ArenaNet has confirmed that Guild Wars 3 will not require a monthly subscription fee and won’t feature battle passes either.

Studio head Colin Johanson confirmed the upcoming MMO will follow the franchise’s familiar buy-to-play model, allowing players to purchase the game outright without ongoing mandatory fees.

The reassurance comes after some fans worried that the newly announced title might adopt monetization systems that have become increasingly common across the MMO industry. Johanson made it clear that ArenaNet has no interest in going down that road.

As for the game itself, Guild Wars 3 takes players back 1,200 years before the original Guild Wars, during a period when the world is heading toward its first true guild war. The story unfolds in Orr, a land overflowing with magic where spirits and gods play a major role in shaping events.

ArenaNet also has ambitious goals beyond the setting. Johanson described Guild Wars 3 as the “next evolution” of the MMO genre, with a strong focus on fluid movement, dynamic combat, and exploration. According to him, the MMO space has become stagnant in recent years, and the studio wants to take risks rather than simply follow existing trends.