Guild Wars 2 Steam release put 'on hold'

A Norn and her pet stand in the snow
(Image credit: ArenaNet)

All the cool MMO kids are coming to Steam. Star Wars: The Old Republic joined Valve's storefront this year, and even RuneScape is on Steam now. ArenaNet were planning to follow by bringing Guild Wars 2 to Steam in November, but have announced that its release is being "put on hold for the time being" as they focus on the forthcoming End of Dragons expansion.

Here's what the team has to say on their blog: "Our number one priority right now is crafting Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons with the high quality you expect and deserve. Additionally, we're full speed ahead on delivering an epic climax to The Icebrood Saga that lives up to (and we hope exceeds) previous Living World finales."

When the Steam release of Guild Wars 2 was announced earlier this year, we noted that existing accounts wouldn't be compatible. Meaning that you won't be able to bring characters you've already made to the Steam version if you switch, which is a shame. (If you've not played Guild Wars 2 before and are planning to give it a shot, or will be rolling a new PC for the Steam version, I recommend playing as a Norn so you can experience their starting area, the Wayfarer Foothills.)

Back when it first launched in 2012, Guild Wars 2 was our MMO of the year.

Jody Macgregor
Weekend/AU Editor

Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.