Guild Wars enlists 1 million

Korean publisher NCsoft today announced that its massively multiplayer online role-playing game Guild Wars is massively successful to the tune of a million new accounts since the game launched in April.

To celebrate the announcement, NCsoft Europe is releasing a Guild Wars Special Edition on October 21 throughout Europe. It appears to include the same artbook, map, and soundtrack goodies as the special edition of the game released in North America in April, but NCsoft Europe is also promising to give purchasers of the premium pack a limited number of skill and item unlocks, which can be applied to an existing account or to help a new player get off the ground quickly.

Guild Wars attempts to buck MMORPG tradition by emphasizing player skill and creativity over countless hours of level building. It also eschews the typical MMORPG model by not charging a subscription fee for its users.

Guild Wars is the first release from Bellvue, Washington-based ArenaNet, a development studio of ex-Blizzard employees that worked on WarCraft, Diablo, and the Battle.net gaming network. NCsoft and ArenaNet soon will be launching Guild Wars in both Japan and Taiwan with fully localized versions. Guild Wars is rated T for Teen and retails for $49.99.