NCsoft to charge for extra Guild Wars character slots
Players of ArenaNet's Guild Wars online game will be asked to pay for extra character slots, NCsoft has announced - but the move is likely to prove popular anyway, as Guild Wars does not charge a monthly subscription fee.
Guild Wars fans will be able to pay a one-off fee to add an extra character slot to their account, NCsoft has announced.
The initiative, which will kick in this summer, will price the slots at GBP 5.99, EUR 8.99 or USD 9.99 depending on the region.
The decision to offer character slots at these prices is particularly significant for Guild Wars because, unlike NCsoft's other online games, Guild Wars players do not pay a monthly subscription fee.
As a result, NCsoft presumably believes the facility will enjoy a broader appeal than it would for traditional massively-multiplayer games, and that relatively casual players as well as hardcore Guild Wars fans will find the chance to play as more alternative characters - while retaining access to other unlocked content - worth the extra fee.
Regardless of the lack of a subscription charge, Guild Wars has enjoyed widespread success since its launch last year, and NCsoft is currently preparing to launch the second instalment, Factions, at the end of the month - while developer ArenaNet has already said it's working on the third and fourth games in the series.