Sony Reboots Horizon Co-Op Spinoff to Strip Out Live-Service Elements
Guerrilla Games is pivoting 'Horizon Hunters Gathering' toward a traditional story-driven experience following negative player feedback.
Sony Interactive Entertainment is rebooting "Horizon Hunters Gathering," a co-op spinoff of the Horizon series developed by Guerrilla Games. The move signals a significant strategic shift as the company strips the project of its live-service components in response to negative player feedback.
According to reports from Polygon, the decision to reboot the project was finalized in June. The new iteration of the game will move away from the live-service model to become a smaller-scale, traditional co-op title that includes a dedicated story mode. The stakes for the development team remain high; staff at Guerrilla Games have until December to impress Sony and PlayStation executives to secure the project's continued existence. Furthermore, many developers previously assigned to the title will be reassigned to another project, which also faces a critical evaluation deadline in December.
A Struggling Live-Service Strategy
This pivot comes during a turbulent period for PlayStation's broader ambitions in the live-service market. Following the 2022 acquisition of Bungie, Sony initially aimed to launch 12 live-service titles by the end of fiscal year 2025, though that target was later halved. The effort has been marked by high-profile failures, most notably the rapid shutdown of the live-service game "Concord."
The fallout from these struggles has extended beyond single titles. Sony canceled planned live-service projects for both "God of War" and "The Last of Us," and Firewalk Studios was closed following the failure of "Concord."
Industry Implications
The retreat from a live-service model for "Horizon Hunters Gathering" highlights a growing tension between Sony's corporate goals and the practical realities of player reception. By returning to a traditional co-op structure, Sony is acknowledging the risks of the "games-as-a-service" approach, which has plagued several of its first-party studios. This shift suggests a potential cooling of the aggressive push into the live-service space in favor of the polished, single-player and co-op experiences that have historically defined the PlayStation brand.
The Future of Horizon
While the spinoff undergoes a reboot, the future of the primary franchise remains distant. A small team at Guerrilla Games is currently planning the next mainline Horizon entry, though reports indicate the game is still years from completion. Observers will be watching the December deadline closely to see if the rebooted "Hunters Gathering" can satisfy executives or if Sony will further scale back its experimental co-op ambitions.