The Guild Wars 2 developer ArenaNet had to lay off more than 100 employees earlier this week. A former developer now claims that this could lead to a boost for the MMORPG. Meanwhile, the Game Director has also come forward with news.
Game Director Mike Zadorojny addressed the players in the forum and provided a statement on the current situation. He reported on the layoffs at ArenaNet and also talked about upcoming plans for the game.
The Future of Guild Wars 2: In his post, Zadorojny lists several things that are planned for Guild Wars 2 in the near future:
- The next episodes of the Living World are already in development
- A Swiss system is planned for automated tournaments in PvP
- More events for World versus World are to come
- In the long term, a major overhaul of WvW is also to be undertaken
- The Super Adventure Box will return as usual at the end of March
This is what Mike says about the layoffs: He also commented on the layoffs at ArenaNet. They have lost many friends and good colleagues. He asks for understanding that everything needs to settle down for now. He also apologizes for the one-week delay of the new WvW mount.
However, the most interesting sentence is the following:
We’re welcoming back some familiar faces to the Guild Wars 2 team that had been working on unannounced projects.
We are welcoming some familiar faces back to the Guild Wars 2 team who had been working on previously unannounced projects.
This confirms the suspicion expressed by former developer Josh Foreman in a stream.
Former Developer Expects a Boost
Josh Foreman was responsible for Jumping Puzzles, the Super Adventure Box, and many other mostly challenging game contents in Guild Wars 2. According to his own statements, he hasn’t been working on Guild Wars 2 for some time, but rather on a new project.
Guild Wars 2 was not the focus: According to Foreman, the layoffs now mean that ArenaNet’s focus is back on Guild Wars 2.
This is good for the game, especially since many talented developers are still working on it. However, whether this is good for the studio in the long run remains open, according to Foreman.
New projects apparently on hold: In recent years, the studio has allegedly been working on at least two other projects. There have been no official statements yet about whether the projects have been canceled or not.
However, both the statements from Josh Foreman and Game Director Mike Z. indicate that the company’s focus is now once again primarily on the old game.
