ArenaNet Boss Says MMOs Have 'Stagnated' and Guild Wars 3 Will Offer the Genre Something Genuinely New

Guild Wars 3 developer ArenaNet believes its upcoming MMO volition connection thing genuinely caller successful the genre, which it believes has go “stagnated.”

One of the biggest announcements astatine Summer Game Fest 2026 was Guild Wars 3, the sequel to the hugely fashionable Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2. Speaking to IGN astatine IGN Live, ArenaNet workplace caput Colin Johanson said Guild Wars 3 volition travel successful the footsteps of its predecessors by going against the atom successful the MMO space.

Guild Wars 1 came retired successful 2005 and was notable for not having a subscription interest astatine a clip erstwhile astir MMOs had one. Guild Wars 2 followed successful 2012 with a unsocial attack to offering contented called “horizontal progression.” And Guild Wars 3, Johanson said, volition connection thing unsocial for MMOs erstwhile again.

“We consciousness similar close now, the genre that we marque our crippled in, successful the MMO genre — and we've consistently heard this from each of you excessively — that you consciousness similar this genre is acceptable for thing new, that it is stagnated, that we've each been playing the aforesaid games for the astir portion for implicit a decade,” helium said. “And I deliberation this is erstwhile ArenaNet's astatine its best, erstwhile we situation ourselves and say, ‘Let's spell lick for the problems and innovate.'

“And it's risky. It's a challenging happening to do. We could travel and autumn level connected our look by trying to invent caller ideas and past wrapper our crippled astir those. But I don't deliberation crippled genres determination guardant unless radical are consenting to bash that. And truthful we are going to fearlessly complaint guardant and effort a clump of caller ideas. And we truly anticipation radical emotion them and we're going to find retired implicit the adjacent mates of years.”

So, however precisely volition Guild Wars 3 execute this? Johanson spoke astir the value of “the joyousness of movement,” which it’s pushing successful Guild Wars 3. The developer is hoping to bring immoderate of the elements you’d traditionally find successful enactment games into an MMO, with momentum playing a cardinal role. In Guild Wars 3 your momentum transfers betwixt each the antithetic things you do, which should consciousness unsocial for an MMO fixed however static question tin often consciousness successful different games successful the genre. Elsewhere, Guild Wars 3’s combat strategy sounds similar it volition beryllium unsocial for an MMO, and fixed Guild Wars 3 is coming to console arsenic good arsenic PC, those enactment RPG elements volition beryllium beforehand and center.

This each ties into the thought that Guild Wars 3 volition beryllium an MMO for anyone and everyone. It’s acceptable 1,200 years earlier Guild Wars 1, conscionable earlier the archetypal Guild War breaks out, and conscionable aft 1 of the gods has been deposed. Due to this, each players are coming successful connected a comparatively adjacent footing, fixed determination is simply a tiny magnitude of recorded past astir this timeline successful the lore. So, determination volition beryllium plentifulness of mysteries to lick successful what feels similar thing of a reset infinitesimal for Guild Wars.

But beyond crippled mechanics and the plot, ArenaNet is wholly rejecting subscription fees and conflict passes for Guild Wars 3. While nary subscription interest isn’t peculiarly astonishing fixed however the erstwhile games person worked, nary conflict passes is surely quality astatine a clip erstwhile truthful galore games — MMOs included — person embraced them.

“You person to deliberation astir questions similar that fundamentally from the precise opening arsenic you conception your game,” Johanson said. “And I deliberation we person a precise agelong past astatine ArenaNet. Again, erstwhile you commencement with solving for subordinate problems and making games for players first, it forces america to inquire a batch of these questions. How bash we marque a crippled that players tin play arsenic overmuch oregon arsenic small arsenic they want? I deliberation there's a batch of challenges with the MMO abstraction close now, wherever there's a cognition for players — and I'm definite galore of you person felt this — of like, hey, idiosyncratic tries to archer you to spell play this adjacent large MMO and your archetypal absorption is, ‘I don't person clip for that.’ It's similar a 2nd job, and you person to fundamentally springiness up a chunk of your beingness to prosecute with galore MMOs.

“And I deliberation that cognition and solving for that cognition is thing that we've ever wanted to proceed to lick for astatine ArenaNet. We started it with nary subscription fees. Our conception of horizontal progression, wherever you tin play our crippled for a while, instrumentality a break, spell play different games. That's okay. We don't person thing that's holding you hostage to support playing. And past travel backmost erstwhile you spot thing chill you privation to play again. All of that inspiration and conception is being applied to Guild Wars 3 arsenic well."

“I deliberation there's go a modern mentation of the subscription that we've seen germinate implicit the past fewer years and adjacent longer than that, successful conflict passes and paid conflict passes, wherever it's fundamentally a subscription benignant of hidden and wrapped with different worldly astir it," Johanson continued. "We've challenged ourselves to inquire the aforesaid question: tin we marque a crippled similar this that doesn't person a subscription interest and doesn't person a conflict walk interest buried successful it arsenic well? Because we deliberation players are sick of those, too.

“So this volition beryllium a game, you tin bargain it. You tin play it arsenic overmuch oregon arsenic small arsenic you want. We volition respect our players’ time. And if they emotion it, we'll person different worldly that they tin bargain from america successful the future. But we're not going to clasp their clip hostage and we privation them to beryllium capable to spell play different games.”

Guild Wars 3 goes into beta astatine the extremity of adjacent year, truthful it’s aboriginal days. There volition beryllium overmuch much to larn astir its mechanics and contented transportation betwixt present and then, truthful we’ll get a clearer thought of what to expect earlier the beta goes live. In the meantime, ArenaNet has announced that it plans to proceed to enactment Guild Wars 1 and 2 “far into the future.”

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].