NCsoft Europe and ArenaNet have announced that the Guild Wars, franchise of online roleplaying games, has passed the 5 million units sold milestone in Europe, North America, and Asia.

Published by NCsoft and developed by ArenaNet, the Guild Wars franchise consists of the original Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions, Guild Wars Nightfall, and the recently released expansion, Guild Wars: Eye of the North.

Clearly its award-winning subscription free business model has helped it build quite the fanbase.

NCsoft CEO, Taek Jin Kim, was full of praise for the online RPG,

“Guild Wars is a proven success and has set a new standard for online RPG games with its unique business model and superior playability,”

Co-founder of AreaNet, Mike O’Brien, was also more than pleased that the game has managed to garner so much success in such a short space of time,

“Reaching the five million mark is extremely gratifying for us at ArenaNet because it shows the hard work and dedication we put into our games has resonated with the fans”

O’Brien rushed to assure fans and players of the game that while the developer is working hard on Guild Wars 2, AreaNet will still be there to offer support for The original Guild Wars.

“We are committed to supporting all of our Guild Wars players, and at the same time, we’re extremely excited to work on the game’s evolution.”