Sony and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Guerrilla apparently have 16 “plans” for the Horizon series in the works. It is stressed that not all these so-called plans are games, but I don’t think they mean branded pencil cases either. Of the things that could feasibly not be games, let’s say there’s a TV series (which we already know about), a movie, an animated series, a comic (one already exists), a board game (one already exists), and more crossover opportunities (ones already e🎃xist).
That’s six non-games, but that still leaves potentially ten games being worked on. Even if there are a couple of other things I haven’t thought of, Horizon is a game and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:PlayStation studios make games. T🏅hey are making too many Horizon ones.
Horizon 3 is a no-brainer, and with so many spots open on the roster, I think we can say Horizon VR 2 is in the mix as well. A Horizon multipla🐓yer and a Horizon MMO have been touted too, so let’s call those two different things as well. That’s already too many things, and t🦩here could yet be more. The big question here is, why is Sony going all in on Horizon?
Horizon sold well, with Zero Dawn shipping 20 million copies and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Forbidden West following up with 8.4 million so far. But selling well is not an uncommon occurrence for Sony - 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Last of Us sold 37 million, so Horizon’s numbers are far from a personal best for the company. While both games have reviewed pretty well in isolation, they also both been criticised for how dated they feel - Zero Dawn launched just before 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Breath of the Wild and Forbidden West right before 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Elden Ring, and as Horizon stayed true to a ♔dull (if algorithmically rewarding) world design, it♒s immediate competitor for shelf space was changing the foundations of the genre.
The answer might be as simple as ‘because Guerrilla will let them’. Horizon walks like a big prestige triple-A and talks like a big prestige triple-A, but it’s a zebra. It’s hard to quantify in the world of modern gaming where everything that looks realistic is a masterpiece because someone somewhere liked it, but Horizon is a step below the likes of The Last of Us and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:God of War. Even if Ragnarok dragged and became indulgent, it waಞs a game that had something to sa😼y in ways Horizon didn’t. Horizon always feels as if the game considers itself to be very lucky and doesn’t want to jinx it.
If Sony went to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Naughty Dog and asked for 16 ‘plans’, it would not get them. Naughty Dog is such a perfectionist that three years on from Factions 2’s intended release date, it isn’t even willing to discuss the game publicly. There are rumours that this one-track way of thinking has finally backfired, with Bungie needing to be drafted in to salvage Factions from The Naughty Dog Way. Even if Facti🌠ons is finally a bridge too far, Naughty Dog commits to its ideas absolutely. Guerrilla seem far less beholden to a ‘vision’ and more interested in ‘if we do this we get to keep making video games’.
Even Horizon fans will soon find this to be too much of a good thing. While I don’t think Horizon is at the level it (and its fans) pretend it’s at, that’s not for lack of trying. The games still take a long time to make, with a five year gap between♑ the two mainline entries. That same time would mean 2027 before Horizon 3, and with development cycles typically increasing with each new console, that gap could get even wider.
Great, you might think. Good job there are 16 plans in motion to fill that gap. But games don’t take five, six, seven years to make because the devs are partying all the time or because Sony tactically delays them to increase the hunger. They take five, six, seven years because they take five, six, seven years. There’s nothing else to it. Trying to make other games in that same time period is flirting with disaster, and 🉐I’m not sure Horizon is strong enough to sustain that pressure.
Horizon is fi🍷ne. I’m sure the third 🉐one will be fine too. Maybe good, maybe great. It has the ingredients, it has just never quite taken enough risks when putting them together. But trying to make 16 things at once is way too far in the other direction - it’s too much of a risk and no one even wants the reward. I don’t know why Horizon has so many plans in the works, and I don’t know who wants them either. Just make the TV show, the threequel, and the multiplayer game. Even that already seems a bit much.
