Sony has just announced that they’re teaming up with one of the biggest South Korean devs in the world to produce a brand new game in the Horizon Zero Dawn universe – but PlayStation owners are going to be a bit disappointed if they fancied getting their hands on this one.
In the early hours of this morning, Horizon Zero Dawn devs Guerrilla Games and Guild Wars 2 devs NCSoft revealed that they’ve been working on a new game in the Horizon franchise… that isn’t coming to PlayStation 5.
As announced in a blog post on both NCSoft and Sony’s official websites, Horizon: Steel Frontiers is an MMORPG that will see you take on the role of “Machine Hunters”, but only on mobile and PC.
The team behind the upcoming game also posted an Official Gameplay Developer video, featuring a few glimpses into the re-imagined setting and an admittedly impressive-looking CG trailer. There are a handful of snapshots of real gameplay in there too, including a look at how traversal works (you have a cool grappling hook).
According to NCSoft, Horizon: Steel Frontiers will be set in a land known as “the Deadlands”, and will focus on “large-scale battles unique to the game”. Sounds very Monster Hunter-coded to me, and the huge, open world maps in the developer video kind of hints to that being the case too.
It is worth mentioning that this is seemingly a completely separate project from Guerrilla Games’ previously announced Horizon Online Project, which was formerly announced back in 2022. Also, it’s not entirely clear exactly how involved Guerilla is with Horizon: Steel Frontiers’ development, as NCSoft only states that it’s being “developed in collaboration” with the studio.
If you’re keen to find out more, NCSoft also revealed a teaser website for the upcoming game, which also features some extra details on customisation options and combat.
No word on exactly when this one will drop, or how much it’ll cost when it does. I’d put my money on it being free-to-play, with a subscription required for extra content and higher levels (much in the same way Guild Wars 2 works).
Also no word as to whether or not a PlayStation 5 port is in the game’s future, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this one remains a mobile/PC exclusive for the foreseeable. Perhaps it’ll get a PlayStation 6 port down the line, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
