You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here

ArenaNet has said Guild Wars 3 will launch as a buy-to-play game, with no subscription fee and no paid battle pass system.

In a development update published June 16, Colin Johanson said the studio is carrying forward one of the central business model decisions behind the Guild Wars series: players buy the game and can return to it without paying a recurring fee.

“Guild Wars 3 will be a buy-to-play game at release,” Johanson said in the post. “There will be no subscription fee.”

ArenaNet also addressed battle passes and seasonal paid tracks, saying it views some of those systems as subscription-like mechanics when they create recurring payment pressure. Johanson said that when the studio says Guild Wars 3 will not have a subscription fee, it also means there will be no “battle pass subscription fees.”

The post does not say that Guild Wars 3 will have no additional purchases of any kind. ArenaNet said it expects to sell expansions and other optional items if players decide they are worth buying. The studio also repeated its long-standing position that paid items in Guild Wars should not give spending players an unfair advantage over players who spend time in the game.

According to the update, ArenaNet sees acceptable paid items as cosmetics, account services, and convenience items. The studio said pay-to-win systems are not acceptable for a Guild Wars game.

The monetization comments were part of a broader post about ArenaNet’s design philosophy for Guild Wars 3. Johanson said the studio is looking at modern MMOs and live-service games while trying to preserve what it sees as core expectations for the franchise, including respect for player time and avoiding recurring fee structures.

ArenaNet has not announced a release date for Guild Wars 3. The post also does not provide pricing, expansion details, or a full breakdown of the game’s in-game store.