According to Korean website MTN (and translated via Google), Sony is developing an MMO based on its Horizon series with Guild Wars 2 publisher NCSoft. Reportedly known as “Project H” in job listings, NCSoft is looking to hire developers for the project.
Sony’s gradually begun to make multiplayer games such as live services a key factor in its future plans. Considering how popular such titles can be, along with the growing popularity of Sony’s console exclusives, combining the two feels like an eventuality.
Of the various first-party PlayStation games, Horizon makes sense: a post-apocalyptic United States that features different tribes of humanity fighting robotic animals and other tribes is a concept that sells itself.
And outside of Guild Wars 2, NCSoft has extensive experience with MMOs, as it develops and publishes titles such as Aion 2 and Blade & Soul 2.
During the fall, there have been rumblings that Horizon would get a multiplayer spinoff from original creator Guerrilla Games. It’s currently unclear if these two projects are one and the same, or separate entities.
When asked, NCSoft wrote to MTN that “It is difficult to confirm information about unpublished projects that are currently under development.”
Other PlayStation franchises may be up for multiplayer grabs
The report from MTN stated that the alleged Horizon MMO is the “first collaboration” of what could potentially be a deeper partnership between Sony and NCSoft.
Beyond NCSoft, though, other developers are being caught up in Sony’s multiplayer web. One of them is Jetpack Interactive, developers for God of War 2018’s PC port. As of September, it’s begun to staff up for a live-service game based on a pre-existing PlayStation franchise.
While Sony is currently best known for single-player offerings, it’s been no slouch for multiplayer over the decades. Nearly all of its long-running franchises, from Uncharted to Ratchet & Clank and even God of War, have had multiplayer offerings in some of their older entries.
But Sony also has an inconsistent track record with creating first-party multiplayer games, much less supporting them. And as eager as the publisher is to extend its various franchises such as Horizon and The Last of Us, multiplayer isn’t a perfect fit for every franchise.
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