaNet is gunning for the top spot in the massively multiplayer online (MMO) games space with its ambitious Guild Wars 2. Mike O’Brien, studio head at ArenaNet, started the company, originally called TriForge, in 2000 after leaving Blizzard Entertainment along with Patrick Wyatt and Jeff Strain. NCsoft acquired the company in December 2002.
“We wanted to try new things and offer players new experiences,” said O’Brien from his new Bellevue, Washington-based studio. “Online worlds have always been about leveling up. We thought it’d be great to take best elements of role-playing and strategy games, allowing players to build up extremely rich characters and then see how it stacks up against friends.”
Gamers immediately connected with this concept, which was more akin to Magic: The Gathering than Dungeons & Dragons. ArenaNet sold over 7 million copies of Guild Wars around the globe. The game maker also took the unprecedented approach (at least back in 2005 when the game first launched) of only charging players for the boxed copy of the game, allowing for a AAA game experience minus the monthly subscription fees that Blizzard charges for World of Warcraft. The free-to-play business model, which has thrived in Asia, connected with gamers around the world as they explored Tyria. Micro-transactions continue to generate revenue for players who want to save time in the game world or want to further customize their creations.
“Guild Wars beat all of our expectations and our company grew as we put out four expansions and we came together as a team and learned how to build content,” said O’Brien. “We got to a point where we wanted to see what we could accomplish next, so in 2007 we announced to our fans that we were going to start working on Guild Wars 2 and we’d be quiet for a while.”
That long wait is finally coming to a close with an open beta test this coming weekend, where fans will get their first tour of the new Tyria, set 250 years after the events of the first game.
“We’re in it to win it this time,” said O’Brien. “We were number two to World of Warcraft with Guild Wars, now we want to beat them. We’ll be satisfied when the Guild Wars 2 is the most successful MMO. I think we have something unique here and players are going to see it and understand why dynamic events are a way better content model than people have experienced before in online worlds. Word-of-mouth will get people to understand that we really are doing something new and different. The sky’s the limit once this game is out. Online worlds have a networking effect. People will bring friends to Guild Wars 2. We hope all the people who play the beta weekend will tell their friends about it.”
O’Brien has learned enough about the online worlds business to know not to judge sales of the game or active user base in the first year. Game worlds take time to grow an audience, but the company has the advantage of a huge installed base of Guild Wars fans who have been waiting five years for this game to come out.
As for the World of Warcraft-killer slogan that has been bandied about in the press, O’Brien said “nothing is going to kill WoW other than WoW. Games just don’t die. But do gamers think we’ve seen the most popular online game we’ve ever seen and we’ll never see something more popular than that? I don’t think so. One MMO has been on the top of the heap for seven years now, but there’s been a progression in the industry for other games being able to attract more and more players. And we’re set to climb to the top.”
O’Brien said ArenaNet and NCsoft are in this for the long run with Guild Wars 2. The team already has exciting new content that’s in the works for expanding the new game world, although he’s keeping mum on details right now.
“We want people to enjoy the game so much that they bring in friends and hang out year after year,” said O’Brien. “We have so many things we’re excited to introduce to the game over time to keep driving this living world, but our biggest challenge is getting the word out for anything that’s new and different, The game really does provide the experience we set out to make when we created our manifesto video at the beginning of development.”
Now it’s time for fans to experience Guild Wars 2 for the first time, getting a taste of something unique enough to change the dynamics of the MMO games business. Whether ArenaNet, which is now 270 employees strong, can topple the giant Blizzard Entertainment, is in the hands of Guild Wars 1 fans and PC gamers, in general. Let the games begin.
