Guerrilla Games' Horizon Multiplayer: Ambitious Player Count or Preemptive Measures?
Guerrilla Games' upcoming Horizon multiplayer game is generating considerable speculation, fueled by a recent job listing. The listing suggests the studio is building live-service infrastructure capable of supporting over one million concurrent players. This raises the question: is Guerrilla predicting phenomenal success, or proactively preventing a launch-day server meltdown?
Since Horizon Forbidden West and its Burning Shores DLC, Guerrilla has remained relatively quiet, focusing on collaborations like Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered and LEGO Horizon Adventures. However, evidence of a Horizon multiplayer game has been surfacing since 2018, through various job postings, strongly suggesting its existence.
A recent job posting for a Senior Platform Engineer explicitly mentions "proven experience building and operating multi-service, 1M+ user globally distributed systems." This requirement strongly implies Guerrilla anticipates a massive player base. The development of such a robust infrastructure suggests a commitment to supporting a player count exceeding one million.
Alternatively, this ambitious infrastructure could be a preventative measure. The disastrous server issues that plagued Helldivers 2 at launch, due to unexpectedly high player numbers, serve as a cautionary tale. Guerrilla might be aiming to avoid a similar situation, ensuring a smooth launch for their Horizon multiplayer title, regardless of actual player numbers.
Given the game's years-long development and previous job postings hinting at a 2025 release, this multiplayer project could very well be the "new Horizon game" alluded to earlier this year. Assuming development is progressing smoothly, a reveal in 2025 seems increasingly likely. The scale of the planned infrastructure certainly points towards a significant undertaking, whatever the ultimate player count may be.
