ArenaNet have announced that their popular MMORPG Guild Wars 2 is now adopting a free to play model. Guild Wars 2 previously required a one-off purchase of the game, with no monthly subscriptions, but this purchase has now been removed entirely.
“Since launching three years ago—almost to the day, today—we’ve sold more than 5 million copies of the game,” reads a statement on the Guild Wars 2 website. “And we’ve delivered more than 40 major content releases, with world-changing events, Living World episodes, and feature packs, all free of charge. Expansions are the one place where the buy-to-play model gets a little tricky.”
“When you’re coming in as a new player to a game that has a bunch of expansions, what exactly should you buy in order to play with your friends? The base game and also every single expansion? We’ve seen examples in the industry where that kind of thing has gotten out of control. It doesn’t seem right, and we want to do better. As we get ready to ship our first expansion for Guild Wars 2, we want to ensure that we keep the business model friendly and simple. So let’s be clear that when we say Guild Wars 2 is buy-to-play, we’re only asking you to buy one thing: the current release, Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns.”
ArenaNet also dated the upcoming Heart of Thorns Expansion, with a release date set for October 23rd. Heart of Thorns will introduce new locations, modes and systems, costing $50 for the standard edition, $75 for the Deluxe Edition and $100 for the Ultimate Edition.
