Guerrilla Games' Horizon Multiplayer: A Million-Player Target or a Preemptive Strike?
Guerrilla Games' upcoming Horizon multiplayer game is generating significant buzz, with recent job listings suggesting ambitious player projections or perhaps a focus on robust infrastructure. The ambiguity leaves room for two interpretations.
The studio's recruitment of a Senior Platform Engineer, requiring experience with "1M+ user globally distributed systems," strongly hints at an anticipated player base exceeding one million. This suggests considerable confidence in the game's appeal and a commitment to building a scalable live-service infrastructure.
However, this could also be a proactive measure to prevent launch-day server issues like those experienced by Helldivers 2. The overwhelming popularity of Helldivers 2 led to significant server strain, impacting player experience. Guerrilla might be aiming for preventative measures to ensure a smooth launch for its Horizon title, regardless of its actual player count projections.
While the Horizon multiplayer game's release date remains unannounced, previous job listings dating back to 2018, along with a recent listing hinting at a new Horizon release in 2025, strongly suggest the multiplayer project is nearing completion. Given the years of development, and assuming no major unforeseen setbacks, a reveal and launch in 2025 seems increasingly likely. Whether the million-player target reflects genuine expectation or a cautious approach to server capacity, only time will tell. The anticipation, however, is undeniable.