Horizon Hunters Gathering was part of Sony’s major service initiative. But currently, the game appears to be struggling.
What game is this about? Horizon Hunters Gathering will be the new co-op game from the creators of Zero Dawn and Forbidden West. However, it is expected to differ not only in gameplay from its successful single-player predecessors but also in look. The colorful graphics were reminiscent of games like Fortnite and received a rather lukewarm response during the reveal in February.
According to a report by Jason Schreier for Bloomberg, who spoke with anonymous studio employees, Guerrilla Games has been working since June to remodel Horizon Hunters Gathering. The team is said to have until December to impress the executives at Sony. Already, team members are reportedly being reassigned to another project.
No question, I am very curious about Horizon Hunters Gathering – more Horizon means more lore input and more cool dino-robots. It also doesn’t sound wrong to explore Aloy’s world with my friends.
But the concept of Horizon Hunters Gathering is not something I would expect as a standalone game. Three people against bots sounds more like a fun game mode of a larger game than the main attraction. Honestly, the cartoonish look surprised me – Horizon actually tends to go in a more photorealistic direction, for which the franchise is celebrated. The story mode based on Schreier’s information sounds promising.
For the developers, I hope that Horizon Hunters Gathering will turn out really well, be released, and become a hit game that goes down in history. Although, of course, I would be happy if Guerrilla Games were working full throttle on the third single-player installment.
If Horizon Hunters Gathering doesn’t make it, the next game in the universe is only Horizon: Steel Frontiers – the MMORPG from NC Soft with Aion-2-like characters. Cheers!
How reliable is the information?
The statements are said to come from studio employees who must remain anonymous as they are not authorized to discuss the future of the game. PlayStation declined an official statement to Bloomberg. Therefore, it officially concerns unconfirmed insider information. However, these are not from just any Reddit thread, but from Jason Schreier, who is considered a reliable expert.
Horizon Hunters Gathering will probably no longer be a live-service game
What does this mean for Sony? Even if the current report doesn’t sound too rosy, there is still a chance for Horizon Hunters Gathering to evolve into a successful game. But not the big live-service hit that Sony has been chasing for years.
According to Schreier, the live-service component in Horizon Hunters Gathering will be removed due to poor feedback from private tests. Instead, it will now become a more classic co-op title with a story mode.
This positions the Horizon spin-off among a series of live-service disappointments for Sony. By 2026, Sony had intended to establish 12 new service games, and by 2023, it was already known that one of these games was to be a multiplayer project for Horizon. Now, in 2026, there is little to be seen of the money and development time that Sony has invested in this endeavor:
- They bought Bungie for 3.6 billion US dollars, but Destiny 2 is now in maintenance mode, and Marathon probably didn’t achieve the hoped-for success.
- Many of the planned service offshoots of popular franchises have already been canceled before release, including God of War, Spider-Man, and The Last of Us.
- The shooter Concord turned into an absolute disaster for Sony.
- Only Helldivers 2 has so far emerged successfully from the large service initiative.
Now it’s your turn! Which Sony franchise would you like to see a proper live-service game for? Or can you no longer stand the term?
Despite everything, Sony reaffirmed in July that it still wants to adhere to the live-service strategy – much to the dismay of players like MeinMMO editor Niko, who wish for something entirely different from Sony.
Of what is currently known about the originally planned titles, the shooter Fairgames is practically the only one still in the running. We reported in 2024 about the game: Despite Concord, Sony wants to push ahead with its bold plan for PS5 – The next service game is from a well-known developer. However, this too is reportedly not received very well by initial players.
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