The upcoming Horizon title might see the end of its franchise because of the disastrous fate of live-service titles from Sony, like Concord.

Horizon Forbidden West and Concord

Sony has always been pretty unfortunate with live-service multiplayer titles, the latest example being Concord. All it has now is the Horizon franchise. Set in a retro-futuristic sci-fi world, Concord is a first-person hero-shooter that was released in 2024.

An in-game screesnhot from Concord.Concord failed miserably in gathering a strong player base. | Credit: Firewalk Studios.

This game failed to attract players despite having potential. It managed to hit a peak player count of only 697 at the launch. Now, as all of Sony’s live service titles are having downfalls, fans are concerned regarding Horizon‘s upcoming installment.

Horizon Online Co-Op Game Is in the Works

An in-game screesnhot from Horizon Zero Dawn.Guerrilla is working on an online game in the Horizon franchise. | Credit: Guerrilla Games.

Guerrilla Games has been going through a busy phase. Recently, the studio revealed the rumored Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered at the recently concluded PlayStation’s State of Play, which will be released on October 31. Also, another title from Guerrilla, LEGO Horizon Adventures, launches soon as well.

However, despite all of these, Guerilla’s main focus is the upcoming Horizon Online co-op shooter. Credible industry insider from Bloomberg, Jason Schreier, talked about these titles on the latest Spawn Wave podcast:

Guerrilla Games is in an interesting place because they’re working on this Horizon Online game that I’m not sure how many people want that, and so they’ve got this remaster coming and then the LEGO game coming. Part of me feels like, I wonder what happens if neither of those hit, and it turns out there isn’t a ton of interest in Horizon anymore. Are they still gonna be doing the online game? I don’t know. There are a lot of questions around their strategy and around that online game that I certainly have.

The next online multiplayer title from the popular development studio might be a big risk for this long-hailed sci-fi RPG franchise. After the cancellation of The Last of Us Online and Concord‘s epic failure, Horzion Online is the only one of the few live service titles of Sony that is currently in the active development stage.

Sony Has a Pretty Bad Record When It Comes to Live-Service Titles

An in-game screenshot from Helldivers 2.Helldivers 2 is the only successful live-service title from Sony in recent times. | Credit: Arrowhead Game Studios.

Except for Helldivers 2, Sony’s CV might not impress you with any kind of live-service title. Not only Concord‘s failure and cancellation of The Last of Us Multiplayer, but other live service titles like Foamstars and Destruction All Stars also failed miserably. Now, there are some reasons why Sony has always failed to deliver in-live-service titles despite having a huge legacy of legendary single-player games.

Sony’s live-service titles always lack essential ingredients. For example, Concord actually didn’t have any unique style of gameplay or any particular USP that could make it captivating to the players. Although it’s not like Sony doesn’t put effort into these kinds of titles.

It took the same amount of time to make Concord as Riot Games took to make Valorant. However, one went on to become a Counter-Strike killer, and one nobody will remember for long. Live-service titles are almost similar in terms of gameplay, so you need to be unique to make it stand amidst all the others.

What’s your opinion on the upcoming Horizon title? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.