Yesterday, we reported on claims that NCSoft cancelled the Horizon MMO they were making with Sony’s license. Today, we have several proofs that clarify that the project is, in fact, not cancelled.
But first, we would like to make some clarifications to dispel some misinformation. We will once again reiterate that Sony never officially confirmed or announced this Horizon MMO. Sony did make an official press release that they entered a ‘strategic partnership’ with the game’s developer, NCSoft.
While that statement implied that they would be making games, they didn’t actually make that formal reveal. Their press release came a year after the rumors started swirling, but because there was no announcement, we also don’t know details such as how much money was invested in the game, if Sony bought shares in NCSoft, and if they or NCSoft can separately choose to cancel the project.
It was important to establish this because nearly 100 % of what we know about the Horizon MMO was based on rumors and leaks. So if we were to be honest about it, we don’t know if any of this information is true at all.
Fans claiming Sony cancelled another game were never factually correct in any way, because that claim makes a lot of assumptions that have no evidence to back it up. But with that said, we’ll explain how and why this rumor was debunked.
In the same ResetERA thread which shared this news, another user posted that Korean outlet ThisIsGame confirmed with their sources that the Horizon MMO is still in development. Their report even mentioned that English language news outlets like Forbes mistakenly reported its cancellation.
Subsequently, as shared on Reddit, someone got in contact with the original reporter at Korean news outlet MTN to clarify the news. The Reddit made the assumption that NCSoft’s Project H, which was definitely cancelled, referred to Horizon. But the reporter made it clear that it is a different game entirely.
FWIW, the original poster at Reddit found out and has asked their moderators to update the thread accordingly. Finally, PK Insight reported that they found a new NCSoft Animator job listing that looks like it is intended for the Horizon MMO.
To be clear, NCSoft is definitely still in a bad financial situation, as user engagement and transactions in their older existing MMOs are not meeting expectations. And some fans have taken that phrase to be doublespeak for the investors not being happy, but what it really means is games are not making enough money.
For this reason, NCSoft is doing the same restructuring and having the same layoffs that American and European game companies have been doing in the past two years.
So while these updates indicate that the Horizon MMO is still in development, it’s actually still in a bad place. Given what we know, it’s unlikely for Sony to share an update at the moment. They may be quietly putting more money into NCSoft behind the scenes, but they could also be talking to the company about spinning their project off to keep it safe.
There’s certainly a lot of hazards when it comes to reporting on unannounced games like this. If this game is ultimately cancelled, Sony and NCSoft may quietly decide to never confirm it. But if Sony still has enough faith in this project to keep going, Horizon could be coming to your phone sooner than you think.
