Horizon's live-service PS5 game will launch before the big sequel A Horizon live-service PS5 game update for October 2024 suggests that Gurrilla Games' next entry into the series won't be the single-player Horizon 3.Kes Eylers-Stephenson Published 01 Oct 2024 FollowtopicsPlayStation 5RumourKes Eylers-Stephenson We have a new Horizon live-service PS5 game update for October 2024 that suggests that the single-player Horizon 3 is a ways away because it's all hands on deck for the co-op online experience. We aren't quite sure when it will land amongst the best Horizon games, but reports suggest this has been in the oven for a while.Horizon Online set for release on PS5 well before Horizon 3Horizon Online is the rumored co-op live-service game from Guerrilla GamesDeveloper: Guerrilla GamesPotential release date: 2025 (est.)Speaking on Spwan Wave's podcast (embedded below), Bloomberg's reliable journalist Jason Schreier opened up on the continued progress of PlayStation Studios' Horizon series and the current development timeline. "Horizon Online is their next project, not whatever the third single-player game looks like. So, that one might be a ways off.""Sony's PlayStation live-service initiative was no joke, everybody was like: 'It's live-service games all around!' Horizon is one of the few ones that hasn't been canceled or hasn't come out and flopped the way Concord did. A lot of people are working on that online project," Schreier concluded before seemingly being cut off.While we've known that both projects existed at Guerrilla Games for a while, Schreier's update on the timeline is new. Horizion co-op avoided cancellation earlier this year and you may remember it for having that simplified cartoony art style in some leaked footage.Well, having canceled The Last of Us Factions, Twisted Metal, and more, Sony is still all-in on Horizon Online. Having been in development from around the 2018 period when Guerrilla started forming the team with Simon Larouche at the helm, the former Killzone devs must have a big thumbs up from Sony.With Sony's very short announcement-to-release cycles for first-party games and a huge amount of development time under Horizon Online's belt, it could well be that Horizon Online is scheduled for 2025 for PS5. Given the co-op title has so many people working on it now, it's probably in the final stages of development.I think the second interesting pull is that Horizon 3 may take longer than expected. With the development cycle between Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West being five years between 2017 and 2022, with Horizon Online in the picture for Guerrilla Games we may be looking at a longer gap between the second and third games. Could Horizon 3 even be a PS6 game?While I think Horizon has been a great mainstay of the late PS4 and early PS5 generation and has sold very well — the franchise's staying power is still in question. Horizon and Aloy don't seem to have the boundless love that recent hitters like Ghost of Tsushima, Days Gone, and Astro Bot have garnered from fans.Horizon 3 would need to blow people away with improvements to its slightly mundane writing and checkbox PS5 open-world game exploration. At least, that's what I'd hope — I'm always after more depth in open-world games, not more scale!That being said, with a history of working on Killzone and a pretty cool co-op Monster Hunter-esque concept, I think Horizon Online could succeed. You and your mates, sneaking through the brush, chatting on your Focus' about what traps you are going to lay for the giant T-Rex robot? Yeah, man, you can't tell me that's not a winning idea. Can Guerrilla pull it off?I still think Horizon Forbidden West is one of the best PS5 games. What do you think of the franchise? Let me know in the comments below, TrueTrophies hunters!More Horizon Forbidden West stories: Check out these easy platinums in the Big Games Big Deals PS Store sale Best Horizon games ranked — from Zero Dawn to the Forbidden West DLC PSA: Horizon Forbidden West is leaving PS Plus Extra really soon PS Plus won't add an exclusive game like Horizon Forbidden West again PS Plus leaving games September 2024 — how hard are the trophy lists? RumourPlayStation 5Upcoming Release Written by Kes Eylers-StephensonEditor Kes is our resident expert in PlayStation and Sony news. He writes about PS5 games like LEGO Horizon Adventures, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Kingdom Come Deliverance II, Concord, and Death Stranding 2 using experience from years of PlayStation gaming. He also covers PS Plus news, as well as his favorite games — The Witcher 3, God of War, and The Last of Us — before an evening swim.