Guild Wars 2 beta attracts 1 million applicants

ArenaNet has received 1 million Guild Wars 2 beta applications, the company revealed on Twitter this afternoon. The beta sign-up period was open for 48 hours only, from 1 p.m. ET on Wednesday, February 22 to today at 1 p.m. ET.

Those chosen to participate in the beta will be notified by email, at which time they will need to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) before being permitted to play the massively multiplayer online role-playing game.

The Guild Wars 2 beta will begin in March, with the full game expected to be released during 2012. The team at ArenaNet has a small group working on a console version of the game, but no announcements have been made concerning Guild Wars 2 arriving outside of the PC.

Guild Wars 2 puts players into a persistent fantasy world that is driven by a range of dynamic events. When Guild Wars 2 is launched later this year, it will cost a fee up front but will not require a monthly paid subscription to continue playing.

For more on Guild Wars 2, check out GameSpot's latest preview and coverage of developer discussions from Comic-Con 2011 and PAX 2011.