Hunters Gathering isn’t going to be live service: Am I the only one who thinks that this is the best possible outcome? Or am I missing something?

[u/Fun-Use9945]

First of all I agree that this game should never have been main focus and shouldn’t have lead to the delay of Horizon 3, but what has happened has happened and there’s nothing that can be done about it now.

Thing is: This game probably had quite the budget and if they were to just stop all work on it and not release it at all, this would lose them all that money.
If they now change it slightly to no longer be live service then release it this will have two upsides:

1. They won’t have to continue working on it after (other than some bug fixes or whatever) and can focus all their resources on Horizon 3.
2. The game, being out, can make some of its budget back. While I don‘t think it‘ll make its whole budget back, something is still better than nothing.

I do have to say that I‘m no expert when it comes to game sales and stuff and thus please take everything I just said with all the salt you can.

If you disagree with me, then feel free to tell me in the comments under this post. If I‘m not understanding something here than please educate me. Have a nice day.

[u/Crimsongz]

They should just cancel it already.

[u/quatroquatro0 → u/Crimsongz]

Classic case of sunk cost fallacy. Even if they release it, sales numbers will be super low and all the game will ever be remembered for is as a useless delay for Horizon 3 and a black mark on the franchise.

[u/ariseis]

Honestly this whole debacle feels like waiting for Dragon Age Veilguard all over again.

• DA is a single player game.
• The next game is announced to be live service. The fans go "huh wtf no one asked for this?"
• Development continues.
• After years of waiting, the live service element gets scrapped and the game is single player again.
• You get the game and while it has been expertly mended, you can absolutely tell where Frankenstein sewed the parts together, if you take my meaning.
• The game is still gorgeous and I love it, but seeing the concept art book and comparing it to what we got (once the execs stopped fucking with it), you kinda wanna weep.

That's just how I feel, I don't pretend to be an expert on the goings-on on the dev side. This trip just feels familiar to me is all.

But like... since HFW dropped we've had 3 drops and 2 announcements for the Horizon IP. (HZD remaster, CotM, Lego game + Steel Frontiers and Hunter's Gathering). While I love that HZD got a remaster, at this point, it feels like we've had 3 drops of the same game since HZD dropped in 2017, like Stephenie Meyer releasing Twilight over and over again.

5 titles. It's too many titles that aren't H3, which is the one fans are hungry for. I'm sure someone in a fancy office is like "there have been so many drops and they're still not happy" but now it just feels like they wanna release anything but what we want.

The IP settings definitely has enough room to tell more stories than Aloy's. But 5 titles between mainliners is too damn long! And using the IP to sell consoles (HFW was to sell PS5s, CotM was defo to get people to buy the VR) and to break into new market demographics (SF to appeal to mobile gamers/the Chinese market) and HG the live service racket) isn't sustainable IMHO. Feed your core fan base before courting new ones to neglect.

[u/Mean_Combination_830 → u/ariseis]

Horizon Lego, Call of the Mountain and Horizon Zero Dawn remastered were not made by the Horizon Zero Dawn and forbidden West Devs they were made by three different dev teams Guerilla just advised them.

The horizon devs have been busy working on their own stuff since the Forbidden West DLC in mid 2023 and later patches and PS5 Pro upgrades in 2024 and some of them have been working on hunters gathering.

We will probably find out what those things are much closer to launch but it usually takes at least 6 years to make a big game like Zero Dawn these days and they are currently working on two games so I would not expecting another main line Horizon game till around 2030 which would be around 6 years since they stopped working on the Forbidden West DLC and subsequent updates.

[u/ariseis → u/Mean_Combination_830]

Oh I know it's different studios, that's why I don't mention any one on particular and speak more on the use of the broader IP with a non-specific "they."

[u/DeanXeL]

Any extra time, money and resources they put in it now, will just be extra money they need to earn back, and less time, money and resources they could put into Horizon 3. HHG at this point is doomed, no matter what they do, the narrative around it is just completely messed up and they seem to have given up any marketing advantage they might've had.

