Sony and NCSoft have officially unveiled Horizon Steel Frontiers, a new Monster Hunter-like MMORPG set in the Horizon universe. Developed in collaboration with Guerrilla Games, the game promises deep customization, combat, and cross-platform support for mobile and PC. And you read that right — it’s not planned for either PlayStation 4 or 5. Which shouldn’t come as a surprise, as it’s not the only Horizon online project currently in development.
Horizon Steel Frontiers itself was unveiled during Korea’s biggest gaming event, G-Star 2025, and marks the Korean developer’s biggest collaboration with Sony yet. It takes place in the Deadlands, a new region built around large, open hunting zones and big group encounters. NCSoft executives Taekjin Kim and Sunggu Lee said that this game offers a ‘distinct Horizon experience’ made specifically for MMO players. Director Jan-Bart van Beek added that it also comes with both ‘cooperative and competitive’ elements, as players can team up or compete for resources against rival tribes.
As the team behind the Lineage series, NCSoft’s signature gameplay is all over it. It’s fast, flashy, and clearly built to keep you grinding for bigger damage numbers.
But, as mentioned above, here’s where things get spicy. Apparently, this isn’t the only Horizon online game in the works. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier clarified that Steel Frontiers is separate from the in-house live service Horizon project Guerrilla has been building for years. That game — described as a stylized, co-op action title — is still very much alive and reportedly the studio’s next major release. So yes, Sony really does have two Horizon live-service games running in parallel.
It’s also worth noting that earlier this year, Korean outlet MTN reported that NCSoft had quietly canceled a Horizon-related project amid internal cuts. It seemed that the report was outdated, as Steel Frontiers is clearly back in full force.
This should be good news for all hunting games fans, as Monster Hunter Wilds is losing steam and the rest of the genre doesn’t have anything left in the tank. All of this is happening while Sony is simultaneously suing Tencent for allegedly cloning Horizon with its upcoming game, Light of Motiram. Between lawsuits, surprise announcements, and two separate online projects, one thing’s clear. Sony is still not done playing around with robot dinosaurs anytime soon.
