Jason Schreier "Horizon Online Next for Guerilla, Horizon 3 'Ways off', Sony's Live Service Initiative was no joke"

John Elden Ring

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Yeah, I mean like, Sony-PlayStation's like live service initiative was no joke, everybody was like...it's live service games all around. Horizon is one of the few ones that hasn't been canceled or hasn't come out and flopped the way Concord did and so...yeah, a lot of questions. A lot of people are working on that."

 

mibu no ookami

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Horizon has some of the best gameplay in gaming. The worst part of Horizon is the story and the main character.

I don't play online games, but if Horizon Online works out to be like Monster Hunter Online, they might have a hit on their hands.
 

Yurinka

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He didn't say anything new.

Horizon became the best selling PS Studios game ever, this is the reason of why they milk the IP. And yes it got discounted, just like all the other games. Its sequel was having the same sales than the first one until they did an experiment of including a top game like this one earlier than usual on PS+. That obviously did affect its sales, but did help PS+. Horizon CoM did a great job being one of the flagship PSVR2 showcases, bringing a major Sony IP to VR.

And yes, AAA take several years to be made. Nowadays on average between 5 and 9. Which means that since Horizon 2 was released in 2022, Horizon 3 will be released pretty likely between 2027 and 2031. Pretty likely closer to 2027.

Horizon Online is being made by a separate team since 2018 leaded by the former Killzone MP director and former Rainbow Six Siege director. So may be ready to be released next year or so.

Sony GaaS MLB, Gran Turismo 7, Helldivers 2 and Destiny 2/The Final Shape are very successful. Concord and Firewall Ultra tanked, as some non-GaaS tank from time to time. A few got cancelled for different reasons, as non-GaaS also get cancellled from time to time. Sony will continue with the remaining GaaS and non-GaaS, no changes there.
 
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Bryank75

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They really can't read the tea leaves.

The issue is that so many of these companies are addicted to "data" and "analytics" on trends.

They have whole teams set up to tell them what will hypothetically make them the most money possible.

But gaming moves too fast for that.... And they don't listen to their audience at all. This is an entertainment industry, they need to change how they do these things.

If they keep alienating customers and making decisions without consideration to long-term goodwill and customer sentiment... eventually things will go bad.
 

Evilnemesis8

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Nothing new, like others have said in this thread, this project has been in the works in some capacity for a while and was obviously always going to be the next Horizon game. We know that Horizon 3 has been in conceptual phase/pre-production since 2022 and probably is entering or will enter full production relatively soon.
The game will probably come out in 2028-2029~

Unlike some of the trend chasing experiments, an Horizon MP game is the most logical when it comes to GaaS.
Judging by the continued success of the Monster Hunter IP, a good quality "copy" set in the Horizon universe is almost guaranteed to do very well.
 

Danja

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This should have been a thing before PS4 generation even ended, just shortsightedness on Guerrilla and Sony's part. Either way I did enjoy the gameplay of Forbidden West, they can do some good things with an online component, hopefully they get it right it.
 

ghostwriter74

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This is really nothing new. They have been working on the Horizon Online project since 2019, afaik. It is no surprise that it is now in full production, otherwise it would have been canceled like LoU. But I still wonder how they came to the conclusion that Horizon 3 is "ways off". HFW was released in 2022, the DLC in 2023 and Guerilla was also involved in the VR and Lego spin-off afaik. So no one expects Horizon 3 to be released in the next 2 years, but 2027/28 remains realistic because the HZD/FW team is completely different to the online team.

Afaik they even poached one of the creatives behind Rainbow Six from Ubisoft, who is involved in the online project. It also makes sense to expand the Horizon universe with spin-offs. The Lego Horizon will attract other players to the franchise than a Monster Hunter-like Horizon Online or an MMO that is still in development. In an interview, Sucker Punch also hinted at expanding the Ghost universe with spin-offs. I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing was done with LoU and God of War, and I still believe that Bluepoint is working on a God of War spin-off after they helped with Ragnarök and gained experience.

Anyway. I'm more interested in a gameplay-focused PVE game in the Horizon universe than a third part of the Horizon Aloy saga, I'm just fed up with that at the moment.
 

