Sony is masterfully steering the Horizon franchise into a brick wall. During thecurrent Closed Playtest Horizon Hunters GatheringAs things stand, the numbers speak a language that should bring tears to Guerrilla Games' eyes.
An all-time peak of only 561 players on Steam is not a test run for a franchise of this size, but rather a warning sign. Sony has crammed the game into a timeframe that amounts to strategic suicide: running parallel to the massive “Slam Server“ by Bungies Marathon and the global hype launch of Resident Evil Requiem.
Strategic failure across the board
Sony engaged in an internal competition here that they could only lose. Launching a niche closed test for a live service spin-off while Bungie is already working on... Marathon the shooter world is mobilized and Capcom with the Resident Evil Requiem Launch's recapture of the survival horror throne demonstrates a lack of market awareness.
Player resources are finite, and interest in a cartoonish co-op spin-off in the Horizon universe seems to be dwindling without any real competition. A direct comparison with Concord It painfully becomes clear: there too, the writing on the wall was ignored until the server plug was pulled. Horizon Hunters Gathering is now following exactly the same path into potential insignificance.
Netcode won't save an empty social hub.
Technically, Guerrilla delivers – the server stability and netcode withstand the few participants in the short time windows – but what good is a functioning system without users? The game modes "Machine Incursion" and "Cauldron Descent" rely on synergies between the Sun, Rem, and Axle classes.
In reality, however, this often translates to long wait times in the social hub "The Gathering" because the critical mass is simply lacking. When a multiplayer title suffers so massively from a lack of players even in the beta phase, the dynamic is dead before any conclusions can be drawn. Sony remains silent on the invite numbers, but 561 players indicate that either hardly anyone wanted to be invited or the drop-off rate after the first hour was disastrous.
Selling off the family silver
Discussions within the community reveal a deep misunderstanding of the project's direction. Fans are demanding... Horizon 3 Instead, they get a live-service mishmash that sacrifices the seriousness of the main series for a colorful art style. Guerrilla Games is tying up valuable resources in a project that currently looks like the next GaaS flop of the decade.
The test runs until March 1, 2026, but a trend reversal is not in sight. The competition from Resident Evil Requiem It draws attention away from the audience, while Marathon This shows how to generate modern multiplayer interest. Sony is positioning a product here that, in its current form, hardly seems competitive under existing market conditions.
Editorial note: I have subsequently refined the wording in my commentary. After further consideration, the term "strategic suicide" describes the self-inflicted disaster in the choice of date much more precisely than the original formulation of an "execution" by external factors.
This creative garbage was a predictable flop, and Bluepoint deserves the blame. I also find the characters utterly hideous—a woman on steroids with only one leg. As if anyone would want to play with characters like that! I'll never understand this whole identity thing, including the design of the video games. What do the developers think? That someone in a wheelchair would want to play as characters who are also in wheelchairs or have other disabilities?
I don't think so.
The game is a total disaster on so many levels.
Live service games are dead and the market is saturated. Continuing to invest money in hero shooters and the like is like throwing money onto a bonfire.
It's the design!
Perhaps they simply weren't in a "closed" room anymore?
I also received a link, but I'm not going to waste my time on it.
Capcom has begun the funeral procession for Horizon Fortnite
Even if that were the case, the player drop from 561 to 300 on the second day and 250 on the third is a disaster. And the test in the US was even worse, with only 225 users on the third day. I think it's a doomed failure; 80% rejection at the time of the announcement is impossible to recover. If they don't pull the plug now, they'll just waste even more money, probably just so some managers can save face.
Marathon is also a failure. I can't wrap my head around the fact that there are people who were just waiting for such crap. Are they all completely blind at Sony if they approve something like this?
Marathon is going down the drain too. Nobody needs this woke crap.
Marathon has already lost 50% of its peak player count, so it's probably going under too 😅
It seems Sony just doesn't have a good feel for multiplayer games; they should stick to a single-player game every 1-2 years, but that's not a way to make consistently good money.
Woke smells bad! 🤮🤮🤮
I agree, but the games have nothing to do with wokeness.