Guerilla Games’ Horizon franchise has been a huge success for Sony so far. Both of Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West have sold millions of copies and have been well-received by critics and fans. The new Horizon Forbidden West is also mentioned as a Game of the Year nominee at the upcoming Game Awards in December. It seems Sony is continuing the expansion of one of its best-selling IPs. It has been reported that the publisher is teaming up with South Korean studio NCSoft to produce an MMORPG set in the Horizon universe. According to MTN, NCSoft is starting development on “Project H”, reporting that Sony and NCSoft have “tentatively agreed to pursue a business partnership in which NC will create new games using Sony’s promising game IP.” The reports indicate that a seed development team from the Lineage IP has been assigned to Project H. The team is said to be recruiting developers for the new project. NCSoft is a well-known developer and publisher of MMORPGs. The studio developed Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2. The company also created the Lineage series of online games which has grossed over $5 billion in revenue over its lifetime. The Horizon series was developed by Guerilla Games as Sony-exclusive titles. Sony was reportedly interested in adding a co-op mode to Horizon Forbidden West. The feature was ultimately excluded from Forbidden West as the developer opted to add it to a sequel or as a spin-off multiplayer game. Guerilla Games has been reportedly recruiting staff members for an online multiplayer game. The studio is looking for a senior social systems designer who would be in charge of “social interactions to create lasting relationships, and where compatible, create Guild-like groups to explore together.” There is also a job posting for a senior game writer. The job advertisement mentions that the candidate should have “extensive knowledge of stories and narrative design in open-world RPG games, online games, and MMORPGs.” Sony has recently made live service games a part of its key strategy moving forward. The gaming giant recently acquired Bungie to leverage the developer’s experience in live service games. The company promised to release ten live service titles when it acquired Bungie. Sony CFO Hiroki Totok stated, “Through close collaboration with Bungie and the PlayStation Studios, we aim to launch more than 10 live service games by the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026.” Sony is clearly making good on that promise with the Horizon series. The company is also expanding the franchise by partnering with Netflix to produce a tv show based on the video game. There have also been reports that Sony wants to develop a Zero Dawn remake and a PC port for Forbidden West.
