Following the announcement of Horizon Steel Frontiers, developer NCSOFT has talked about the game as part of its wider lineup (Aion 2, Time Takers, Cinder City, Limit Zero Breakers) in a dedicated session at G-Star 2025, as reported by Ruliweb.
During development, Horizon Steel Frontiers was known as Project Skyline, and apparently, it was believed that it would employ 'AI NPCs'. When asked that question, though, NCSOFT focused instead on the fact that AI is being used 'extensively' in the game's production, and that they expect it to be used even more in future games.
We're testing and receiving assistance internally through collaborations with basic NPCs and combat. Since we're an action RPG, we don't play with a large number of players, but rather determine the optimal number of players, and we receive assistance in various aspects. Internally, we also rely on AI for production, from coding to art. It 's being widely adopted in the field, and I think the technologies will gradually become known. The Horizon Steel Frontiers development team is also the one most eager to utilize AI. It's being used a lot, and you'll see that games coming out after Aion 2 will greatly increase their use of AI.
In the Q&A published by Ruliweb, NCSOFT adds that the focus will be on PvE cooperation, although Guerrilla had mentioned some sort of competition with other tribes in the announcement video. When it comes to the release window, the Korean studio reiterated the release window we previously reported from the NCSOFT quarterly earnings call: late 2026 or early 2027, with public testing scheduled to take place at some point next year.
In case MMORPGs are not your cup of tea and the announcement of Horizon Steel Frontiers did nothing for you, Guerrilla Games is still making its own cooperative multiplayer version of the franchise, as confirmed once again by Jason Schreier.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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