Johnic

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Can we just get another flop out of the way so we can get to actually good games? Let's see what happens when Fairgames flop and if Matarhon does as well. Do they keep pushing this crap or learn a lesson?
 

Danja

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Can we just get another flop out of the way so we can get to actually good games? Let's see what happens when Fairgames flop and if Matarhon does as well. Do they keep pushing this crap or learn a lesson?
Why would you want this to flop?
 

Kokoloko

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Tbh I cant be bothered with another Horizon 3/ story atm. Id rather have a long break from it till PS6/ end OF PS6.

Horizon characters never impressed me, but the combat, world and lore did. So Im interested how it would play.

But Id swap it all for TLOU Factions 2
 
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Johnic

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Why would you want this to flop?
Because it's a horrible strategy. We;ve gone over 4 years with most of their studios not announcing anything, because they were all busy working on this GaaS crap. If this model fails, they might actually get their heads out of their asses and make great sp games they're known for.

They bought Bungie and Haven to work on this crap. There's no need to have Guerilla or ND working on more of it. Creating a couple of GaaS products in hopes they hit gold is fine. Making most of your studios do it is idiotic.
 

Airbus

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Can they move on from this project so we can get horizon 3 and perhaps a new killzone game after that
 

Danja

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Because it's a horrible strategy. We;ve gone over 4 years with most of their studios not announcing anything, because they were all busy working on this GaaS crap. If this model fails, they might actually get their heads out of their asses and make great sp games they're known for.

They bought Bungie and Haven to work on this crap. There's no need to have Guerilla or ND working on more of it. Creating a couple of GaaS products in hopes they hit gold is fine. Making most of your studios do it is idiotic.
Guerilla was also a multiplayer studio until Horizon 🤔. Naughty Dog has been a multiplayer studio since 2009 as well. They had a missfire with Factions but I still don't understand why some PS thinks Sony studios were only Single Player studios? Lol

Horizon is one of the IP's in my opinion that should have had a Multiplayer component from the very start. I know they toyed around with 4-player Co-op concept when making Zero Dawn, so it was always the next logical step for this franchise
 
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Evilnemesis8

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This should have been a thing before PS4 generation even ended, just shortsightedness on Guerrilla and Sony's part. Either way I did enjoy the gameplay of Forbidden West, they can do some good things with an online component, hopefully they get it right it.

Not shortsighteness, Guerilla didn't feel confident in being able to deliver on co-op or MP for Horizon Zero: Dawn.
As a studio, you have to prioritize what you're confident in able to deliver and not get bog down in feature creep.

They've working on it since 2018 in some capacity.


Can they move on from this project so we can get horizon 3 and perhaps a new killzone game after that

Moving on from it won't magically make Horizon 3 come noticeably faster, that's not how that works.

Wrap up the trilogy of Horizon in 2027 and let the series live on with the MMO and MonHun style title. While Guerilla moves on to something new, fine by me.

I think that's more of a 2028~ title.
 

Danja

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Not shortsighteness, Guerilla didn't feel confident in being able to deliver on co-op or MP for Horizon Zero: Dawn.
As a studio, you have to prioritize what you're confident in able to deliver and not get bog down in feature creep.

They've working on it since 2018 in some capacity.
I understand why it wasn't executed for Zero Dawn, co-op would have been pretty good in Forbidden West but as I said hope they get this right as the potential for it to be great is there
 

Evilnemesis8

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I understand why it wasn't executed for Zero Dawn, co-op would have been pretty good in Forbidden West but as I said hope they get this right as the potential for it to be great is there

It could've been. Forbidden West could've had some tacked-on thing, but it's clear Guerilla is aiming bigger with the MP ideas. And when you aim bigger, well that means a full project and the reality of game development in the current age is just long ass dev cycles.

Considering they didn't have the staff for it and have to come up with the concept of what a Horizon MP game looks like, that means a good 7-8 years in total, 3-4 years conceptual/pre-production and 4-5 years of production.

Even Monster Hunter World to Monster Hunter Wilds was 2018 ---> 2025
This is Capcom that already had the formula/talent for decades on hand.