Home News Many live service games are just an MMO subscription "hidden inside of a neat 'optional' package", argue Guild Wars 3 devs in a post about the new game's monetisation
gaming Jun 17, 2026 · 👁 1 views · Syndicated from Rock Paper Shotgun

Many live service games are just an MMO subscription "hidden inside of a neat 'optional' package", argue Guild Wars 3 devs in a post about the new game's monetisation

Guild Wars 3 developers ArenaNet have published a Hot Take of sorts about the MMORPG genre, while explaining in broad strokes how their forthcoming "modern evolution" will differ from Guild Wars 1, released in 2005, and Guild Wars 2, released in 2012. As they note, MMOs and gaming at large have changed enormously over...

Guild Wars 3 developers ArenaNet have published a Hot Take of sorts about the MMORPG genre, while explaining in broad strokes how their forthcoming "modern evolution" will differ from Guild Wars 1, released in 2005, and Guild Wars 2, released in 2012.

As they note, MMOs and gaming at large have changed enormously over the course of the series. Entire business models, storage formats, and subsets of bikini armour have come and gone. In particular, the developers offer some thoughts about how the MMO genre at large has bled into the concept of live service, making the case that a lot of notionally "optional" live service game monetisation consists of talking around the fact that you're effectively demanding a subscription.

Read more

Read full story at Rock Paper Shotgun →

Original reporting appears on the publisher’s site.

Open original article →
Related Articles
gaming

Stellaris' Nomads expansion finally lets me live out my Battlestar Galactica fantasies, though its Wayline system could definitely use some work

gaming

From its electric melee fights to its surprise Firewatch nods, Control Resonant's radical sequelcraft looks like it might just pay off

gaming

Some People Still Can’t Play Xbox 360 Games On Their Xbox Series Console, Nearly Two Months After Xbox Said The Issue Was Fixed