In a document recently obtained by VE3D, publisher NCSoft announced that Guild Wars 2 won’t be nestling up inside your hard drive until – at the earliest – 2010. Prior to that, the game was scheduled to enter beta during 2008. However, developer ArenaNet screen-blurred into an entirely different flashback, saying that NCSoft’s purported release window for Guild Wars 2 is pretty much hogwash.

“On Friday, NCsoft released investor materials that showed a very broad release window for Guild Wars 2, with the explanation that release timing is still ‘to be announced.’ ArenaNet has never given a release date for Guild Wars 2 other than ‘when it's done.’ NCsoft's investor materials are a reflection of that philosophy,” said ArenaNet’s Mike O’Brien.
 
“I know some fans had hoped for a smaller gap between the launch of Guild Wars: Eye of the North and the start of beta testing for Guild Wars 2, but we communicated last summer that it would be some time before we could commit to any beta or launch dates. Guild Wars 2 is a large and ambitious game, and we're going to take the time to do it right.”

So then, maybe the game will take its first wobbly steps in 2010 or 2011. Maybe even later than that. 2009, though? You can stop holding your breath now.