Not everyone likes playing with a mouse and keyboard, even for MMOs like Guild Wars.

This week, ArenaNet surprised its fans by announcing Guild Wars: Reforged, an enhanced version of the 2005 classic MMORPG, which will be released for PC on December 3. Beyond a few graphical improvements, the main attraction is controller support and compatibility with the Steam Deck. This raises the question: Will ArenaNet add this feature to its latest game, Guild Wars 2? The answer is no.

This is likely due in large part to the efforts of 2weeks, a partner studio founded by former ArenaNet developers who were brought on board to co-develop Guild Wars: Reforged. Currently, however, it does not appear that they are doing any work in this area with regard to Guild Wars 2. Guild Wars 2 can be played with a controller using Steam Input, but this is far from an official implementation. ArenaNet did work on it about five years ago, though. Game programmer Jon Olson worked on it for a while, which users noticed at the time and which he confirmed on Reddit.

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“I have no idea how you found this, as I tried to cover my tracks, but you are correct. I have been working on native controller support as a side project in my own time. I’ve got a good deal of it working, but it still has further to go. My main goal is to make the game more accessible. If I can help just one person play the game who would not otherwise be able to because of our current input controls, I’ll be very pleased,” he said.

Unfortunately, Olson left ArenaNet before completing native controller support, and it appears that no one has taken over the task since. This is a shame, especially since Guild Wars 2 is thriving these days between the recent release of the Visions of Eternity expansion and the “death” of New World, which has attracted many players to this MMORPG. About a year and a half ago, an NCsoft executive mentioned Guild Wars 3, but ArenaNet has neither confirmed nor denied it…

Unfortunately, Olson left ArenaNet before finishing the native controller support, and no one has taken over the task since then. This is unfortunate, especially since Guild Wars 2 is thriving these days, thanks to the recent release of the Visions of Eternity expansion and the demise of New World, which has attracted many players to this MMORPG. About a year and a half ago, an NCsoft executive mentioned Guild Wars 3, but ArenaNet has neither confirmed nor denied its existence. …

Source: WCCFTech