Today what you generally see in the MMO space is two camps: big games with high production values and high system requirements which charge monthly fees, and small games that are developed inexpensively, have low system requirements, and are free-to-play. Guild Wars Gold fits into neither of those camps. Guild Wars is a big game with high production values, but with modest system requirements and no monthly fees.

It's been four years since we pioneered this business model, and I thought we'd see more competition by now, but we haven't. Perhaps that's because it's a hard space in which to compete. If a game can't reach a broad enough audience, then it can't sustain itself without monthly fees. And if a game doesn't have high enough production values, then it has to be free-to-play because players won't pay for it. Whatever the reason, I think Guild Wars Gold occupies a unique space in the industry and has a uniquely compelling value proposition for players, and that's a great place for us to be.

IGNPC: What do you think the future of subscription-based games in general? It seems everyone is chasing World of Warcraft, but is it going to be at a certain point that only Blizzard can sustain the model?

Mike O'Brien: No, that's not going to happen. First of all, there's plenty of room for games like EVE that attract a dedicated core audience that's perfectly willing to pay monthly fees, but don't reach a broad enough audience to sustain the game without the monthly fees. Games like that will continue to be successful with a subscription model. And second, there's plenty of room for a new game that offers players new experiences to become the next industry-changing phenomenon. In fact, it's at times like these when it seems like everyone is chasing an existing game that players are most ready for something new and exciting.

IGNPC: Can we expect Guild Wars 2 news this year? Will the game ship in 2009 or 2010?

Mike O'Brien: The Guild Wars 2 team is twice the size of the original Guild Wars Gold team, so you can imagine the level of art, content, and production values we're putting into the game. The game is already beautiful, and is getting more so every day. In addition to the normal playtesting of everyday development, the entire team logs on every Wednesday to simply play the game together, and we always have a lot of fun.