Is Guild Wars 2 about to go (somewhat) free-to-play in China?
Guild Wars 2 seems to be doing pretty well in China. Just yesterday, I wrote about how the game already has 3.9 million player characters spread across its China servers. But it looks like the game’s China publisher Kongzhong may be looking to attract an even broader audience by releasing cards that would give Chinese players free access to the game for a limited period of time.
Before its launch Guild Wars 2 did have a short free trial period, but since then Chinese gamers who want to get their hands on it have needed to pony up at least 80 RMB (about $14) to buy a copy. Officially, that’s still the case, but an image recently popped up on a Chinese BBS forum suggesting that it could be about to change:
“Guild Wars 2 free trial card”
Granted, the image could just be a photoshop, and its source could be a troll—nothing has been officially announced. But allowing new gamers to get a few hours or days of the game in as a test before they buy would be a good idea in China’s free-to-play-focused game market. And if Kongzhong were going to announce such a measure, the ChinaJoy game conference (which is coming right up) would be the best place to do it.
(via Sina Games)
Related:
China’s Guild Wars 2 servers have 3.9 million player characters, and there’s more!
A total server census has just been released for China's Guild Wars 2, and it has revealed a bunch of interesting information.
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