Given the massive success of the Horizon series, PlayStation believed it was well-suited to launch a live-service game. However, a recent report from Bloomberg points out that the development of the online game Horizon: Call of the Hunter has been extremely rocky, forcing Sony to reboot the project due to poor internal reviews.
The report also indicates that the live-service game Horizon: Call of the Hunter caused the single-player game Horizon 3 to take a backseat at Guerrilla Games. This project led to the stagnation of Horizon 3's development, with rumors suggesting that Horizon 3 has been stuck in pre-production for five years.
According to reports, Horizon 3 has been in pre-production for over four years, during which Sony allocated only a "very small team" to the project.
Of course, for a studio renowned for its single-player games, this decision is quite intriguing. The fact that Horizon 3 has not yet entered production means that the game is unlikely to be released anytime soon. It might even have to wait until the middle of the next console generation cycle before seeing the light of day.
Compared to a few years ago, PlayStation has significantly scaled back its plans for live-service games. However, the gaming giant seems poised to continue bearing the negative consequences of over-prioritizing live-service games in the coming years.
Horizon Forbidden West was released on February 18, 2022, and was ported to PC Windows in March 2024.
