Veteran MMO studio casually reveals Guild Wars 3 is in development, and fans aren't sure how to feel

Guild Wars 2
(Image credit: NCSOFT)

Guild Wars 3 has quietly been confirmed.

Although Guild Wars 2 was first released way back in 2012, it's still one of the most popular MMOs with active servers and just last year dropped the generally well-received fourth expansion, Secrets of the Obscure, with more to come in 2024 and 2025. That, combined with the fact that developer ArenaNet and publisher NCSoft haven't so much as teased a sequel, makes it a big surprise that Guild Wars 3 has now been officially, and weirdly casually, announced.

Per Korean publication Inven (translated by Reddit user Sydius - via Kotaku), NCSoft co-CEO Park Byung-moo recently confirmed the existence of Guild Wars 3 in a rather nonchalant manner during the publisher's recent shareholder meeting. No additional details, beyond the fact that the game is now in development, were revealed, but the news nonetheless sent shockwaves through the MMO community.

While there's of course a general excitement that a sequel is coming, there's also some concern that the game could ditch its tried-and-true monetization model of charging players one price for the initial entry and then only charging for big expansions after that. In other words, Guild Wars has historically differed from other MMOs in that it doesn't ask players to pay a subscription fee, and some folks are worried NCSoft will start charging a monthly fee or find some other live-servicey way to monetize the sequel.

"I hope they keep what made GW1 and 2 unique. $60 purchase one time, with expansions, and a beautiful world with champ trains. That'd be a day 1 buy for me. Excited to hear it, i have faith. Scared to hear it'll be f2p or something," said one Reddit user reacting to the news.

"As much as I love GW2, it's clear that the monetization model wasn't sufficient in enticing NCSoft to allocate more resources to it as time went on. You could feel the decrease in quality from expansion to expansion, living world to living world," argued another commenter, concluding, "And given the current landscape of monetization in MMO's, and how NCSoft is going about it in their other games, I'm very skeptical that it won't be an MTX fest," they concluded.

"The mention of GW3 came as a response to a question about NCWest being in the red for 8 years. Pretty sure they will attempt to make it a cash cow," said another skeptic. "2004 was 2 decades ago. We're not getting that golden age back."

"I'm expecting F2P with heavily crippled access and progression locked behind MTX," echoed yet another concerned fan. "Like F2P only having certain weapon types, limits on professions, hard caps on character power progression."

With so little word from NCSoft, and virtually nothing from presumed developer ArenaNet, it's impossible to say what direction the sequel will take not only in terms of monetization but in every other regard. That said, there's no denying the multiplayer gaming landscape has shifted dramatically since Guild Wars 2 released, so it wouldn't be at all surprising to see a very different type of MMO whenever Guild Wars 3 launches.

In the meantime, here are the best MMOs you can play today.

CATEGORIES
Jordan Gerblick

After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer, I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.

Read more
A player in space, firing a weapon at alien creatures in a pre-alpha screenshot of Stars Reach.
Making an MMO is like "founding a city" says Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies veteran, but his ambitious new sci-fi fantasy game sounds more like a "parallel world"
Legacy: Steel & Sorcery
A 13-year WoW veteran formed his own studio to make an RPG that plays like "World PvP: The Game" and feels like a mini MMO channeling "early Blizzard"
Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker
The 10 best MMORPGs to play in 2025
The Elder Scrolls Online
Elder Scrolls Online is done with "massive content updates once a year" and is switching to "smaller bite-sized" seasons in 2025
Horizon Zero Dawn
In a rollercoaster week for Horizon Zero Dawn fans, its MMO is apparently not cancelled: "The 'H' that I mentioned has nothing to do with Horizon"
Screenshots of Overwatch 2 showing teams battling it out along with new perks and a Stadium game mode in action
"This is no longer about playing it safe": Overwatch 2 game director talks Marvel Rivals and betting big on season 15
Latest in MMO
a stone giant walks on a field near a cliff
Erenshor, the 'MMORPG' with fake players that's not actually an MMO at all, gets an imminent release date
Ultima Online
As Ultima Online approaches its 28th birthday, former creative lead reveals what it takes for an MMO to last for decades, and why they sometimes fail: "Content does not last forever"
Urban Dead
Cult text-based zombie MMO Urban Dead is shutting down after "a full 19 years, 8 months and 11 days" because of new UK legislation
Final Fantasy 14
Final Fantasy 14's Yoshi-P quietly removed from Square Enix's board after years of wanting out: "It's much more fun to just make games"
Sailing in Old School RuneScape
I was worried this MMO's first new skill in over 12 years would change things too much, but Sailing in Old School RuneScape feels just like home
Three girls face the camera with big smiles in Animal Crossing New Horizons
Ultima Online lead says "Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley and all these other kind of cozy games" are filling a gap in modern MMO design
Latest in News
Jordan A. Mun looks at herself in a mirror in just a vest in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet screenshot
5 years after starting development, Neil Druckmann says Naughty Dog's new game Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is "still evolving and changing as we're making it"
Silent Hill f
After 2 years of silence, the next mainline Silent Hill game is getting a dedicated stream this week with "the latest news"
Original Xbox console
Former Microsoft exec says the first Xbox was killed early in favor of 360 because it was "losing money left right and center," but luckily "we could afford to hemorrhage cash"
A Monster Hunter Wilds character holding binoculars.
Despite Monster Hunter Wilds suffering monstrous performance problems on PC, it still outsold the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions in the US
Jordan A. Mun looks at herself in a mirror in just a vest in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet screenshot
The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann says Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will also be about "being lonely," as if his zombie apocalypse wasn’t isolating enough: "I really want you to be lost"
A screenshot of Jordan drinking a soda during the reveal trailer for Intergalactic: The Hertic Prophet.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is "a game about faith and religion," which Neil Druckmann jokes will surely get less hate than The Last of Us 2