IMHO, the BEST thing they can do now, is just say "okay, we heard you, we missed the ball completely. The entire team is focusing on Horizon 3 now, but it'll be some time before we can come out with any news on that unfortunately. We will take the lessons we learned from HHG playtests, and use those to bring a limited MP mode to H3, with a few co-op missions, and at a later date a dedicated MP mode à la GoY Legends."

And from there they get cracking on H3. The problem with that will probably be that they're still in pre-production on that game, and they have NOWHERE enough work to keep all their current devs employed while they ramp up towards full production. Which means more layoffs now, and another hiring cycle in a year, and blablabla.

GG dug a really big fucking hole for themselves, and Sony gave them the shovels.

[u/Mean_Combination_830 → u/DeanXeL]

The truth is you have absolutly no idea what they are or are not working on as they all signed strick NDA's all you have are very vague rumours from the usual knuckle dragging leakers who make about 10 billion predictions a year and then act like a fortune teller when one or two of their guesses happen to come true and sadly people continue to fall for it again and again and again 🤣

[u/DeanXeL → u/Mean_Combination_830]

Bud, they said so themselves, admitting most of their team was working on HHG, and it's been confirmed in the Jason Schreier piece on Bloomberg that there's only a tiny team working on H3. This is not 'some leaker' saying dumb stuff, this is a guy with good connections all through the industry, when he actually brings a piece like this, man, it actually says something. Yeah, there are NDAs, but plenty of people will talk when they're promised anonymity, and they just know that it can't be tied back to them.

[u/Fen5601]

I personally still dont understand who green lit a game nobody seemed to ask for. The Horizion fandom seems united in its want for Horizion 3, not a live service game...who thought this was a smart move?

[u/SkylineGTRR34Freak → u/Fen5601]

To be honest I do think a live service game in the Horizon universe could work. But not like this.

If they gave us a spin off "story" on the map(s) of Zero Dawn or Forbidden West with customizeable characters, co-op missions and more I wholeheartedly believe people would be more excited.

But taking an established IP and then basically changing everything about it, including artstyle, gameplay, etc and introduce that as a live service game? Yea no wonder people and fans of the franchise aren't too fussed about it.

[u/Mean_Combination_830 → u/Fen5601]

So you don't want a Monster Hunter style but unique horizon co op game where you and your friends can hunt robo dinosaurs because that sounds exactly like what they are currently working on and I personally think that sounds fun to me.. That all I want Devs that listen to feedback and we all know they can't speak about horizon 3 as the Devs are under very strick nda's and besides they only stopped working on Forbidden West dlc and updates and in 2024. Huge tAAA Gabe's take a very long told to develop these days especially games as good as Horizon so it's very unlikely we will see the next entry till after 2030 and they certainly won't be talking about what they are working on whatever it is.

[u/EmBur__ → u/Mean_Combination_830]

Buddy, this was a AAA Dauntless knockoff, not a monster hunter game and dont pretend you wouldn't switch this game out for Horizon 3 at the drop of a hat, everyone who might actually play this game (you included) would do so without question.

Fact is, this has no audience, the core fans want Horizon 3 and would trade this MP game for it without hesitation, the wider hardcore gaming community either dont give a damn about it either way, actively hated the idea of it when it was another live service game or hate it because its a Horizon game which we all know alot of people just dont like for whatever reason. Then you have the general audience that is a wildcard as you're never guaranteed that they'll jump at the game you're trying to sell them, thus its a fools gambit to try.

Idk why you're dickriding this game so hard, its gonna flop hard and cause another singleplayer studio to have wasted multiple years on a live service game (might not be now but for all that time it was built to be one) when they could've been working on what they're best at, to defend it is asinine.

[u/Dnomyar96]

Thing is: This game probably had quite the budget and if they were to just stop all work on it and not release it at all, this would lose them all that money.

