Long-rumored Horizon MMORPG is officially real, but the monkey's paw curls as it's not coming to PlayStation and is "built specifically for mobile"

South Korean developer and publisher NCSoft has revealed the long-rumored Horizon MMORPG – officially titled Horizon Steel Frontiers – at the Korean video game conference G-Star 2025.

NCSoft says that the game is being developed "in collaboration" with Horizon's original creator Guerrilla Games. However, in the announcement trailer, studio director Jan-Bart Van Beek emphasises that NCSoft is Horizon Steel Frontiers' developer, suggesting that Guerrilla Games is playing a supportive role.

Rumors of the game began back in 2023 when a NCSoft employee posted a job listing on LinkedIn for a game then titled "Project Skyline", which was written in the same font as the Horizon games. The post was quickly taken down, but the internet never forgets. The most surprising aspect of the official announcement is that it's only being released on mobile and PC, and will not be available on PlayStation like the main series titles.

[Horizon Steel Frontiers] Announcement Video - YouTube

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In the trailer for the game, Van Beek says, "Horizon Steel Frontiers is a full-flesh MMORPG that NCSoft has built specifically for mobile," though it does have cross-platform play with PC. It won't feature Aloy or the other characters from the Horizon series, but it is based in the Horizon universe featuring tribes from the mainline games.

Aside from adding the features you expect from an MMORPG, like character creation, Horizon Steel Frontiers will also completely change how combat works to optimize it for multiplayer, with the focus changing to "cooperation and strategy."

"Our main focus is designing a new combat experience tailored for an MMORPG," says NCSoft executive producer Sung-gu Lee. "In Horizon Steel Frontiers, we've added unique original gameplay elements to the process of taking down giant machines."

There is no release window for Horizon Steel Frontiers, but the footage shown in the trailer is labelled as "pre-alpha footage" so it's likely still a long way from launch.

Horizon Zero Dawn star Ashly Burch says she had no idea if she'd actually been cast as Aloy until she was suddenly in the recording booth: "It really hit me in that moment, like, oh this is a big deal."