Guild Wars 2 is doing well… so well that only numbers can really do it justice.
During the past two weeks Guild Wars 2 has managed to top video game sales in ten European countries including: UK, Germany, France, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Similarly, preliminary sales data in North America places it in the top 3, only matched by the cultural firepower of Madden NFL 13.
In response to the early success Mike O'Brien, co-founder of ArenaNet, stated the following in a press release:
Our games have always been well-received in Europe, but this level of enthusiasm is both awesome and humbling
He continued:
It also impresses upon us the responsibility we have to our players and explains why we’ve taken steps recently to constrain sales of Guild Wars 2 to ensure the highest quality of service. Of course, we hope to remedy this in the near future.
You know you're doing well when you have to personally stop digital sales to slow down sales, which is exactly what ArenaNet had to do. Digital sales are still unavailable and are expected to only resume once the server infrastructure is stabilized to meet demand.
However, remember that it isn't the first few weeks of sales that determined whether or not an MMO is truly successful—as we saw with Star Wars: The Old Republic. Until the first 90 or so days have passed, its ability to sustain a large community is unknown. In the meantime, Guild Wars 2 is killing it and has a good shot at keeping a its foot held down in the genre.
If you haven't already, be sure to check out our review where we explain why Guild Wars 2 is the best MMORPG in years.
