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GamesRadar
GamesRadar
Technology
Anthony McGlynn

8 years after Horizon Zero Dawn, developer Guerrilla Games reveals it "always thought about it as a multiplayer game" following Horizon MMORPG announcement

Horizon Zero Dawn.

There's an MMORPG set in the Horizon universe on the way, titled Steel Frontiers. Though it may seem odd to branch a single-player series off into something multiplayer-focused, apparently, this was all part of the original idea from Guerrilla Games for Aloy and the mechanical dinosaurs.

"From the first moment we imagined Horizon, we always thought about it as a multiplayer game," Jan-Bart van Beek, studio director of Guerrilla Games, tweeted following the announcement. "Lego Horizon Adventures was our first small step; with Steel Frontiers, we're taking a bigger one. There is much more to come, and we’re excited to show you what is coming."

Indeed, Lego Horizon Adventures features the option of co-op play, something common to Lego games. It only allowed for two players locally, truly justifying van Beek's remark that it was the "first small step," whereas Steel Frontiers is a full-on multi-platform experience, coming for PC and mobile – at least to start.

Guerrilla is working with NCSoft on the MMO, with the latter handling the bulk of development. A ten-minute announcement video teased numerous facets, including an "advanced combat system" and appropriately big raids. NCSoft is utilizing its bespoke platform, Purple, which will allow for full cross-platform integration between PC and mobile - and yes, this does mean it won't be available on PS5, at least at launch.

While NCSoft handles this, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier states there's another Horizon-related multiplayer game in the works in-house at Guerrilla. "That one is Guerrilla's next big project," he says. That game is as-yet-unannounced, and details are extremely limited for the time being.

Since Zero Dawn's arrival in 2017, Horizon has become a huge property for Sony. There's now a film is in the pipeline, for potential release in 2027. A third single-player game was teased after Forbidden West, but we've heard little since, and a VR spin-off, Horizon Call of the Mountain, came out in 2023.

Tencent defends "slavish" Horizon Zero Dawn clone from Sony, claiming that "fame does not create a trademark" as it tries to bat legal claims away from survival game Light of Motiram

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