de Man spoke about how much the Killzone franchise has meant to its fans, and how many have wanted the series to return at least in the form of a remaster, if not an outright remake or new game.

“I know that there have been petitions for it,” said de Man. “I think it’s risky because, I can’t speak for Guerrilla or anything… I don’t know if it will ever happen. I hope it will because I think it is quite an iconic franchise, but also I think it kind of has to take into account kind of the sensitivities and the shift in, I guess, what people want because it is quite bleak in some ways.”

He does go on to say that he believes a remastered release of the original Killzone trilogy would see a fair bit of success, especially thanks to the franchise’s fans. A new title, however, isn’t something de Man believes would see much success.

“I think it remastered one would be successful I don’t know if a new game would be as much,” de Man said. “I don’t know if people have moved on from it and want something. I don’t know sometimes I get the sense that people want something a bit more casual a bit more quick.”

While fans of Killzone have been looking for some sign of life from the franchise, developer Guerrilla Games revealed back in October 2024 that the whole reason it created the Horizon franchise with the release of Horizon Zero Dawn was because it was done with Killzone.

“We were done with it as a team,” said art director Roy Postma in an interview. “As a studio, we needed to refresh the palette. It was, by choice, the opposite of Killzone. I think the themes that this story and the characters represent are relatable for all ages and people, like having a found family of friends and finding your place in the world.”

This was a sentiment echoed a few years after the official website for Killzone was shut down. The studio, along with Sony, referred to it being “retired”. This, however, did not affect the multiplayer components of Killzone: Shadow Fall.

The last time we got to see anything related to Killzone franchise was thanks to a crossover event in Helldivers 2. As part of the event, Helldivers 2 players could get their hands on cosmetics and weapons inspired by classic shooter Killzone 2.

While the original Killzone was poorly-received, it did kickstart a franchise that would be one of the core franchises for Sony during the PS3 years. Killzone: Shadow Fall, one of the first titles released for the PS4, has seemingly spelled death for the franchise, however.

Speaking in a recent interview with Washington Post, Postma touched on Killzone, stating that Guerrilla was “done” with the franchise when it decided to start developing Horizon Zero Dawn, and that the latter was consciously and deliberately designed as a much more vibrant and colourful experience than the gritty and dour Killzone universe.

“We were done with it as a team,” Postma said. “As a studio, we needed to refresh the palette. It was, by choice, the opposite of Killzone. I think the themes that this story and the characters represent are relatable for all ages and people, like having a found family of friends and finding your place in the world.”

With Killzone having been dormant for over a decade and Horizon enjoying the success that it has, chances of the former coming back from the dead have looked slim anyway, but when you add Postma’s comments on top of that, those chances begin looking even slimmer, which is something Killzone fans won’t be happy with.

Horizon fans, on the other hand, have no shortage of things to look forward to, with Hero Zero Dawn Remastered due out on October 31, and LEGO Horizon Adventures launching not long afterward on November 14.

But then as we all know, failures such as Shadow Fall did put Killzone’s reputation down the drain – which eventually led to the abandonment of the franchise, and Guerilla Games then moved on to greener pastures. But we can’t help but think about Killzone, and wonder whether it would make for a feasible game in today’s gaming landscape.

And you know what, it would actually make a lot of sense to bring back Killzone – and there are many directions that Sony could take to do just that. Here are 5 that we think is the most probable of the bunch.

The Next Killzone Could Ditch The Original Story

While Killzone had many great things going for it, a good story wasn’t one of those traits. The world-building was solid enough, and coupled with great art direction – and Killzone’s world and characters looked absolutely astonishing. But that facade soon wears out, and criticisms about the story start to rear their head once again. Sure, one could say that in a game that’s so focused on shooting enemies in the face – the story doesn’t really hold that much weight.

And while that could be a valid argument to an extent, a good story goes a long way in really legitimizing a game and paving the way for a larger universe, one that accounts for different kinds of experiences. So why not leave what doesn’t work behind and start with a rebooted plot that’s different from what came before, and be all the better for it?

