UPDATED: Yet Another "Guild Wars 3 Is In Development" Rumor Pops Up

Look, it certainly wouldn't be shocking if ArenaNet and NCSoft decided to start/have started work on Guild Wars 3. Even though Guild Wars 2 has had some ups and downs financially throughout the last few years, the MMORPG is NCSoft's most profitable foothold in the North American market. That's prime real estate that the publisher wouldn't want to give up. A "quick" way to keep that ground (at least in the short term) is to release sequels.

This isn't even the first time we've heard that development of a potential Guild Wars 3 was already in the works. Back in 2022 there were reports that ArenaNet was already hard at work on the third installment of the franchise using Unreal Engine 5. That rumor spawned from job postings looking for employees ready to work on "an established online fantasy IP."

Going even further back, Kotaku reported on rumors in 2019 that Mike O'Brien was working on a "Guild Wars sequel" before he departed the company.

Today's new rumor may carry a bit more weight, depending on how much you trust MTN (a Korean news site) and how much faith you put in Google Translate. There's also references to the CEO apparently pushing a Guild Wars 3 developed in the US in an article from the Korean Business Post and Inven reports on the actual call where Guild Wars 3 was "confirmed".

According to MTN's reporting, NCSoft "is pushing ahead with Guild Wars 3". This comes from MTN's coverage of Money Today Broadcasting. After recapping a bit of Guild Wars' history, the report says that NCSoft has had poor performance in North American markets for basically all of its library aside from Guild Wars 2 (true), a factor that led to the restructuring of NC West (also true).

NCSoft "decided to approve the development of 'Guild Wars 3' after inspecting in-house development resources and reviewing business feasibility," and is looking for the title to "strengthen development and business competitiveness in the North American market."

While a potential Guild Wars 3 would likely be years away still, the report also says that while NCSoft approved GW3, the company still wants ArenaNet to focus on making expansions for Guild Wars 2. Looks like GW2 fans don't have to worry about their MMO just yet.

We've reached out to ArenaNet and NCSoft for comment and will update this piece if we hear back.

UPDATE 3/28/2024: ArenaNet did reply to us with the following comment:

“As an active game studio we are always doing internal exploratory work for possible future titles we’d want to create, however we have nothing to confirm right now. The team’s focus is on Guild Wars 2 development, including the game’s next expansion, which we’re excited to talk about soon.”

Yeah, not exactly confirmation, but certainly not a denial, either.

UPDATE 2 3/28/2024: Korea's Business Post is reporting that in a follow-up statement after the above mentioned financial call where Guild Wars 3 was mentioned, the MMORPG is "in the review stage and the start of development has not been finalized."