Guild Wars 3 Is Coming To PS5 With Fall 2027 Beta, ArenaNet Confirms No Battle Pass Or Subscription

At Summer GamesFest 2026, a new game from ArenaNet was announced in the form of Guild Wars 3, which brings the franchise to console for the first time. Guild Wars 3 will be the first new game that the company has released since 2012, and is set to launch in Fall 2027 via beta.

“Guild Wars 3 is a new era not just for ArenaNet and Guild Wars but also for MMORPGs as a whole,” said Colin Johanson, Guild Wars 3 Game Director and ArenaNet Studio Head. “The MMORPG genre has millions of players worldwide eager for new, modern experiences, and the opportunity to harness that excitement is immense. Our approach with Guild Wars 3 is to push MMORPGs forward, to create an online game world that feels believable, rewarding, responsive, and innovative while at the same time respecting players’ time and providing a positive, supportive space to build community and enjoy new stories in our universe.”

Johanson also confirmed that Guild Wars 3 will not have a battle pass or subscription, noting the game will be playable “as much or as little” as people want. “We don’t have anything that’s holding you hostage to keep playing and then [you can] come back when you see something cool you want to play again,” he said.

Taking place over a thousand years before the events of the original game, Guild Wars 3 is set in the Tyrian region of Orr, a vast wilderness frontier imbued with the world’s magic. Nature entities with strong connections to the land, called ‘Vael spirits’, embody the vitality of this lush, verdant landscape. Various guilds are engaged in conflict over how to protect or exploit the bounty beyond civilisation’s borders. These multitudinous spirits will vary in size and influence within the ecosystems around them, with the most notable of these being the Seeker. As seen in the trailer, every player’s Seeker will serve as a connection to the spirits of Orr and a mount that will carry them on their journeys through the game’s open world.

Players will assume the role of a Vaelwarden, a member of a guild of adventurers committed to preserving and protecting both the spirits of the wild and the land of Orr itself. Through the deep character customisation and skill-building gameplay the Guild Wars franchise is known for, players will seek adventure and confront danger across this sumptuous, vibrant online world, growing their relationships with the spirits of the wild, the inhabitants of Orr, and other Vaelwarden players.*

The combat system has been designed to work on keyboard/mouse and also on controllers. The original game did not support controllers, so this is a nice improvement for the franchise. The combat promotes movement and momentum, with players seamlessly transitioning from various different movement modes allowing them toharness their speed and turn it into bigger damage and impact when fighting their foes.

As a controller player on previous MMOs, the lack of controller support was one thing that put me off the franchise, but with the new gaming including controller support I am very tempted to give it a try when the beta and the full game launches.

Guild Wars 3 is now available to Wishlist on the PlayStation Store and Steam.