NCSoft has commented on the alleged competition between Aion 2 and Guild Wars 3 and explained why the two MMORPGs would actually complement each other rather well.
Why is there a competition? Aion 2 is NCSoft’s current prestige MMORPG and has been available in the home market for some time now. The global launch in the West is set to follow in September 2026. This was announced by the Korean developer at the opening show of the Summer Game Fest.
It was at that event that the ArenaNet representatives took the opportunity to officially introduce Guild Wars 3 for the first time and announce the first beta for 2027. And who owns ArenaNet? Right, NCSoft.
Of course, the genre affiliation of the games and their significance for NCSoft sparked discussions in the community after the show. It seems that a large part of the Western community is especially looking forward to Guild Wars 3 and wants to use Aion 2 rather as a filler to bridge the waiting time.
Big difference in direction
How does NCSoft assess the situation? In an interview around the Summer Game Fest, Merv Lee Kwai, Executive Publishing Producer for Aion 2, stated that he sees ArenaNet as a sister company and is proud that two new games will be brought to market at a time when MMOs are struggling.
Seung-Uk Baek, Chief Business Officer at NCSoft, also names a reason why Aion 2 and Guild Wars 3 can coexist well:
I can’t reveal too much yet, as Guild Wars 3 is still in development. But there is a difference in direction… Aion 2 focuses more on large player masses, such as RvR (Realm vs. Realm). The more users, the more fun. Guild Wars 3, on the other hand, focuses more on smaller groups playing together, which makes the gameplay more enjoyable. That’s all I can say at this point.
Seung-Uk Baek in an interview with PC Gamer
What this exactly means for Guild Wars 3, especially regarding large world events and the “Worlds versus Worlds” mode of the predecessor, is currently unclear. However, we will ask ArenaNet soon and hope for informative answers.
However, anyone familiar with the already released version of Aion 2 knows that Seung-Uk Baek is bending the reality a bit with his statement. After all, Aion 2 also has a very large focus on content for solo players and small groups in PvE.
How does the community react? They are already lively discussing on Reddit about the statements.
- Randomnesse writes: “This sounds … disappointing. The WvW was the only part of Guild Wars 2 that I enjoyed.”
- Alpha_Eru emphasizes our impression of Aion 2: “I play Aion 2, and that is simply not true – there is (still) no focus on large-scale battles or large-scale content in Aion 2. RvR is not real content, but merely an unfinished event in the Abyss that is supposed to be expanded into meaningful large-scale PvP battles and sieges at some point.”
- dotcha expected exactly that: “GW1: Slow, tactical, crazy build system. GW2: Huge metas, hybrid tab-target system, theme park, WvW. GW3: Even more focus on exploration like Zelda, Genshin, full action, focus on smaller groups.”
It is clear that Guild Wars 3 is intended to differ significantly from Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 so that all three games can coexist. Because that is exactly the plan at ArenaNet for the coming years: Despite Guild Wars 3: Predecessors will continue to receive content, but players will have to forgo one thing for now
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