Sony Reboots Horizon Hunters Gathering as Traditional Co-Op Game After Failed Tests, Cancellation Looms
Sony's PlayStation division is overhauling Horizon Hunters Gathering, the online action game announced earlier this year by Guerrilla Games, following poor feedback from private playtests held in May. According to a report from Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, the game is being stripped of its live-service elements and rebooted as a more traditional cooperative multiplayer title with a story mode and a significantly smaller scope.
The decision came after negative player feedback during closed testing sessions earlier this year. Guerrilla has been working on the reboot since June, but the project's future remains uncertain. During a staff meeting, studio leadership informed employees that they have until December to deliver a compelling milestone that would impress Sony executives. If the team fails to meet this deadline, the game could be canceled by the end of the year.
In addition to the reboot, several developers from the Horizon Hunters Gathering team have been reassigned to another project, which will also be evaluated by year-end. Schreier also confirmed that the next mainline single-player entry in the Horizon series is still a long way off, as Guerrilla has been heavily focused on the multiplayer project for an extended period.
Horizon Hunters Gathering is the latest in a series of live-service projects from Sony to face significant restructuring or cancellation. Earlier this year, the company canceled a multiplayer game set in The Last of Us universe, and several other live-service titles have been quietly shelved as part of a broader strategic reassessment. The shift reflects growing caution at Sony regarding the live-service model, which has proven difficult to execute successfully even for major first-party studios. Despite the challenges, Guerrilla remains committed to the Horizon franchise, and the studio continues to work on multiple projects, though the timeline for the next major single-player installment remains unclear.
