Horizon has always been seen as a story-driven single-player franchise, but according to Guerrilla Games’ studio head, that was never the full plan. Following the announcement of the Horizon MMO, the studio explained that the series was “always thought about as a multiplayer experience” from its earliest stages.
It sounds surprising at first. Zero Dawn and Forbidden West became iconic because of Aloy’s solo journey. But inside the studio, the idea of hunting huge machines with other players was on the table from day one. Guerrilla says the game’s combat systems, open-world structure, and machine design naturally pushed them toward co-op and shared-world concepts.
This also makes the MMO reveal feel less like a sudden shift and more like a long-delayed step. With Sony expanding into live-service games, Horizon moving toward multiplayer fits neatly into the bigger strategy. It’s not a wild pivot, it’s something the team had been thinking about for years.
Guerrilla also hints that some ideas simply couldn’t be expressed in a single-player format. With multiplayer finally opening up, parts of Horizon’s design that were once limited can now evolve into something bigger.
How longtime fans will react to Horizon’s multiplayer future is still up in the air, but the message from the studio is clear: This isn’t a new direction. It’s the direction Horizon was always heading toward.
Stay tuned to VGNW for more on the Horizon MMO and the series’ next steps.
