Horizon Hunters Gathering has reportedly been rebooted in order to ditch its live service elements, following negative feedback during early private playtests.
Per a new report from Jason Schreier at Bloomberg, sources "familiar with the company's plans" claim developer Guerilla Games has been overhauling Horizon Hunters Gathering into more of a traditional multiplayer co-op game since June, in response to poor playtester feedback. As a result, all the live service mechanics are being stripped out in favour of a story mode and a "far smaller scope."
Bloomberg reports that while the game has not yet been cancelled, Guerilla Games has until December to impress PlayStation bosses. In addition, many of the Hunter Gathering developers are being reassigned to another project at the studio, which is also being evaluated by executives at the end of the year.
This marks yet another setback for Sony's live service aspirations, which have been continuously challenged over the past few years.
Concord, the most famous of its live service failures, was shut down and taken off storefronts soon after its release. There's also been a string of live service project cancellations at PlayStation. Bluepoint Games was shuttered after a God of War live service game was cancelled; Naughty Dog's Last of Us multiplayer game was killed too, reportedly when it was 80 percent complete, and a Twisted Metal battle royale game got the chop a few years ago. Meanwhile, there's Marathon's ongoing underperformance and the strangely silent Fairgames, which lost its director last year.
It's safe to say, it's not been a particularly easy few years for Sony as it hunts for a live service mega hit. Here's hoping the good people at Guerilla Games can turn Horizon Hunter Gathering into something the higher-ups are happy with.