Gears of War Sells 2 Million and Guild Wars sells 3 Million

A couple of games have reached new multi-million selling points this week. First of all, according to a joint announcement issued by Microsoft and Epic Games today, Gears of War (review) has just made history by becoming the fastest-selling next-generation game of 2006, and the fastest-selling exclusive Xbox game of all time. This comes as a result of more than 2 million copies having sold worldwide, in just six weeks since the game's release.

"We've always held high hopes for Gears of War, but we never expected such an overwhelmingly positive response from critics and gamers all over the world", said Michael Capps, president, Epic Games. "I can't describe how stoked our team is right now. Our fans can absolutely count on Epic to keep delivering new gameplay through Xbox Live."

Sounds like yet another firm promise that Epic Games will deliver additional content for Gears of War. And according to one recent interview, they also said that the content will be free to download via Xbox Live.

Having already reached the 2,000,000 mark back in June, Guild Wars is now boasting over 3 million units sold, as proclaimed a couple of days ago by ArenaNet and NCsoft. Fueled by sales of the hit game Guild Wars Nightfall, the latest release in the award-winning Guild Wars franchise, sales for one of the world's leading subscription-free online roleplaying games have surpassed three million units worldwide in a little more than a year and a half.

This milestone event was announced today by ArenaNet, developer of Guild Wars, Guild Wars FactionsTM, and Guild Wars NightfallTM, and NCsoft Corporation, the world's leading developer and publisher of online computer games.

"Reaching three million units sold in such a short amount of time is absolutely incredible," says Robert Garriott, CEO, NCsoft North America. "Coupled with the recent news of Guild Wars Factions winning Billboard's Multiplayer Game of the Year, we couldn't be prouder of what the team at ArenaNet has accomplished with the Guild Wars games."

In further news, ArenaNet announced today the details of the in-game Wintersday Festival, as well as some exciting new features to be implemented in the game over the holiday season.

Wintersday 2006 — Special in-game events have become fan favorites the world over, and during this holiday season Guild Wars players will be in for another Wintersday Festival!

During this event, players will find favorite outposts dressed to the nines with holiday décor, as they are invited to complete holiday-themed quests, participate in PvP snowball fights, and receive unique holiday rewards such as Winter Gifts, a Snowman Summoner, Eggnog, and Candy Canes.

Wintersday 2006 will take place in-game December 20, 2006 through January 1, 2007.