This is easily the most idealistic way to reintroduce the franchise to a modern gaming landscape. If the next Killzone were to have a rebooted plot, new players who don’t have prior experience with the series would be tempted to jump in, while those who have grown up with it would also get to see it in a new light. And then, of course, the developer would also get to work on a clean slate, which has plenty of advantages of its own. Everyone wins, no one loses.

The Next Killzone Could Be A Multiplayer Focused Game

But if the story and the single-player campaign is something that’s causing a buffet of problems for the developer, why not abandon that portion entirely – and go for a game that’s entirely focused on the multiplayer component of Killzone?

While that approach may sound unintuitive at first, over the course of multiple entries – Killzone managed to create a compelling multiplayer experience that kept fans coming back for more. So it might be best to hone in on those learnings, maybe add a few new game modes, and ship a multiplayer-centric game to test the waters for Killzone in this new market.

If Sony were to take this approach, it could go down two routes – either ship a game with a fixed price tag or make the game free to play. We have seen plenty of multiplayer shooters in both these categories become successful, and while each of these routes has its own set of advantages and disadvantages – there is little argument that Killzone can’t thrive as a multiplayer experience.

The Next Killzone Could Go For An Open World Shooter Approach

While there were many reasons behind Killzone being disbanded after Shadow Fall, one of them is certainly the fact that the franchise didn’t fit into the open-world third-person cinematic experience model that Sony has adopted with the majority of its first-party releases. Supporting that sentiment is the fact that Guerilla Games did go on to make Horizon Zero Dawn after Killzone: Shadow Fall – an open-world action-adventure game – and we all know the love that Sony is giving out to that franchise – and rightfully so.

But who said that Killzone can’t be molded into this aforementioned box, and while that statement might have sounded borderline idiotic a few years before – it’s starting to make more sense with every passing year. Guerilla Games has really nailed how to create open-world experiences with Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West, so why not utilize the same learnings for Killzone and bring it back into the fold?

343 Industries did the same treatment with Halo Infinite, and those changes have had a really positive impact on the franchise. So why not take some pages out of that book, and put together an open-world Killzone that reboots the story to make it more palatable for new audiences? Honestly, we feel that there is a lot of potential in Killzone to go this route – and it would be really interesting direction for the series

The Next Killzone Could Go For A Smaller Approach

But going open-world or rebooting the story entirely would require a lot of groundwork and experimentation, and that would definitely require tons of capital. Sure, Sony could manage that if it wants to – but putting that money into a venture that hasn’t really given out expected returns in the past – might not be the wisest decision from a financial standpoint.

As such, going for a mid-budget game could be a better option. Sony has done the same with Killzone in the form of Mercenary, which was a spin-off of the mainline series that was released for the PS Vita. While it was by no means a perfect game, Killzone Mercenary certainly impressed everyone with its visuals and solid gameplay according to handheld standards – and when seen as a whole, it was a success.

So why not do the same again to test the waters, and get a better understanding of whether Killzone could survive in the modern gaming landscape? Development duties could be delegated to a small team internally at Guerilla Games, or Sony could bring in a new team to work on it – but either way, this is a lucrative option and one worth looking into.

The Next Killzone Could Go for VR

We all know that Sony is placing some huge bets on VR, and the upcoming PSVR2 is a bold testament to that statement. Games such as the likes of Horizon: Call of the Mountain are sure to be system-selling games for the platform, but a Killzone VR game wouldn’t hurt either. The first-person shooting gameplay is practically perfect for VR, and games like Blood and Truth have showcased how action adventure games can be built for the platform.

