Following Sony’s cancellation oftwo PlayStation live service projects, it seems that another planned live service game based on a PlayStation franchise has also been canned.
Firstreported in 2022, Guild Wars developer NCSoft was reportedly developing an MMO based on the Horizon franchise.
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In a new report by Korean publicationMTN(viaResetEra), it mentions how it’s understood that some of NCSoft’s gestating live service games have gotten a notice to cease development as part of a feasibility review.
According to an interview with MTN on the 13th, members of the undisclosed new product development team, including ‘Pantera,’ ‘H,’ and ‘J’ under the CBO of NC Lee Sung-koo, were notified to stop development. Of these, ‘H’ and ‘J’ have already disappeared from the company’s organizational chart. Apparently, the decision to wind down these projects were made at the end of 2024 and early this year, with dev team members notified to prepare for internal transfers to other projects.
While not named outright, one of the games being developed is “Project H,” which is believed to be the Horizon MMO project based on NCSoft’s former employee job history, and now-delisted job listings.
The cancellation of this project doesn’t seem to be connected to Sony’s canceled live service projects, though the timing might indicate that it is.
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Of note, this project by NCSoft is different from themultiplayer Horizon gamein development at Guerrilla Games.
While Horizon might be one of Sony’s premiere first-party franchises, it’s definitely not as popular as some of Sony’s other first-party properties such as God of War, The Last of Us, etc. A Horizon MMO might sound good on paper, but who would be their target market? Horizon is mostly seen as a single-player, story-drive franchise, and using its setting for an MMO won’t reel in new players, and it might have problems attracting the franchise’s fans too.
Amid all of this, the last Horizon game released,LEGO Horizon Adventures, was a massive commercial flop thatsaw the game get a hefty discount a month after its release.
Our reviewwas brutal: “Lego Horizons Adventures had so much potential by mixing two iconic franchises: Lego and Horizon. Unfortunately, it misses the mark by a lot. Instead of something memorable, the result is an underwhelming experience with a dull reinterpretation of Zero Dawn’s story, repetitive combat, and almost zero exploration.”
Would you have played an MMO set in the Horizon universe? Sound off and let us know in the comments.
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