Lineage developer and Guild Wars publisher NCSoft has unveiled Horizon Steel Frontiers, an MMORPG based on Sony’s Horizon IP, for PC, Android, and iOS only, excluding the PlayStation 5.
The Verge broke the news moments before the official announcement, which took place during South Korea’s G-Star gaming convention. The MMO, which will be free-to-play according to the official website, is centered around hunting down mechanical beasts by teaming up or competing against other players.
As part of the announcement video, Jan-Bart van Beek, studio director at PlayStation’s Guerrilla Games, said that Steel Frontiers is a full-fledged MMO that NCSoft has built “specifically for mobile.” It will take place in a region called the Deathlands, which is inspired by Arizona and New Mexico.
“You’re sharing the frontier with thousands of other players, sometimes working together to take down machines and other times competing with rival tribes or fighting over resources, and that mix of cooperation and competition creates moments that you could never script,” the studio director said.
The video also includes a note regarding Sony’s involvement, saying that the project is being developed and published by NCSoft, while the game, its characters, items, and events are developed and published under license from Sony Interactive Entertainment, and supported by Guerrilla and PlayStation Studios.
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Guerilla teases that the internal Horizon multiplayer project is still underway
Guerrilla shared the news via X (formerly Twitter), saying the team loved collaborating with NCSoft and was excited to hunt machines together in the world of Horizon. Then, the studio added that “at Guerrilla, we’re still busily working on more ways for you to do just that. More on that to come.”
This is likely referencing a “separate online project” in the Horizon universe, which the studio mentioned in a recruitment listing back in 2022. The description noted the project features “a new cast of characters” and a “unique stylized look.”
Following Steel Frontiers’ announcement, Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier said on Bluesky that NCSoft’s MMO is “different from the multiplayer Horizon game that’s in development” at the studio. “That one is Guerrilla’s next big project,” he claimed.
NCSoft’s last year has seen the company going through restructuring, as well as placing bets on AI tools. In October 2024, the company laid off an unknown number of staff, with co-CEOs Taek-Jin Kim and Byung-Moo Park saying it things were “at risk of falling into a chronic deficit company.” The leads affirmed the “large-scale change” was in service of “the survival and future of the company,” while promising active support and compensation to the people affected.
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In August of this year, the company established an AI-driven casual mobile division, with the goal of delivering “global portfolio diversification.”
“NCSoft will extend its proven AI and data capabilities into the mobile casual gaming space, while actively pursuing global investment opportunities to boost corporate value and secure long-term market leadership,” read a press release at the time.