Developer ArenaNet has published a mission statement for its next MMORPG, Guild Wars 3. In a post published on the official website, studio head Colin Johanson discusses ArenaNet’s philosophy in designing what it has previously referred to as “a modern evolution of the MMO.” Throughout the post, the studio has also revealed its monetization plans for the title.
Chief among these is the fact that Guild Wars 3, like its predecessors Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, will not have any subscription fees. Johanson has noted that one of the franchise’s defining ideas has been that “players should be able to buy the game and play it on their own terms.” This also means that the title won’t include any battle passes either.
While titles like this tend to supplement revenue through in-game microtransactions, Johanson has also promised that Guild Wars 3 will not feature any pay-to-win elements. Rather, any microtransaction items released for the MMO will be strictly cosmetic, along with other features like account services and time-saving convenience items. “But it’s never okay in a Guild Wars game for players who spend money to have an unfair advantage over players who spend time,” he wrote.
MMORPGs often tend to be quite time-consuming, and many need them to be treated by players like they are second jobs. Guild Wars 3 wants to avoid this by “respecting players’ time,” which has “always been a core part of Guild Wars, and that’s more important today than ever before.”
Rather than forcing players to spend time doing things they rather wouldn’t, ArenaNet instead wants players to “feel good about the time you invest”, regardless of how much time they actually get to spend with the game. More details on how game systems are being designed with this in mind are slated to be revealed in the future.
Finally, Johanson also discussed what it actually means for Guild Wars 3 to be “a modern evolution of the MMO”. Noting that the original Guild Wars was about a small team made up of the player and their assembled henchman, hero NPCs, and other players, and Guild Wars 2 was about “giant-scale” experiences in a large open-world setting, Guild Wars 3 is slated to be in the middle of this spectrum.
“While it fits the definition of an MMORPG significantly more than Guild Wars Reforged does, it doesn’t try to replicate the large-scale gameplay pillars that so uniquely define Guild Wars 2,” explained Johanson. “This ensures that all three of our games can coexist as different experiences on different timelines, telling different stories about the world of Tyria.
Guild Wars 3 was unveiled earlier this month with a trailer, and while we didn’t get to see much in the way of gameplay, the CG trailer did emphasize that the upcoming MMORPG will include one of Guild Wars 2’s most beloved features – the mount system. The title is being developed for PC and PS5, and doesn’t yet have a release window. ArenaNet has confirmed that it will start beta tests in Fall 2027.
