Horizon Multiplayer Game Rebooted to Drop Live-Service Elements After Poor Test Feedback
Guerrilla Games is ripping the live-service backbone out of its upcoming Horizon multiplayer title and rebuilding it as a traditional co-op game, following negative feedback from player tests.
The project, called Horizon Hunters Gathering, was announced in February 2026 as a multiplayer game set in the Horizon universe — the post-apocalyptic world of robotic dinosaurs and bow-wielding hunters popularised by the single-player Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West. It allows up to three players in a group, and Guerrilla had described its combat as tactical, reactive and deeply skill-based.
But according to a Bloomberg report published on 19 August 2026, the studio has been working since June to strip out the live-service elements — the ongoing seasons, regular content updates and long-term monetisation that keep players spending over months and years — and replace them with a focused story mode and a far smaller scope. Video Games Chronicle independently confirmed the report, adding that Guerrilla staff were told this week they have until December to show executives sufficient progress for the project to continue VGC.
Some developers on the project are already being reassigned to a separate, unnamed title that is also due for evaluation by higher-ups before the year ends.
The Horizon reboot lands against a wider pullback in Sony's live-service ambitions. The company at one point planned roughly a dozen live-service games before halving that number in favour of quality over quantity. Several projects have already been cut entirely: The Last of Us Online was cancelled, a live-service God of War game was scrapped, and another live-service title from Bend Studio met the same fate.
The results from the games that did ship have been wildly mixed. Helldivers 2 sold more than 20 million copies. Concord, by contrast, failed to find an audience, was taken offline shortly after launch, and its developer was shut down.
For Horizon fans, the single-player mainline series also remains in motion — but barely. A small team at Guerrilla is reportedly plotting out the next single-player Horizon game, and sources say that project is years away from completion.
The clock on Horizon Hunters Gathering now runs through December. What Guerrilla shows executives then will determine whether the rebooted co-op version moves forward or joins the growing list of Sony live-service projects that did not.
