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Gamescom 2014: Guild Wars 2 preps $150k prize pool tourney, feature pack
If you were wondering what ArenaNet has planned for the fall break in Guild Wars 2's living world story content, wonder no more: The studio has just announced the September feature pack, which brings both PvE and PvP upgrades to the game. "Living World Season 2 will be going on break for a while as we count down to the arrival of the [feature pack]," says lead developer Colin Johanson. "You can look forward to the return of Season 2 in autumn, and we'll announce the start date for episode 5 after the feature pack has been released." ArenaNet's attention at Gamescom, however, has been focused on competitive play. In keeping with its e-sports goals, the studio unveiled the World Tournament Series, a Guild Wars 2 competitive championship co-sponsored by Chinese publisher KongZhong. With its $150,000 prize pool, the series will draw qualifying players from the upcoming Tournament of Glory and debut in Beijing this fall. [Source: ArenaNet press release]
Rebuild Lion's Arch in Guild Wars 2's Festival of the Four Winds
Guild Wars 2 officially launches in China this coming Thursday, but folks in the rest of the world have had little reason to get excited... until now. ArenaNet and Chinese publisher KongZhong have just announced a global in-game festival to celebrate the launch, one we'll get to enjoy ourselves come next week. The Festival of the Four Winds arrives on May 20th for North American and European players, who will "get the opportunity to help rebuild the beloved city of Lion's Arch that was destroyed by Scarlet [Briar] in Season 1." Future game updates will be "synchronized" across the eastern and western regions so that they launch within days of each other. We've embedded the (brief but beautiful!) teaser trailer for the festival after the break, and you can listen to Chinese singer/songwriter Jike Juan Yi's version of iconic Guild Wars 2 musical piece Fear Not This Night on KongZhong's promotional website. [Source: ArenaNet press release]
Guild Wars 2 begins Chinese open beta
Guild Wars 2 has made in-roads with a significant MMO audience this week, as it has kicked off its open beta in China. While local publisher KongZhong is calling this a launch, it's technically the beginning of a two-week head start period before the full open beta commences in the region on May 15th. Guild Wars 2 is the first major MMO to use a buy-to-play business model in China, selling 500,000 copies during its pre-order period. Interestingly, the official press release admits to regional "doubts" as to the effectiveness of this model. All pre-order players are now able to check out the game during this head start period, with any future purchasers required to wait until the 15th to try it out.
Guild Wars 2 reveals China strategy
As Guild Wars 2 prepares to make inroads to its first Asian country, ArenaNet announced some of its plans for how it will handle the game in China. The Chinese version of Guild Wars 2 will retain the buy-to-play model that the game currently employs in the West, which is a departure from the typical business models in the region. So what about the rapid pace of its content releases and the progression of the living story? The Eastern and Western versions of the game will not exist independently in this regard, but will be synced up so that both get the same updates. There will be a few changes to the tutorial for Chinese players, however. Guild Wars 2 will be published in the region by KongZhong and is planning to go into closed beta testing on March 11th. [Source: ArenaNet press release]
Guild Wars 2 is heading to China
While talk is often about Eastern games migrating to Western audiences, today its about a Western game moving East: ArenaNet has formed a partnership with KongZhong Corporation to take Guild Wars 2 to China. This marks one of the largest licensing transactions ever for a Western game in the Chinese market. ArenaNet co-founder and president Mike O'Brien noted that the studio had its eye on the global market when designing the game and worked to appeal to a global audience. Developers' work has paid off as GW2 is highly anticipated in China, according to KongZhong CEO Wang Lei lei who further stated, "I believe Chinese game players will be impressed by Guild Wars 2 unique gameplay which will bring truly epic, cooperative gameplay back to the MMORPG genre."
