Whether you need music theory depends on what style you're playing. There's plenty of people playing a lot of blues, folk, bluegrass, and rock without knowing much more than a few basic chord "shapes" for major, minor, and 7 chords, and "box" patterns for soloing.
That's one of the uniquely versatile things about guitar- it can be just as much how you physically play the notes (fingerpick, flat pick, etc.) as whether you know 6 different ways to play a m7b5 chord.
If you really want to unlock the potential of the guitar to play more than simple 3 chord songs, yes, you have to learn theory. But you can be practical about it, it doesn't have to be an academic exercise and an end in itself.
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