ArenaNet’s official website has several job openings for an “unannounced project.” What are the developers of Guild Wars 2 working on?
What kind of job offers are these? If you go to boards.greenhouse.io right now, you will find five positions that ArenaNet is looking to fill for an “unannounced project”:
The job descriptions talk about a AAA game that will be created in Unreal Engine 5.
Just a few weeks ago, Guild Wars 2 received the new expansion Janthir Wilds – here is the trailer:
Guild Wars 2: Launch trailer by Janthir Wilds gets you in the mood for the new adventure
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Will Guild Wars 3 be a sandbox MMORPG?
Is that all the information about the new project? According to several sources (such as mmobomb.com and mmorpg.org.pl), there was another vacancy in the job center for a short time, namely for a “Principal Sandbox Designer”, who is said to have a deep understanding of long-lasting projects such as live service games, MMORPGs or early access titles.
It is currently unclear whether this position has already been filled or whether those responsible have taken it offline due to the subsequent speculation.
What about Guild Wars 3? What is certain, however, is that ArenaNet is currently supporting Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 and, according to NCSoft, is working on Guild Wars 3. However, this information was not given as part of an official announcement, but rather during an investor conference. So it could well be that the as yet “unannounced project” could be Guild Wars 3.
The alternative would be that ArenaNet is currently working on two AAA projects in parallel and also maintaining the two Guild Wars games. That would be a huge task for a developer with just over 300 employees (via wikipedia.org). It is of course also possible that Guild Wars 3 is now off the table, but no one is hoping for that.
If we assume that Guild Wars 3 is the unannounced project, the question remains as to why ArenaNet is looking for a sandbox expert for the MMORPG. Should the series reinvent itself again and take a sandbox direction? Guild Wars 2 was already a completely different game than its predecessor.
The first Guild Wars is still live today:
Guild Wars: Official trailer for Eye of the North
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What does MeinMMO editor Karsten Scholz think? I find it unlikely that ArenaNet can handle two AAA developments in parallel and also specifically support Guild Wars 2.
When NCSoft confirmed work on Guild Wars 3, the MMORPG was still in the early “development review” stage. ArenaNet also refused to confirm the publisher’s announcement at the time.
For this reason, I wouldn’t be surprised if ArenaNet continued to refer to the already confirmed Guild Wars 3 as an “unannounced project” for quite some time. Nor would I be surprised if they took a slightly different, more “sandboxy” path with GW3 than before.
This philosophy has already proven itself with Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2. Both games are still online today because they offer two different gaming experiences. What they don’t need is an MMORPG that completely replaces the second part in particular. Instead, they will strive to create a complementary, alternative gaming experience for Tyria.
I wouldn’t get too hung up on the term sandbox, though, because it can mean anything and nothing. And there isn’t just sandbox and theme park, there is also an infinite amount of variation in between. Or what do you think? Personally, I hope that GW3 really comes: Guild Wars 3 has been announced and my wife is dancing in circles with joy