As such, a potential Killzone VR game would be a match made for success – and we are not the only ones who think so. A recent rumor states that a Killzone VR has been in development for some time now, and the project which was previously being helmed by Supermassive Games has been brought in-house and would now be released for the PSVR2. As always, it’s advisable to take this information with a grain of salt, but we all can find some solace in knowing that there’s a ray of hope for now.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Recent developments, such as a complete disinterest in the property from developer Guerrilla Games and Sony alike, and the “retirement” of the series’ official website, have only seemed like very clear indications that Killzone might not have much of a future.

It seems, however, that it might have an interesting future after all. PSVR Without Parole – an outlet that has accurately leaked PSVR details in the past, such as its full spec list – claimed in a recent video that a virtual reality Killzone game is in development.

Allegedly, Killzone VR was in development at Supermassive Games at one point, with the Until Dawn studio having been contracted by Sony for the project. Supermassive was working on the game for “years”, apparently building it for the original PSVR, but in 2019, Sony, being unhappy with how the project was shaping up, decided to take it off Supermassive’s hands and move it in-house.

What’s said in the video beyond this point is speculation, but it does make sense. At that point, it’s unlikely that Sony would have made the decision to spend more time and resources on developing a major new game for the original PSVR, indicating that it’s very likely that Killzone 2 morphed into a PSVR2 title.

Sony recently said that the PSVR2 will launch with over 20 major first and third party launch titles– putting two and two together, it doesn’t seem like much of a leap to assume that Killzone VR might be one of those. Series fans will certainly be hoping so, at any rate, though if it does happen, it’ll be interesting to see which studio is handling the game.

A State of Play broadcast is set for June 2, where PSVR2 titles will also be shown off. Here’s hoping Killzone rises from the grave and makes an appearance there.

There’s no word on when the PSVR2 itself will launch, but reports have claimed that it could be targeting an early 2023 release.

Guerrilla Games delivered their best game ever with Horizon Zero Dawn, and the game’s immediate critical and commercial success made it clear that that was the IP they’d be focused on for the foreseeable future. That, of course, has meant the slow demise of Killzone. 2013’s Killzone Shadow Fall was the last game in the series, and since then, it has been completely missing from the limelight.

While many have hoped that the series will eventually return at some point (even though Guerrilla have been reluctant to talk about the same), it now seems quite unlikely. The official Killzone website has been “retired” by Sony and Guerrilla Games. Heading to the site now shows a message regarding the same (which you can view below), with Guerrilla explaining that though this doesn’t affect the online components of Killzone Shadow Fall and Killzone Mercenary, the site itself will lead to PlayStation.com in the future.

This is not a death knell for the series necessarily, but it’s not a positive development by any means. The odds of Killzone returning any time soon are looking quite slim.

KILLZONE

Billed as the Halo-killer prior to launch, Killzone 1 on the PS2 couldn’t even kill a fly. It was a beautiful looking game, but was dragged down by stupid AI, timid shooting, and a bland campaign. A whole lot of people gave in to the enormous hype surrounding it, and a whole lot of people were immensely disappointed with the investment they made in its purchase.

Though it never quite lived up to its “Halo-killing” ambitions, Killzone was a franchise that rode a pretty strong high for a good number of years, and seemed to have firmly cemented itself as a series that Sony was prepared to invest in heavily. By now, however, it has been over five years since we last saw a Killzone game, and both Guerrilla Games and Sony have been largely silent about the franchise and what the future might hold for it. Sony has comfortably and confidently settled into the groove of the kind of games it wants to make – cinematic, story-driven single player games – and Killzone, it seems, doesn’t fit into that framework. But why exactly does that seem to be the case? After overcoming initial hurdles and managing to carve out an identity for itself as one of the most refined shooters on the market, why is it that Guerrilla Games’ series suddenly went silent? What the hell happened to Killzone?

Though Killzone was one of Sony’s most important franchises in the seventh generation of console gaming, we all know that things didn’t start out well for the franchise. Back when the series was first greenlit, Microsoft and Bungie were taking the world by storm with Halo. Combat Evolved stunned the entire industry by showing that not only could first person shooters work on consoles, but that they could even be some of the best games ever created. Its follow up, Halo 2, took things even further, by implementing an ambitious and wildly popular online component that would go on to set the standard that the entire industry follows to this day. Sony were not the first who would look to chase that trend, and nor would they be the last- but chase it they did. 

