Guild Wars 3 in Unreal Engine 5 may be in the works

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Is Guild Wars 3 in development at Guild Wars 2 developer ArenaNet? The studio definitely has an “unannounced project” in pre-production based around “an established online fantasy IP” – and it seems to be a new MMORPG game using Unreal Engine 5.

Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons released in February 2022 and was very well received, which was followed by ArenaNet confirming that it’s still prepping the MMO game for a Steam release in late 2022 and a fourth expansion is in the works – but will take “a very long time to develop.”

However, a new job listing (spotted by Top Tier List) for a new project suggests that something more than an expansion is in development at the Guild Wars studio. It’s based around Unreal Engine 5, apparently, so it seems unlikely that this project is the Guild Wars 2 expansion.

While there’s no direct evidence that says this is Guild Wars 3, it is based around “an established online fantasy IP” – so unless ArenaNet is building a game around someone else’s MMO IP, it stands to reason that this is instead a new Guild Wars game.

The listing suggests the project is part of the evolution of the “online role-playing game” genre and will focus on “multiplayer storytelling” – such as “interactions, conversations, scenes, dynamic spawning, and emergent objectives.” The description also requires the candidate to be “dedicated to enhancing the humanity of virtual interaction.”

Whatever happens, it’s likely that the next Guild Wars 2 expansion will release first, so Guild Wars 3 – or whatever this online fantasy RPG project is – is probably several years away, despite being a “well-funded project in pre-production” apparently.