Guerilla Games is reportedly pivoting its live service co-op title, codenamed Horizon Hunters Gathering, following negative player feedback from recent playtests. Sources speaking to Bloomberg suggest that the game, initially envisioned as a team-based experience fighting mechanical beasts, did not resonate well with players during its early testing phases.
One of these playtests reportedly occurred concurrently with the server slam event for Bungie's Marathon, potentially impacting player engagement. Instead of canceling the project entirely, a path taken by Sony with several other live service games, the studio has been granted several months to rework the title into a more traditional co-op game with a defined story and a smaller scope.
Developers were informed of this shift earlier this week, and the team will need to present a compelling new direction to executives by a December milestone. Failure to impress could see Horizon Hunters Gathering join the growing list of live service projects that Sony has shelved. The company has previously canceled live service offshoots for established franchises such as God of War, The Last of Us, and Spider-Man before their release.
While a small team within Guerilla Games is said to be working on the next single-player Horizon installment, most developers from the Hunters Gathering project have been reassigned to other ventures. This move indicates a potential recalibration of Sony's strategy in the live service market, with Helldivers 2 and MLB The Show being noted as the few current successes in the genre for the publisher. Fairgame, another upcoming live service title from Sony, has reportedly faced its own development challenges.