Killzone was supposed to be their Halo. Of course, they never publicly said as much, but the hype and marketing surrounding the game made it abundantly clear that Sony and the PS2 were banking on its success, and banking on it hard- and of course, given the new and fierce rivalry between Sony and Microsoft that the industry had become caught in the grips of, it didn’t take long for everyone to slap the “Halo-killer” tag onto Killzone. Expectations, then, were ridiculously high- but we all know how that turned out. Killzone launched on the PS2 in November of 2004 (just a few days before Halo 2 came out, in fact)- and the general consensus was that Guerrilla Games’ shooter was a sour disappointment. 

Some aspects of the first Killzone were praised quite a lot, such as its stunning visuals to its gritty, hard sci-fi war setting. But when it came to the things that really mattered, Killzone came up short. A poorly written and poorly told story, uninteresting characters, stupid AI that made the shooting half as good as it could have been otherwise, and a spate of technical issues and bugs were just a few of the game’s most commonly cited problems. A Halo-killer it was not – not even close, in fact – and the disappointing nature of the game was only propounded manifold in light of the ridiculous levels of hype and excitement surrounding it before its release. 

In spite of that, however, Sony clearly saw some potential in it. Killzone may have been poorly received by critics and fans alike, but Sony had clearly seen enough from its sales and seen enough potential in the game itself that it was willing to turn it into a franchise, and let Guerrilla learn from its mistakes. The next Killzone game we saw was Killzone Liberation on the PSP, an isometric shooter that demanded a certain level of tactical thinking from players- its blend of strategy and shooting, relatively more challenging nature, and a solid campaign were praised by critics when it came out in 2006, and even though there were some flaws that some people pointed out, such as its short length and the lack of proper online multiplayer options, the general consensus was that it was a marked improvement over the series’ debut.

But of course, Liberation was always meant to be a side chapter, and the next FPS Killzone was what everyone was really waiting for- that would be the true test of how much Guerrilla had learned from their mistakes, and whether the potential of the flawed PS2 title would ever be realized. From the very moment it was revealed with its infamous CG trailer that Sony initially claimed was all in-engine, Killzone 2 looked like it would be special. Even after it came to light that its reveal trailer had actually been a target render, Guerrilla and Sony continued to impress people with all subsequent showings, especially when actual gameplay footage of the game showed that it truly was going to be a visual showcase. In spite of the way people had been burned with its predecessor, Killzone 2 was generating incredible amounts of excitement from PlayStation fans. Unlike its predecessor, however, when it launched, it delivered on those expectations spectacularly. 

To this day, Killzone 2 is regarded as one of the best games in the PS3’s library- it came out at a time when Microsoft was ruling the roost, and Sony was in desperate need of a win, and a win it was indeed. It was a technical marvel, first and foremost, displaying the powers and capabilities of the difficult yet impressive PS3 hardware better than any other game had at that point. Shooting was heavier and felt more deliberate, gunplay felt satisfying and weighty, and though criticisms surrounding its uninteresting narrative and characters were still thrown around quite commonly, it was with its multiplayer that Killzone 2 really won the hearts of millions. The competitive online component of Guerrilla’s latest was played and loved by millions. The gulf in quality between the first and second Killzone games was almost unbelievable, and Killzone 2 is commonly cited as one of the best and most improved sequels ever made- and rightly so.

Killzone 2 didn’t do Halo numbers, of course, and though it was still, at the end of the day, a generic first person shooter, it was an extremely polished and very well made first person shooter. So of course, the Killzone train was going to keep on chugging along. Now that Sony and Guerrilla were beginning to find the kind of success with Killzone that they had always hoped they would, they weren’t going to let that momentum die down. Killzone 3 launched almost exactly two years later in February of 2011, and was also pretty well received.

