EverQuest versus Guild Wars
Why haven’t we seen a World of Warcraft 2 yet? Well, because World of Warcraft is far too successful. The two games would cannibalize each other. This is a lesson that the developers of EverQuest had to learn the hard way with the direct sequel.
There were only five and a half years between EverQuest and EverQuest II. According to the responsible developers, the sequel was not meant to replace the first game but to complement it, as they wanted to target a different audience with part 2. However, internally, it seems everyone expected the community to largely switch from EverQuest to EverQuest II.
A slightly modernized version of the first EverQuest is coming soon:
However, that did not happen. Instead, the two games cannibalized each other. In addition, from November 2004, the increasingly large shadow of World of Warcraft loomed. Today, the developers of EverQuest consider the hasty second installment a major mistake.
The ArenaNet team handled the sequel to Guild Wars significantly better. There are more than 7 years between part 1 and 2. Furthermore, both games differ notably in areas such as the structure of the game world (instance-based gameplay versus open world).
And perhaps most importantly: The first Guild Wars was not a service game in the modern sense. After the three campaigns Prophecies, Factions, and Nightfall, only the expansion Eye of the North was released. After 2007, the first Guild Wars was basically done. There were only some bonus missions and story content like “War in Kryta” that were supposed to prepare for the transition to the second part.
Thus, Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 never got in each other’s way, as the first game had transitioned into pure operational mode, as planned by the developers, when the sequel went live.
For the newly announced part 3, ArenaNet is now daring a new experiment: While part 1 is becoming relevant again through the Reforged remake, Guild Wars 3 should distinguish itself strongly from the two predecessors so that all three games can coexist. More on this: Predecessors are still to receive content, but players must initially forgo one thing due to Guild Wars 3
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