Sony Reworks Another Major Multiplayer Bet
Sony Interactive Entertainment is reworking Horizon Hunters Gathering, Guerrilla Games’ upcoming multiplayer title, as PlayStation reassesses a live-service strategy that has produced mixed results.
The game was announced in February as a cooperative action title set in the Horizon universe, allowing groups of up to three players to hunt machines together. Guerrilla described it as a major new direction for the franchise, combining tactical combat, character customization and replayable missions.
Now, however, the project is being reconsidered as Sony becomes more selective about the live-service games it wants to bring to market. The change reflects a broader challenge facing PlayStation: creating multiplayer games capable of maintaining large audiences for years is considerably more difficult than producing a successful single-player experience.
Horizon Moves Beyond Its Single-Player Roots
The Horizon franchise has traditionally been associated with large-scale, story-driven adventures centered on Aloy and a world filled with robotic machines.
Hunters Gathering represents a significant departure from that formula.
Instead of focusing on one protagonist and a long cinematic campaign, the game is built around cooperative missions in which players take on the roles of different Hunters. Each character has distinct weapons and play styles, while a roguelite perk system allows players to develop different builds during missions.
The game also includes a social hub where players can customize characters, upgrade equipment, visit vendors and form teams before heading into their next mission.
That structure is designed to encourage players to return repeatedly, which is essential for any game intended to operate as a long-term service.
Guerrilla Has Invested Heavily in the Project
Guerrilla has indicated that Hunters Gathering has been in development for years.
The studio said the earliest concepts came from a desire to allow players to hunt Horizon machines together. Developers used Guerrilla’s previous experience with multiplayer games, including the Killzone series, as part of the foundation for the new project.
The team has also conducted extensive internal testing, patching and feedback sessions before revealing the game publicly.
A closed playtest followed the announcement, allowing selected players to experience missions, characters and the game’s shared social environment. The early testing process was intended to help Guerrilla refine the experience before a broader release.
The decision to revisit the game therefore comes after substantial development work rather than at the earliest stages of production.
Sony’s Live-Service Strategy Has Taken Several Hits
Hunters Gathering’s difficulties come against the backdrop of a much wider reassessment at PlayStation.
Sony spent several years pushing aggressively into live-service gaming, with executives identifying multiplayer titles as an important source of recurring revenue. The company hoped to complement its traditional single-player franchises with games that could generate spending and engagement long after launch.
The results have been uneven.
Helldivers 2 became a major success and demonstrated that PlayStation could build a multiplayer hit. The game sold more than 12 million copies and became one of the strongest-performing titles in Sony’s portfolio.
But Concord produced the opposite result. The multiplayer shooter launched in 2024, failed to attract a substantial audience and was taken offline only two weeks later. Sony subsequently shut down developer Firewalk Studios.
Other projects have also been canceled, including a live-service God of War game being developed by Bluepoint Games and an unannounced multiplayer project at Bend Studio.
Sony Is Moving From Quantity to Selectivity
The string of cancellations suggests that Sony is no longer willing to pursue every live-service project simply because it fits a broader corporate strategy.
The company had already reduced its planned number of live-service releases after previously targeting a much larger portfolio. Management said the focus would shift toward quality rather than simply increasing the number of games entering development.
That shift is important for Hunters Gathering.
A live-service game requires a significant commitment beyond the initial launch. Developers need to maintain servers, release new content, address player feedback, fix technical problems and keep the community engaged.
If a game fails to build a sufficiently large audience, those ongoing costs can quickly become difficult to justify.
Competition for Players Is Intensifying
The biggest challenge for Hunters Gathering may be the enormous competition in the multiplayer market.
Players already have access to established games such as Fortnite, Destiny, Call of Duty, Apex Legends and numerous other free-to-play or multiplayer titles.
These games have years of content, large communities and established social networks.
A new game therefore has to offer something compelling enough to persuade players to leave existing communities and spend hundreds of hours learning a new system.
Hunters Gathering has the advantage of the Horizon brand, but brand recognition alone does not guarantee success in multiplayer gaming.
Fans Have Mixed Expectations
The game’s reception among Horizon fans has also been complicated.
Some players are interested in seeing the franchise experiment with cooperative combat and believe that battling machines with friends could fit naturally within the Horizon universe.
Others have questioned why Guerrilla is spending significant resources on a multiplayer project instead of delivering the next major single-player Horizon adventure.
That frustration is visible in online discussions, where some fans have expressed a strong preference for the continuation of Aloy’s story.
The criticism creates an additional challenge for Sony. A multiplayer Horizon game must attract both existing franchise fans and players who have never previously engaged with the series.
The Horizon Brand Gives Sony an Advantage
Despite the concerns, Hunters Gathering has several factors working in its favor.
The Horizon universe already has a recognizable visual identity, a large fan base and an established library of machines that can be transformed into cooperative enemies.
The basic concept is also straightforward. Three players can select Hunters, build complementary abilities and work together to defeat machines across different environments.
Guerrilla has said the game will include a narrative campaign with new characters, mysteries and threats, meaning the developers are not abandoning the storytelling that helped establish the franchise. The story is also designed to continue after launch.
That combination could give the game a stronger identity than a completely new multiplayer property.
PC and PlayStation Expand the Potential Audience
Hunters Gathering is being developed for both PS5 and PC, with cross-play and cross-progression supported between the platforms.
That gives Sony access to a larger potential audience than a traditional PlayStation-only release.
The strategy also reflects Sony’s broader approach of releasing selected multiplayer games simultaneously across PlayStation and PC.
For a live-service title, reaching as many players as possible can be particularly important because a large population helps matchmaking, community growth and long-term engagement.
However, launching on multiple platforms also increases the pressure to deliver a polished experience from the beginning.
A Critical Test for Sony’s Multiplayer Future
Hunters Gathering now carries significance beyond the Horizon franchise.
If Sony successfully turns the project into a sustainable multiplayer game, it could demonstrate that PlayStation’s live-service strategy still has room to succeed despite the industry’s recent failures.
If the game struggles, it could strengthen the argument that Sony should concentrate its resources on the single-player experiences that built PlayStation’s reputation.
The company has already demonstrated a willingness to cancel expensive projects rather than release games it believes are unlikely to succeed. The closure of Bluepoint followed the cancellation of its live-service God of War project, illustrating how seriously Sony is reassessing its multiplayer investments.
Looking Ahead
The reboot of Horizon Hunters Gathering comes at a pivotal moment for PlayStation.
Sony still has evidence that live-service games can work. Helldivers 2 became a major commercial success, while the company’s traditional single-player franchises remain central to the PlayStation brand.
But the failures and cancellations of other projects have made the strategy far more difficult to execute. Hunters Gathering must now prove that it can offer something distinctive enough to compete in an overcrowded multiplayer market while satisfying Horizon fans who expect high-quality storytelling and world-building.
The game’s cooperative foundation, recognizable machines, cross-platform support and established franchise give Guerrilla valuable advantages. Yet the live-service model demands much more than a strong launch. It requires a community that continues playing months and years after release.
For Sony, the project could therefore become an important test of its revised approach to multiplayer gaming. The company no longer appears to be chasing live-service titles simply for the sake of expanding its portfolio. Instead, each project must demonstrate that it can earn and retain an audience.
Whether Hunters Gathering can make that transition from ambitious Horizon experiment to sustainable multiplayer success could help determine how much of Sony’s live-service strategy survives into the next generation.
