Sony is rebooting Horizon Hunters Gathering, its troubled live service multiplayer spin-off, into a smaller co-op experience with story mode, according to sources familiar with the project. The pivot represents a major retreat from the original vision for the Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West franchise's online multiplayer ambitions.
Guerrilla Games is scaling back the project significantly. Several staff members are being reassigned across Sony's broader game development operations as the team recalibrates around a traditional cooperative gameplay loop rather than the live service model originally planned. The reboot includes a story component, addressing one of the live service format's inherent weaknesses for single-player-focused players.
The shift signals Sony's continued struggles with live service execution. After Concord's catastrophic $400 million write-off and the shutdown of Helldivers 2's live operations woes, the company faces mounting pressure to deliver sustainable online games. Horizon Hunters Gathering faced skepticism from the start, with players skeptical about a multiplayer spin-off in a franchise built on solo exploration and narrative.
A proper Horizon Forbidden West sequel remains years away. Guerrilla maintains only a skeleton crew on that mainline project, meaning fans shouldn't expect a traditional Horizon 3 announcement anytime soon. The studio's resources remain stretched across multiple initiatives, with the live service reboot now consuming considerable attention.
This represents industry-wide tension between publisher ambitions for live service revenue and player demand for traditional single-player experiences. Sony's strategy appears to be stabilizing its existing online projects rather than launching new ones. Whether a co-op focused Horizon can find an audience remains uncertain, but it's clearly a safer bet than competing directly with established live service juggernauts.