On November 18th, 2025, ArenaNet announced that they are relaunching Guild Wars 1 in the form of Guild Wars Reforged. Guild Wars: Reforged is a co-development between ArenaNet and partner studio 2weeks. 2weeks was formed in 2024, comprising former ArenaNet staff who worked on the original Guild Wars game.
The upcoming release of Guild Wars Reforged on December 3rd, 2025 comes with controller support, Steam integration, and a visual and UI update to the game. This update is free to all existing players and all existing players will gain full access to all 3 major campaigns even if they only own one of the campaigns.
History and Future of the Original Guild Wars
Guild Wars originally released April 28th, 2005 without a subscription fee to play. The release of Guild Wars followed only months after World of Warcraft’s initial release in November of the previous year. Considered part of the Golden Age of MMOs, Guild Wars has been played by over 9 million players for over 1 billion hours. The game boasts a 99.95% server uptime, with a 6 years of uninterrupted uptime for their servers as of Feb 15, 2024.
The original Guild Wars has been in maintenance mode since May 16th, 2013. Maintenance mode means that the game has had no scheduled updates/development during this time. With Guild Wars Reforged, this changes. As per from the news post on the Guild Wars 2 website: “Guild Wars Reforged isn’t about a one-time update; we plan to keep collaborating with our partners at 2weeks to make further improvements to the game in the future!”
Pricing
New players can purchase Guild Wars Reforged for $19.99 USD / €19.99 / £17.99. Guild Wars Reforged will include the Prophecies, Factions, and Nightfall campaigns. Existing players who own even just one of the campaigns will now gain access to the other main campaigns.
Eye of the North and the Bonus Mission Pack will not be included in any Guild Wars Reforged purchases. It will still be available for purchase as a DLC through Steam and the in-game store. Other account upgrades and cosmetics such as storage tabs and costumes are also not included. The prices of these items are under review and subject to change as per what Stephen Clarke-Wilson, ArenaNet’s game director, said during the Reforged Dev Livestream. The plan is for all microtransaction items to be reduced to their lowest possible price.
Guild Wars Reforged can be purchased directly through ArenaNet or via Steam.
Features
Guild Wars Reforged adds XInput controller support, meaning it will be compatible with Xbox controllers. Players using a Playstation controller should also be able to use their controllers within Steam since Steam has a way to automatically translate the controller’s input.
Support for high-DPI displays, such as 4K monitors and televisions, will now properly detect the resolution you have and scale properly. New font sizes are being added to support this along with HD skill icons and other UI improvements.
Other features being added include:
- Steam Deck Verification,
- Rendering improvements, including new anti-aliasing options,
- Ambient occlusion,
- Enhanced bloom,
- Enhanced 3D environmental audio,
- On-screen control guide,
- A new quest-tracker and direction system.
All progress made in Guild Wars 1 before Guild Wars Reforged releases will be carried over into its launch on December 3rd.
Existing Accounts & Steam Integration
Existing players who own any Guild Wars 1 campaign(s) will be automatically granted access to Guild Wars Reforged. All preexisting Guild Wars accounts from before the release of Reforged on December 3rd are considered ArenaNet accounts, including those purchased through Steam.
Keep in mind that you can only link a Guild Wars Reforged account to a Guild Wars 2 account on the same platform. So if you intend to fill out your Hall of Monuments for your Guild Wars 2 account, make sure you purchase your copy of Guild Wars Reforged through the same platform. If you purchased Guild Wars 2 through Steam, purchase Guild Wars Reforged through Steam after December 3rd.
