Guild Wars Mini-Interview #36
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Q: With the success of the World Preview Event in October of 2004, is there a remote possibility that the April BWE, which is only less then two weeks prior to the release of the game, could possibly become another WPE? Speculation is that ArenaNet's declaration that there will be no more contests for cd-keys might be because the last BWE will be open for everyone to play.
A: If that's in the cards, they haven't told me! No, seriously, let's look at what we've done in the last year: We announced in April 2004 and within a month hosted a free world event that was attended by more than 200,000 gamers. In October, we rolled out another free world event, and we've been offering events monthly ever since. For the first several Beta Weekend Events, we made sure that literally tens of thousands of access keys were available, so that tons of gamers would have a chance or another chance -- to experience the game. By the time that Guild Wars is released, we will have held eight separate events!
There are a couple of reasons that our April event won't be a massive worldwide public event. One reason is that we want to show our appreciation to those who have supported Guild Wars by preordering the game. So we're offering these final two Beta Weekend Events as a form of thanks for our preorder customers alone.
And another reason for not holding another event like the World Preview Event is because events of a global nature take a lot of planning and preparation. They can actually divert some of the development effort because of their magnitude. This is a very significant time in our game's development, and now is the time to look towards release, spending every minute of every day concentrating on putting out the best possible game. So we're focused on giving you the best possible long-term experience, beginning with Day One: April 28th.
