Guild Wars 2 beta this year - NCsoft

By Robert Purchese Published 18 May, 2011

And a full release in 2012.

The Guild Wars 2 beta will begin in the second half of 2011, NCsoft has announced.

During a conference call, chief financial officer Jaeho Lee also heavily hinted at a 2012 release for the game.

"Starting from year 2012, we believe substantial growth will be driven by new blockbuster titles like [Blade & Soul] and Guild Wars 2," announced Lee to investors.

"Also, Guild Wars 2 will go into beta testing stage in the second half of this year," he added.

Guild Wars 2 developer ArenaNet has stuck staunchly to a 'when it's done' mentality regarding the game's release.

Guild Wars 2 was announced in 2007. Four years later, a team of 150 developers still beavers away. Guild Wars 1 may have been a breakout independent success, but Guild Wars 2 is a leviathan. And the hottest MMO prospect on the block.

"Guild Wars 2 is the most exciting MMO we've seen in the last three years," wrote Oli Welsh, who saw Guild Wars 2 for Eurogamer earlier this year.

Guild Wars 2.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (15) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • telboy007 #1 1 year ago

    I put a lot of time into guild wars, never really managed to complete eyes of the north which was a shame. Enjoyed my time there, but just don't think I'll have enough spare to spend on this.

  • FortysixterUK #2 1 year ago

    Everything is being pushed back until 2012.
    As of today:-
    Guild wars 2
    Mass Effect 3
    Star Wars the old republic.
    Fallout Vegas GOTY

    On the plus side, this gives me time to catch up on all the single player games my MMO's have stopped me playing !
    ( and yes, I've stopped playing MMO's...for now )

  • roquey Verified Lead Quality Assurance Tester and Compliance Specialist, Universally Speaking #3 1 year ago

    i read the headline and almost creamed. give me beta now :D

  • Daeltaja #4 1 year ago

    Take your time lads. Enough to play this year anyway!

  • Butr0sButr0s #5 1 year ago

    Just re-loaded Guild Wars Nightfall on my computer this week. I'm in no rush for the second game either - I'd love to see a smooth launch, with a lot of content, devoid of any major gameplay or server problems.

    This is the kind of game I might even prefer a focused beta for the initial phase - limiting location and character choice week by week to encourage in depth testing of particular mechanics rather than 'hooray I get to play the game early and contribute nothing to development' participants.
    Edited by Butr0sButr0s at 18/05/11 @ 14:17

  • dirtysteve #6 1 year ago

    I wonder how tough it will be to get into the beta. This and SWTOR are two betas that make me jealous.

  • ChthonicEcho #7 1 year ago

    Wrong, Eurogamer. The release date remains uncertain, and the same can be said of the public beta.

  • Stuart444 #8 1 year ago

    This has been known since the LAST conference call.

    Also @ the person who said GW2 was pushed back to 2012. it has never had a release date so it didn't get pushed back. There is still no release date either. The release date is still "When it's done" which could mean november/december or january - march next year.

    This is just a conference call with investors, there is nothing new here at all. It's been discussed to death on Guild Wars 2 Guru

    edit: also above, I see someone has posted what Regina said on GW2G, good on you :)
    Edited by Stuart444 at 18/05/11 @ 15:24

  • fats_vagellan #9 1 year ago

    Yea, this is about as concrete as my grandma's apple sauce. Consider the source and the audience. CFO talking to investors.

    "Also, Guild Wars 2 will go into beta testing stage in the second half of this year," ...that may possibly be the second most vague statement I've heard this year, followed only by, "Starting from year 2012, we believe substantial growth will be driven by new blockbuster titles like [Blade & Soul] and Guild Wars 2,".

    All this means is the guy who is in charge of masturbating the investor checkbooks "expects" to see a growth in stock value of the company in 2012. GW2 could see a late '11 launch ..'12 launch ..hell, even a '13 launch for all we know now. "It'll be released when it's ready."

    Old news is no news. ..but still, love reading anything GW2 related regardless. Feed me, Seymour! Feed me!

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #10 1 year ago

    If "fans" already knew of a 2012 release and a beta in the second half of this year then great. I follow the game closely and I didn't, and I doubt most of the readers here did.

    Buenaobra doesn't say that information is incorrect. Actually she appears to confirm it: "For investors, the call was informational and provided status updates for them."

    Would NCsoft's CFO provide false information to investors?

  • ChthonicEcho #11 1 year ago

    You can't be serious.

    Yes, she actually confirms that this speculation, which you erroneously reported as fact, is incorrect: "Our release date remains "When it's done". Funny, that doesn't read "Our release date is 2012". Financial activities in 2012 can mean anything, it doesn't necessitate the release of Guild Wars 2. You're posting your own speculation as a news article.

    At the very least, the article needs to clarify that the beta in question is closed, and that the date of the public beta is still very much up in the air. The words 'NCSoft announced' are no less incorrect, because closed alpha/beta testing coming this year was confirmed by ArenaNet months ago, and reconfirmed a few weeks ago. This is basically a reassurance aimed specifically investors.

    Posting errors is one thing, defending them is simply ridiculous.

  • DrMGinius #12 1 year ago

    It's just like in the GW2 Guru forums. Terrible community. I'm sick of this game, and of developoers who announce their games millenia before they even have a planned release date just to get the hype train going.
    Edited by DrMGinius at 18/05/11 @ 18:22

  • Inmediasress #13 1 year ago

    Well thisi s the most interesting mmo as of now for me so any news is welcome but yeah they should make things a bit more clear.

  • hiddenranbir #14 1 year ago

    Woo Guild Wars 2! Yeah!

  • tulx #15 1 year ago

    SWTOR isn't pushed to 2012.