Hermen Hulst Playfully Compared Collaborating with Horizon MMO Developer to Giving Away His Daughter in Marriage

NCSoft has unveiled Horizon Steel Frontiers, a new MMO spin-off set in the beloved sci-fi universe, where players will team up on PC and mobile to hunt down the franchise’s iconic prehistoric machines. Recent insights from an executive shed light on the game’s structure, beta testing timeline, and the collaboration with the original creators of Horizon.

In a conversation with a Korean outlet, chief business officer Lee Seong-gu shared intriguing details about the MMORPG. He recounted a humorous exchange with Hermen Hulst, the former head of Guerrilla Games and now CEO of the PlayStation studio business group, who had two specific requests regarding the Horizon IP: “Please do not kill [a] Tallneck (a giraffe-shaped machine),” and “Please take good care of Aloy. It feels like I am sending off my daughter at the aisle.” While Aloy may not be a playable character, there’s a chance she could make appearances in cutscenes.

Lee mentioned that he made several trips to the studio in the Netherlands to pitch Horizon Steel Frontiers, emphasizing his passion for the franchise. He also revealed that it was Sony’s idea to announce the MMO at Gamescom 2025, but he successfully advocated for an earlier reveal to a Korean audience at G-Star 2025.

Combat in Horizon Steel Frontiers will focus on targeting and destroying specific body parts of enemies, with players able to engage in boss raids with groups of either 16 or 32. Instead of fixed classes, players will have the freedom to customize their roles, and combat will require manual inputs, eliminating auto attacks.

To address concerns about the game being a mere reskin of NCSoft’s existing Lineage series, Lee assured that monetization will revolve around monthly subscriptions, battle passes, and cosmetic items, steering clear of pay-to-win mechanics or intrusive microtransactions often seen in mobile games.

As for the release timeline, there’s no concrete date yet. Lee indicated that players might get a chance to demo the game at Gamescom 2026, with the first beta test potentially following in the first half of 2027. It’s still a ways off, but there’s hope that Guerrilla’s upcoming multiplayer title, Horizon Hunters Gathering, will arrive sooner. Meanwhile, news about a new single-player open-world Horizon sequel suggests it won’t be coming anytime soon.