Horizon Hunters Gathering is reportedly being rebooted after poor playtest feedback, with Sony cutting its live-service scope and reassessing the project.
Horizon Hunters Gathering was announced in February as Guerrilla Games’ multiplayer spin on Horizon, moving away from Aloy’s single-player adventures in favor of three-player co-op. The PS5 and PC game has players pick distinct Hunters, combine ranged and melee roles, and take on machines through repeatable activities such as Machine Incursion and Cauldron Descent. Solo play was also planned with two NPC companions, while cross-play and cross-progression were confirmed between PS5 and PC.
Guerrilla expanded the game during a second closed test from May 22 to May 25, adding new Hunters, tougher difficulties, another region, and an Episode set in Ashwater Valley. Sony never announced a release date or price, but the project was clearly being positioned as one of PlayStation’s larger multiplayer bets. That now appears to have changed after the tests produced the sort of feedback executives couldn’t ignore.
According to a new Bloomberg report, PlayStation has gone back to the drawing board.
Horizon Hunters Gathering Reboot Reportedly Cuts Its Live-Service Plans
Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reports that Guerrilla has been rebooting Horizon Hunters Gathering since June following poor feedback from private testing earlier this year. According to Bloomberg’s sources, the studio is stripping out the game’s live-service component and reducing its scope.
The new direction would turn Hunters Gathering into a more traditional cooperative multiplayer game with a story mode rather than a long-term service built around continuous updates and monetization. PlayStation declined to comment on Bloomberg’s report, so none of these changes have been publicly confirmed by Sony or Guerrilla.
The project isn’t canceled, but its position sounds uncomfortable. Schreier reports that Guerrilla staff were told during a Wednesday meeting that the team has until December 2026 to deliver a milestone strong enough to impress PlayStation executives. Many developers currently working on Hunters Gathering will also be reassigned to another project, which is due for its own evaluation at the end of the year.
Bloomberg says most of Guerrilla had moved onto Hunters Gathering after Horizon Forbidden West, while only a small group continued planning the next single-player Horizon game. That sequel is reportedly still years from completion.
The timing makes this another expensive correction to PlayStation’s live-service strategy. Sony has already canceled multiplayer projects tied to The Last of Us, God of War, and Spider-Man after spending years pushing its first-party studios toward recurring online games. And more recently, it ended live service development for Destiny 2, Bungie’s massively popular looter-shooter MMO.
Would you be more interested in Horizon Hunters Gathering as a smaller story-focused co-op game instead of a full live-service release? Let us know in the comments.
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