Releasing back in 2017, Horizon Zero Dawn quickly became one of PlayStation's biggest single-player IPs in the modern age, even despite being overshadowed massively by Zelda: Breath of the Wild. And even though Horizon Forbidden West received another bout of bad luck with Elden Ring, it's still widely regarded as one of the PS5's best games. Where there's success, there's the desire for more of it, and Guerrilla Games clearly has that desire.
As of May of this year, Horizon Forbidden West had reportedly sold 8.4 million copies, bringing the franchise's total to a whopping 32.7 million units. This is no small feat, especially for a relatively new IP, and it's only natural that Sony and Guerrilla Games would want to seize this opportunity while they can. And that's exactly what they're going to do, with Guerrilla Games just announcing that it currently has 16 "plans" in the works for the Horizon franchise, some of which have already been confirmed, most of which haven't.
What Some of The Horizon Franchise's 16 'Plans' Could Be
Over the last decade or so, Sony has been gradually building its own private army of first-party exclusives, and it makes sense that the Horizon franchise would be leading the charge. After creating such an expansive universe, with almost endless possibilities, it's only logical that Guerrilla Games would want to keep filling that universe with new stories, and that's where its 16 plans come into play.
In a recent Develop: Brighton talk, Guerrilla Games' studio director Jan-Bart van Beek discussed the future of the Horizon franchise, confirming what a few of these plans could be. Beek made a direct reference to some kind of Horizon multiplayer game, stating it to be a co-op venture that's a "massive shift" for the studio, likening it being the same level of work as the first Horizon game. A Horizon multiplayer game was first tentatively announced by Guerrilla back in December 2022, though no other official news has come out since on what the game will look or play like, or when fans can expect to play it.
Another Horizon project that's currently in the works is a Horizon Netflix show, potentially titled Horizon 2074, or just Horizon Zero Dawn. Not much official information is available on this project either, but if the leaked title is correct then it could be a prequel to the game series, potentially following Elisabet Sobeck and the Zero Dawn project. The Umbrella Academy's Steve Blackman is set to be Horizon's showrunner, while Michelle Lovretta will be the main series writer. No production dates have been detailed so far, but with the ongoing strikes in Hollywood, it seems likely that this show is still a ways off yet.
Those are currently the only Horizon franchise plans officially confirmed, though there are a few other projects that could definitely be in the pipeline. The most obvious one is a Horizon Forbidden West mainline sequel. With the way Forbidden West and its Burning Shores DLC ends, it's clear that there's more to Aloy's story, and Guerrilla Games is probably in the early stages of mapping out at least one, if not more sequels. Another potential Horizon project is a sequel to Horizon: Call of the Mountain, the PlayStation VR2 spin-off. Though it received a bit of a mixed reception, Call of the Mountain was still a decent VR title, and a sequel that improves upon the solid foundations could be the killer app that PSVR2 desperately needs right now.
Horizon Forbidden West is available now for PS4 and PS5.