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NCsoft said Wednesday that the sale of its hit game ``Guild Wars'' series reached 5 million after two and a half years since its launch.

The worldwide success of ``Guild Wars'' is a rare example of a Korean game company winning the Western market. Many other Korean game firms such as NHN and Nexon are growing rapidly in China, Japan and in Southeast Asia, but only NCsoft has had considerable sales in Europe and the United States.

``Guild Wars'' is an online game where many users can simultaneously play in a virtual world, based on a fictional fantasy world of medieval settings. It was developed by ArenaNet, a U.S. game studio bought by NCsoft in 2002 for 18.7 billion won. The series boasts five subtitles. About three quarters of its sales are being made outside of Korea.

The company has adopted various ways of payment systems depending on the situation of each nation. In the United States, it is sold as a package with unlimited playing time. In Korea, gamers can choose between monthly subscriptions and package purchases.

``Guild Wars is a proven success and has set a new standard for online role-playing games with its unique business model and superior playability," said NCsoft CEO Kim Taek-jin in a statement.

``Reaching the 5 million mark is extremely gratifying for us at ArenaNet because it shows that the hard work and dedication we put into our games has resonated with the fans,'' said Mike O'Brien, co-founder of ArenaNet.

NCsoft is one of the three big game firms in Korea along with Nexon and NHN and specializes in the so-called massively multiplayer online role-playing game, such as ``Lineage.'' The company had been the largest of the three by sales until 2006, but NHN is believed to have taken the No. 1 title last year.

Unlike other Korean game firms, the company has been continuously investing in the Western market but not every investment was successful. While the ArenaNet team was working on the ``Guild Wars'' project near Seattle, a separate team of developers in Austin, Texas, produced a game named ``Tabula Rasa,'' which has had little impact on the market so far.

The company's management acknowledged that the two teams will get different treatment for their accomplishments.

``ArenaNet has been very successful in launching good quality products without delaying the development schedule. They are now on `Guild Wars 2' and we have very high confidence on the ArenaNet development team,'' said chief financial officer Lee Jae-ho said in a conference call with investors earlier this month. ``In terms of Austin, because of the disappointing results, there will be some inevitable downsizing,'' he said.

The success of ``Guild Wars'' is more than encouraging for NCsoft's global businesses, but its financial contribution is not as big as the morale boost. In 2006, the series earned only 500 million won worldwide for NCsoft, including 100 million won from Korea, while its ``Lineage'' franchise had 226 billion won of sales.

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