WAR beta to hit a million sign-ups

EA Mythic's general manager Mark Jacobs has said that he's confident the beta for forthcoming MMORPG Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning could surpass one million users once the title is opened up to Asian markets, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

A closed beta for the game has been live for over a year. Jacobs has said he's pleased with the number of people signing up for the open beta phase, which has already surpassed the 500,000 mark.

"Actually, I'd be surprised if we didn't hit one million once we start taking beta apps for our Asian partners," said Jacobs in a post on theIGN forums.

"Even without Asia, based on our current sign-up rate, we should blow through 750,000 and we have a decent shot at one million.

"Since we have already far surpassed my initial goal, I'm quite happy with what we have," Jacobs continued. "And since I'm sure somebody will ask this, my goal, post EA, was to have 500K signed up in North America and Europe."

Jacobs has been very active on forums lately. Last week he defended the game's recent delay to autumn 2008 over on Warhammer Alliance. He said he would rather learn from Blizzard that worry about going head-to-head with World of Warcraft's Wrath of the Lich King expansion.

"One of the lessons from developers like BioWare and Blizzard is that you can't rush a great game to market," Jacobs said. "By taking the necessary time to make WAR a great game, we feel it will be able to stand out in any season. We would rather release a great game in the fall then a good one any other time."