The time of death is also coming for a VR game’s online capabilities. Guerrilla Games doesn’t look like it will ever return to its older franchise.
Guerrilla announced on Twitter, “On August 12, online servers for Killzone: Mercenary, Killzone Shadow Fall (including Intercept Mode) and RIGS: Mechanized Combat League will shut down. Online features (including online multiplayer modes) will cease on that date. Single player offline modes remain available.” Killzone: Mercenary was a PlayStation Vita game released in September 2013; Killzone: Shadow Fall was a PlayStation 4 launch title in November 2013; and RIGS: Mechanized Combat League is a PlayStation VR first-person shooter/sports game from 2016.
Guerrilla Games recently released Horizon Zero Dawn sequel Horizon Forbidden West for PlayStation 5 and PC. Still, according to VGC, the Dutch studio is planning a trilogy for Horizon, not including Horizon Call of the Mountain, which is coming to PlayStation VR2, so there’s a good chance a third instalment will be coming, so this franchise has blockbuster status and, by extension, a future.
What about Killzone? In January 2021, Sony removed the franchise’s official website, and it’s no use thinking about what Hermen Hulst, then head of Guerrilla and now PlayStation Studios boss, said in 2017: “I get asked that question [about the future of Killzone] a lot through Twitter and other social media channels. It’s heartwarming to hear that there’s such a strong appetite from the loyal Killzone fanbase. It’s a franchise and universe that we still love with a passion at Guerrilla. It hasn’t been easy doing something so completely different. Whether or not we’ve put a permanent period behind the series, it’s too early to make announcements on that. I can say that we’ve always loved the Killzone universe and the Killzone series, and we still do. We share that passion for the game with many of our fans.”
Nonsense. It has to be said that Sony doesn’t look back on the past with a kind eye.
Source: VGC
