It looks like the latest casualty from Sony’s ill-fated live service push is NCSoft’s MMO based of Horizon Zero Dawn, as reported by Korean news outlet MTN (via ResetEra). The live service Horizon game in development at Guerrilla Games themselves, however, is currently unaffected.
Multiple projects at Korean developer NCSoft have been cancelled as part of feasibility reviews, including Project H, Project J and Project Pantera. Leaked back in 2022, Project H had been connected to another codename, Project Skyline, and also back to a partnership between Sony and NCSoft that was then confirmed in 2023.
Horizon was not named in this announcement, but was widely reported to be a spin-off to Guerrilla Games’ hit, looking to expand the franchise beyond core gaming audience and to a more casual mobile and PC one.
It’s not clear who exactly pulled the plug on the project, though you’d have to guess that, given that NCSoft has cancelled multiple projects, it is on their shoulders. The company’s Co-CEO even said, “NC needs to re-arm itself with the venture spirit it first started with. Let’s make 2025 a year of bone-crushing efforts with the mindset that if we don’t turn around by 2025, NC will never have a future.”
This is still also a dent to Sony’s ambitions within live service spheres, off the back of more cancellations of games in development at Bend Studios and Bluepoint Games last week. Additionally, this could be seen as a ding to the Horizon franchise at large.
Having retired from PlayStation late last year, former SIE Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida has been doing the rounds, and commented on Horizon when speaking to Kinda Funny Games, saying that “The one I was a bit surprised [about] in terms of the number of units [sold] was the second Horizon game.”
He continued “Oftentimes, the second game does better because there are already millions of fans. […] I love Horizon and the game did well, and I was hoping that the sequel would do even better in terms of sales. The game was bigger and great, but I don’t think the second one did as many units as the first one.”
By all counts, Horizon Forbidden West sold well, it just maybe didn’t meaningfully outpace the original. Having launched in February 2022, Horizon Forbidden West had sold over 8.4 million units by April 2023 (13-14 months after launch), not too far removed from the 7.6 million that Horizon Zero Dawn sold by its first anniversary.
The series has seen plenty of activity since then with the Burning Shores story expansion later in 2023, the PC port launching in 2024, and the Horizon Zero Dawn remaster late last year as well. In an unexpected move, Sony also produced a Lego Horizon Adventures spin-off that launched across PS5, PC and Nintendo Switch.
Earlier this month, Sony also announced a partnership to bring the Horizon franchise to the big screen with Colombia Pictures – a division of Sony Pictures.
