Guerrilla Games is reportedly overhauling its live service Horizon spin-off, stripping out the live service parts and reshaping it into a more traditional co-op game after players reacted poorly to recent tests. The report comes from Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, and was picked up by PC Gamer, Rock Paper Shotgun, GamesIndustry.biz, and Eurogamer.
What's Changing
Horizon Hunters Gathering was announced earlier this year as a live service co-op action game set after the events of 2022's Horizon Forbidden West. Players would group up from a social hub, hunt loot, and fight mechanical beasts. The original pitch included an episodic narrative component, a wave-based Machine Incursion survival mode, and a roguelite mode called Cauldron Descent.
According to Bloomberg's sources, feedback across the playtests was negative. Guerrilla ran a closed test in North America and Europe from February into early March, followed by another in early May. PC Gamer notes one of those test windows overlapped with the server slam weekend for Sony's other live service title, Marathon.
Rather than cancel the project outright, Sony reportedly gave the studio months to reboot it. The overhaul is said to have started in June, turning the game into a smaller-scope multiplayer game with a story mode. The development team was told it has until December to hit its next milestone and show progress to executives. If it fails to impress, the outlets suggest it could still be shelved.
Where the Studio's Focus Is Going
Bloomberg's sources say most of Guerrilla's staff moved onto Hunters Gathering after finishing Horizon Forbidden West in 2022. Now many of those developers are reportedly being reassigned to a different project, one that will also be evaluated at the end of the year. Meanwhile, a smaller team within Guerrilla is working on the next single-player Horizon game, which sources describe as still years from completion. A PlayStation representative declined to comment.
Sony's Bumpy Live Service Run
The reported pivot fits a pattern. Sony pulled Concord from sale roughly two weeks after launch in 2024 and closed developer Firewalk Studios along with Neon Koi. It also cancelled live service projects tied to God of War, Spider-Man, and The Last of Us, plus efforts at Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games, the latter of which was closed in February. Sony bought Destiny developer Bungie for $3.6 billion in 2022 but ended development of Destiny 2 as it existed, and its recent live service launch Marathon reportedly saw low sales.
Despite the setbacks, Sony hasn't abandoned the category on paper. In June, PlayStation CEO Hideaki Nishino said the company wants to "revitalize" the live service market through both first-party and third-party content. Back in 2022, Sony targeted a dozen live service titles by March 2026, a number it later cut in half. Right now, Helldivers 2 and MLB The Show are the standout performers in that space.
What It Means for Players
If the reports hold, anyone hoping for a big Horizon multiplayer platform should temper expectations, since Horizon Hunters Gathering may arrive as a leaner co-op game with a story mode, assuming it clears its December check-in at all. And the true follow-up to Horizon Forbidden West is reportedly still a long way off, so the wait for the next single-player chapter continues.