Guild Wars 3 Announced: Release Date, Platforms, Setting and Everything We Know

Guild Wars 3 is real. ArenaNet officially announced the third entry in the legendary MMORPG franchise at Summer Game Fest 2026 on June 5, ending 14 years of silence since Guild Wars 2 launched in 2012. The game is coming to PC, Steam, and PlayStation 5, the first time any mainline Guild Wars title has come to home consoles. The first beta test is scheduled for Fall 2027.

Guild Wars 3 is a newly announced action-adventure MMORPG developed by ArenaNet. It is set over a thousand years before the original Guild Wars in the Tyrian region of Orr. Players become Vaelwardens. It launches on PC, Steam, and PS5, with a beta in Fall 2027.

ArenaNet Studio Head and Guild Wars 3 Game Director Colin Johanson appeared on stage to make the announcement himself. The debut trailer featured the first in-engine gameplay footage showing a lone adventurer crossing an expansive wilderness landscape. The character rides what appears to be a large wolf-like creature called a Seeker, moving fluidly across open terrain, climbing cliffs, and transitioning between movement modes.

There was no combat footage in the trailer. Johanson described the combat as designed to usher in an entirely new type of MMO experience, but the specifics remain unshown.

• Announced at Summer Game Fest 2026 on June 5, 2026
• Developed by ArenaNet, the studio behind GW1 and GW2
• First new ArenaNet game since GW2 launched in 2012
• Set over 1,000 years before the original Guild Wars in Orr
• Players take the role of a Vaelwarden
• Platforms: PC, Steam, and PS5
• First beta test scheduled for Fall 2027
• Game Director is Colin Johanson, ArenaNet Studio Head
• Features a momentum-based movement system
• Movement momentum translates directly into combat damage
• ArenaNet will actively develop GW3, GW2, and Guild Wars Reforged simultaneously

In Guild Wars 2, Orr is a sunken kingdom raised from the ocean floor, entirely overrun by the undead armies of the Elder Dragon Zhaitan. It is the endgame destination.

Guild Wars 3 goes back more than a thousand years to show what Orr looked like before any of that happened. This is Orr as a thriving wilderness frontier, filled with magic, inhabited by mystical beings called Vael spirits, and shaped by competing guilds. The land is alive in a way the GW2 version could never be. Going backwards in the timeline is deliberate: ArenaNet avoids needing to reconcile 14 years of Guild Wars 2 storylines.

The player character archetype is the Vaelwarden, members of a guild of adventurers committed to preserving and protecting both the spirits of the wild and the land of Orr itself. According to the official Steam page: run, slide, leap, and bound across Orr with a one-of-a-kind movement system that transfers momentum between modes of travel.

Momentum carries directly into combat. As players transition between movement modes at speed, the energy converts into bigger damage and impact in fights. A player who enters a fight at full sprint hits harder than one who walks into it.

ArenaNet confirmed it will actively develop all three Guild Wars games simultaneously. GW2 is not being shut down. It will continue to receive updates and content alongside GW3's development. Guild Wars 2 launched on August 28, 2012 as a full sequel, with major expansions Heart of Thorns (2015), Path of Fire (2017), and Secrets of the Obscure (2023). The franchise is published by NCSoft.