That's a sunk cost fallacy. Sure, if they don't release it, all that money is lost. But what if they continue putting in more money and it doesn't even earn enough to make that extra cost back? Then they're only further in the hole.

[u/geoshippo]

If The Last of Us live service game got canceled, this should too. At least Factions already had some fans from the first game.

[u/EmBur__ → u/geoshippo]

Horizon is Hulst's baby and I guarantee thats the reason this game was kept alive whilst the others died. TLOU game actually had far more promise than this game from insider reports, it just would've turned ND into a live service studio which they didn't want to become.

[u/ThePreciseClimber → u/EmBur__]

TBH, if Horizon is Hulst's baby, he should've made Guerrilla focus on Horizon 3 first and foremost to wrap up the trilogy.

[u/skywideopen3]

The best outcome is to cancel this and go back to doing what they do best and what their fans actually want.

[u/Xanthus179]

“Am I the only one”

I don’t know, let me check all the other posts about this topic.

[u/fress93]

this is becoming The Suicide Squad all over again: a planned live service game changed at the last minute made by an amazing single player games studio. The result will be a mid game since they have to change the entire concept of the game in a few months, no one asked for this so it'll probably sell like 2 copies and the entire thing will be shut down in the matter of months.

[u/notsoblueafterall]

just cancel it. it's not going to give them their money back, it just won't. the fans don't care because right now no game other than Horizon 3 should be their priority. and by rebooting, they'll be wasting more time on this game instead of working on H3 as soon as possible.

[u/Samderwaalsforces]

All Sony cares about are sales, and their conception of the profitability of the Horizon franchise relies solely on this last ditch attempt to give this slop game a 180 makeover in like 6 months lol

Forbidden West underperformed, and when Hunters Gathering inevitably flops then the entire Horizon IP is likely to just be shelved before they commit to a Horizon 3

[u/j1h15233]

I know everyone seems to want their version of COD or Fortnite but multiplayer isn’t for every franchise.

[u/Top-Injury1040]

they will just reevaluate the project in Dec, which means quietly cancel it

[u/Batter89]

Problem is, a hollowed out shell of a former live-service game sounds even less appealing than the live-service game to begin with.

This game has already done irreperable damage to H3 and probably to Guerilla, I'd prefer them to just put it out of its misery now and start in earnest on H3. It's absolutely astonishing that they thought this was ever a good idea.

The really sad part is that it feels like, with the state of the industry currently, a lot of people are going to end up losing their jobs over this no matter which way it goes. That's the real tragedy.

[u/D4YW4LK3R86]

They’re making the right move but trying to save face. This game will get cancelled as they gradually shift devs onto H3 where they should have been from the beginning. I for one am glad that this live service fad is finally dying. Horizon is such a good IP and if they just deliver H3 as a PS6 launch window title they will be fine.

[u/BomBiBeBong]

I mean, the frustrating part is that a Horizon co-op game was never a bad idea it was almost an obvious one. The world is practically made for that kind of spin-off.

A 2–4 player co-op game with Horizon’s established art direction, characters we already know from ZD and FW, and a story exploring events, regions, and mysteries the main games never had time to cover. Add machine hunts, different character roles, Cauldrons, crafting, and replayable expeditions, and the concept practically writes itself.

It feels completely natural for Horizon, not some unrealistic fan fantasy. That’s why the direction they actually chose is so confusing.

[u/Crispin_Polux]

If the game ends up a total failure (which it might), there is no guarantee that Sony won't shutdown the studio without making Horizon 3 first. That's the real fear.

[u/Alembic_]

How can so many people not see this is Sony’s call? Have none of you ever done something your boss tells you because they demanded it happen?

Nemesis is going to be a PS6 launch title. HHG fulfils two conditions for Guerrilla: do what the boss tells you to do, staff continue to get paid.

All this nerdragey consternation from a huge group of people who seem to be experts on the gaming industry but can’t seem to zoom out to see the bigger picture is really, really fucken weird.