Horizon 3 Could Turn the Series on its Head with One…

For over eight years, the Horizon franchise has stood as one of PlayStation’s most prominent and successful new exclusive franchises since its debut in early 2017. While Guerrilla Games was known for its previous PlayStation-exclusive franchise, Killzone, no one could have predicted how popular Horizon would be and how quickly it expanded to become a mainstay of modern gaming. Since Horizon Zero Dawn, the Horizon franchise has released one direct sequel, two spin-offs, two tabletop games, and several comics, along with two other spin-offs, a film adaption, and a threequel seemingly well on the way. While Horizon 3 may still be years away, the threequel may eventually stand out among its predecessors in one major way: being a potential launch title for the PlayStation 6.

Horizon 3 New Tribe Wish List

Even with the tribes featured throughout the series so far, it'll be interesting to see if Horizon 3 features a new generation of tribes.

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By Martin Wood

The History of Horizon Game Releases

Guerrilla Games first began development on Horizon Zero Dawn in 2011, right after Killzone 3 was released, but the new title wouldn’t be publicly announced until E3 2015 and later made its official debut in 2017. By the time Horizon Zero Dawn released on PlayStation 4 platforms, the Sony console was already well past its midpoint for its market lifespan, with most 21st century consoles lasting for six years on average before their successor console debuts. While Zero Dawn sold well on the PS4, selling over 24 million units by 2023, Guerrilla didn’t release another game in the Horizon series until early 2022, already two years into the PlayStation 5’s lifespan.

Development of Horizon Zero Dawn’s direct sequel, Horizon Forbidden West, began in 2018 with the intent of releasing the sequel both on the PS4 and PS5. While the PS4 version of Forbidden West pushed the then nine-year–old console to its processing limit, the highly anticipated sequel was still simultaneously released on the PS4 and PS5 in 2022. However, due to the PS4 struggling to support Forbidden West’s high-fidelity graphics, aerial transversal, and a host of other features, Guerrilla and Sony chose not to release the 2023 Burning Shores expansion on the last gen console, making the DLC a PS5 exclusive.

The Releases of Horizon Spin-Offs and Remasters

Shortly before the debut of Horizon Forbidden West’s Burning Shore expansion, Guerrilla and the British developer Firesprite released the first Horizon spin-off game, Horizon Call of the Mountain, as a launch title and exclusive for the PlayStation VR2 virtual reality headset in February 2023. About a year and nine months after Call of the Mountain’s release, Guerrilla released Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered in October 2024 for PS5 and Windows platforms, featuring all DLC and visual fidelity upgrades to better match Horizon Forbidden West. Roughly two weeks after Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered’s debut, Guerrilla, Studio Gobo, and The LEGO Group released LEGO Horizon Adventures, a kid-friendly adaptation of Zero Dawn’s events, for PS5, Windows, and Nintendo Switch platforms.

To date, LEGO Horizon Adventures is the only Horizon game to launch on a console besides the PlayStation.

Horizon 3’s Potential as a PlayStation 6 Launch Title

In late 2022, Guerrilla first publicly announced the development of a story-focused Horizon multiplayer game. Since then, there’s been little to no official information on the title save for possible hints towards the narrative and gameplay structure from job listings. Similarly, in 2023, rumors began to pop up of Guerrilla working with NCSoft to develop a Horizon MMO, but further rumors early in 2025 suggested that this project may have been canceled. If Horizon’s story-focused multiplayer game is still in development and consistently has been since 2022, fans could likely expect the game to be released around 2026 or early 2027, given Guerrilla’s previous development history on Horizon games.

It’s currently unknown if Guerrilla has been developing the third mainline game alongside this story-focused multiplayer Horizon spin-off, or if development on Horizon 3 has started at all. With the PS5 soon reaching its sixth anniversary in November 2026, Horizon 3 may not be ready in time to be a launch title for the PS6 if it debuts in late 2026. However, both the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation 4 had seven-year-long market lifespans before being replaced by successor consoles. If this trend continues, the PS6 could debut in late 2027, potentially giving Guerrilla a better - albeit tight - window to release Horizon 3 as a launch title for Sony’s latest console.

How Horizon 3 as a PS6 Launch Title Could Work

For most PlayStation console launches, Sony has repeatedly ensured that standout exclusive games were included in their new consoles’ initial lineups. For example, the PS4 launched with Knack and Guerrilla’s own Killzone Shadow Fall, while the PS5 launched with Astro’s Playroom, Demon’s Souls, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Sackboy: A Big Adventure. Including Horizon 3 as a launch title for the PS6 could continue this trend and better showcase Horizon as one of Sony’s greatest exclusive franchises to begin the PS6’s library. Sony could even release a Horizon 3-themed PS6 to go with the console’s overall launch, as there’s never been a limited-edition Horizon-themed PlayStation console released yet, despite the series' immense popularity.