The fans of the Guild Wars franchise have been highly patient with developer ArenaNet and publisher NCsoft about waiting for Guild Wars 2 to be released. Today, ArenaNet finally announced on their website that the full MMO sequel has a locked down launch date of August 28th. The sequel was first announced way back in 2007.
In his announcement, ArenaNet"s Mike O"Brian said:
Through all the long hours and hard decisions, we were bolstered by the knowledge that we were not in this alone. All along you’ve been there for us, cheering us on, supporting us when we needed it, testing early versions of the game, and above all, giving us your honest feedback every step of the way. Guild Wars 2 is a better game for all of the work that our community has put in.
In addition to today"s launch date reveal, ArenaNet also announced that the final beta weekend for Guild Wars 2 will be held on July 20th-22nd. People who pre-purchase the game will be able to participate in this final beta weekend.
Unlike many fantasy MMO games, Guild Wars 2 will not require a monthly subscription, but it"s not free-to-play either as gamers will have to purchase the game client like a regular PC game.
Source: ArenaNet website