You guys... Guild Wars 3 is going to be different. ArenaNet has been asked what their plan was for battle passes and they responded with "We're not gonna hold their time hostage" — which, let me tell you, I have never heard a game company say this before and it means everything. They've committed that GW3 will NOT bury battle pass fees in the launch or use them as gated content, instead launching around Oct 29 with an approach focused on long-term engagement rather than forced seasonal spending. This isn't just some PR statement because ArenaNet has been tracking live-service decay for over a decade and they know that forcing players through artificial progression loops is how MMOs lose their communities within two years, so the honest stance here is actually revolutionary for the genre in this era.
And it doesn't stop at GW3 — the studio head confirmed no battle pass fees on Guild Wars 1 or any of The Elder Champion expansions either, which shows a real systemic shift rather than just one game getting lucky. Contrast that with how Fortnite has basically made season passes its entire business model over the last five years, or Destiny's Season Pass which requires you to purchase an extra package to play new content at all, or Call of Duty adding annual Battle Passes on top of full-priced launches — those are the industry standard and ArenaNet is actively rejecting it. They want players coming back because they love the game, not because a countdown timer told them to, and in 2024 that's genuinely one of the most honest stances from a live-service team I have ever seen. If Guild Wars 3 lives up to this ethos — shipping late October with no paywalled time gates - it could set the standard for how an MMO actually respects its player base over the long run, which is something the community has been crying out for since everyone started paying two games worth of money just to play one live service.
Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/guild-wars-3-wont-have-a-battle-pass-fee-buried-in-it-says-studio-head-were-not-gonna-hold-their-time-hostage/
And it doesn't stop at GW3 — the studio head confirmed no battle pass fees on Guild Wars 1 or any of The Elder Champion expansions either, which shows a real systemic shift rather than just one game getting lucky. Contrast that with how Fortnite has basically made season passes its entire business model over the last five years, or Destiny's Season Pass which requires you to purchase an extra package to play new content at all, or Call of Duty adding annual Battle Passes on top of full-priced launches — those are the industry standard and ArenaNet is actively rejecting it. They want players coming back because they love the game, not because a countdown timer told them to, and in 2024 that's genuinely one of the most honest stances from a live-service team I have ever seen. If Guild Wars 3 lives up to this ethos — shipping late October with no paywalled time gates - it could set the standard for how an MMO actually respects its player base over the long run, which is something the community has been crying out for since everyone started paying two games worth of money just to play one live service.
Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/guild-wars-3-wont-have-a-battle-pass-fee-buried-in-it-says-studio-head-were-not-gonna-hold-their-time-hostage/