Summary
The gaming industry is no different from any other entertainment industry when it comes to being dictated by popular trends. Every decade or so, a new game comes along that redefines the industry for good, whether it’s introducing a new genre, bringing about some kind of innovative new mechanic or system, or discovering a new way to profit off of consumers,. Unfortunately, the live-service trend belongs mostly to the latter. Popularized byMMOs and battle royales likeFortnite, the live-service genre has become a popular one, but as PlayStation seems to be learning, it isn’t as immediately profitable as some might think, and theHorizonfranchise could suffer as a result.
Only announced so far via job listings, Guerrilla Games is currently working on a multiplayer project set within theHorizonuniverse. It’s currently unclear just what this game will look and play like, but it seems to be yet another flagship IP that PlayStation is trying to use to break into the live-service market. And while radio silence on a project of this scale is completely understandable, it’s time forHorizon’s multiplayer spin-offto be fully revealed.
The Horizon Multiplayer Game Needs to be Fully Revealed
PlayStation’s Push Into Live-Service Isn’t Going Well
Back in January 2022, Sony acquired Bungie, with the plan seemingly being to use the studio’s intimate knowledge of the live-service genre to usher in its own wave of AAA first-party live-service games. The original plan, at least according to Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki, was to deliver at least 10 live-service games by 2026, and subsequent reports suggested that a total of12 live-service games were in the works at PlayStation.
This major push into the live-service market worried a lot of fans, but many remained optimistic, believing that if anyone could do live-service well, it’d be PlayStation. But PlayStation quickly found itself in troubled water. Earlier this year, reports started surfacing aboutThe Last of Us' multiplayer gameand its apparent issues behind the scenes. According to the Bloomberg report, Bungie had been tasked with assessingThe Last of Usmultiplayer for its long-term viability, and Bungie apparently found it pretty lacking.
A little while later,The Last of Usmultiplayer suffered a major delay, and Naughty Dog used the delay as an opportunity to reassure fans that more single-player content was on the way in the near future. Further reports came out in the subsequent months, many of which claimed thatThe Last of Usmultiplayer’s dev team had been downsized dramatically. And just a few weeks ago, the inevitable finally happened, andThe Last of Usmultiplayer was canceled, with the news coming mere weeks after Sony announced that it was delaying 6 of its live-service games past 2026.
Horizon Multiplayer Needs to Come Out of the Gate Swinging
Right now, it’s currently unclear just which ofSony’s live-service projectshave been canceled, which have been delayed, and which are staying on track. With no word to prove otherwise, it’s assumed thatHorizon’s live-service multiplayer game is still in the works, and if that’s the case, then it’s vital that Sony and Guerrilla show it off as soon as possible.
While PlayStation probably wants to distance itself fromThe Last of Usmultiplayer’s cancelation, waiting too long to fully revealHorizonwould only stoke the flames further. It’d be much better to just showHorizon’s multiplayer spin-off in full and let the product speak for itself. If Sony and Guerrilla have confidence inHorizon, then it should let that confidence shine through, because right now, PlayStation’s big push into the live-service market is going down like a lead balloon.
Horizon
The Horizon franchise follows Aloy as she is forced to contend with a series of powerful, towering robotic creatures in a post-apocalyptic landscape. The third-person action-RPG has already seen a sequel with Horizon: Forbidden West and gives players the freedom to explore the open world as they see fit.
