During the week of May 10, 2004, ArenaNet invited the world to join our Guild Wars "E3 for Everyone" Event. Held in conjunction with the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the event received a massive response. Gamers worldwide created more than 200,000 accounts to play the demo during its five-day run. The unprecedented experience allowed folks at home to play the Guild Wars demo with and against people on the E3 show floor. More than a dozen on-floor demo computers tied directly into the game server as the E3 gaming experience was shared with gamers around the world.

The scale of player response meant that the Guild Wars demo was one of the five largest online games in North America and one of the ten largest online games in the world during the time that "E3 for Everyone" was taking place.

Literally thousands witnessed the game being played on a global scale while they were themselves at the E3 show. And in addition to the larger numbers and the sheer novelty of the event, the gaming public was delighted and surprised to see ArenaNet launch the event two days early!

The event demonstrated two significant technologies for Guild Wars. The first was the stability of our servers, which supported tens of thousands of concurrent gamers without a hitch. The second was the appeal and usefulness of ArenaNet's streaming technology. On the final day of the show ArenaNet introduced a dramatic new in-game event -- a new mission for a larger group with a brand new objective -- and this event served as an example of how we will provide frequent content updates without patching. With the positive experience of this large-scale alpha demo, and with knowledge that Guild Wars will not charge a monthly fee, fanmail has been filled with words of support and with confirmation of the eager anticipation with which fans are awaiting the release of Guild Wars.

For our photograph album from E3, please head here.