While it didn’t cross the 90 mark on Metacritic like its predecessor had, it settled into a respectable mid-80s range. Things such as its visuals, its exciting shootouts, and its addictive online component were praised once again, while criticisms surrounding storytelling and characters also continued to persist. It was, essentially, more of the same in almost every way possible. It did do some new things- both the PlayStation Move and the PS3’s stereoscopic 3D capabilities were things that Sony had been pushing hard around the time of Killzone 3’s release, mostly thanks to the success that others had seen in the same area. Options for both were included in the game by Guerrilla Games, and for the most part, they were very well done. Killzone 3 looked spectacular in 3D, while playing with the motion-based Move controllers was also a surprisingly intuitive experience. Stereoscopic 3D in games ultimately proved to be a fad, while motion controls never really became more than an ancillary way of playing games, so Killzone 3’s achievements in those areas aren’t remembered the way Sony and Guerrilla might have hoped at the time that they would- but they were impressive achievements nonetheless.

Going into the next generation, then, with Sony primed to release the PS Vita and the PS4, everyone looked at Killzone as one of Sony’s most important franchises, maybe even right below Uncharted in terms of significance and popularity. Its competitive online-centric nature was something that seemed like it fit the trends of the market perfectly, while it also filled that huge first person shooter-shaped hole in Sony’s first party lineup quite well (alongside the somewhat less successful Resistance– which is another story entirely).

The next we saw of Killzone was on the PS Vita, Sony’s new handheld, with Killzone Mercenary, which was the first game in the series to not be developed by Guerrilla Games. Instead, the now defunct Guerrilla Cambridge took the reins. Unlike the previous handheld Killzone title, Mercenary was a full fledged first person shooter, and it would go on to be very well received by critics and larger audiences alike. The level of visual fidelity it achieved on the PS Vita was praised widely, while those who played it were also enamoured by how well it translated the Killzone experience to a handheld device. There was some criticism for the game for its shorter campaign, but Killzone Mercenary was – and still is – one of the best first person shooters on a handheld gaming device. Sadly, due to the poor sales of the PS Vita itself, Mercenary also didn’t do as well commercially as Sony would have hoped it would, and nor did it drive hardware sales.

Just as it had been with the previous handheld Killzone title though, while people were impressed with Mercenary and generally liked it for what it was, what they were really waiting for was the next mainline entry. And the anticipation surrounding it was even higher, because it was what Sony was going to enter into the next generation with. Killzone Shadow Fall was the PS4’s big, headlining launch title, and after what had been a fairly consistent few years for both, the franchise and developers Guerrilla Games, many were hoping that Shadow Fall would be a worthy successor, and an early must-have title on the PS4. 

As it turned out, it wasn’t. It actually turned out to be a pretty disappointing game- its single player campaign was generally considered to be a step down from its predecessors, while the ever-present criticisms surrounding story, storytelling, and characters were stronger than they ever had been. Shadow Fall certainly got several things right- for one, it was an absolutely gorgeous game, and proved to be an excellent early advert for the capabilities of the PS4 and the next generation of consoles in general. It was, in fact, also the first game to use Guerrilla’s Decima engine, which would go on to be used in Horizon: Zero Dawn, and is also the engine that Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions are using for Death Stranding. 

Shadow Fall was also a change in direction for the series- visually, it had a lot more variety than its predecessors; from a level design perspective, it opened things up considerably, and no longer funnelled players down a series of corridors; stealth became a lot more central to gameplay, and made encounters quite different from what Killzone fans had become used to; even the story felt like a new chapter, with a different setting, new tonal direction, and new characters. And though many of those things didn’t land perfectly, it definitely felt like the beginning of chapter 2 for Killzone. And many felt that the next game in the series would only be better and more polished, just as Killzone 2 had realized the potential of its predecessor while ironing out its most glaring flaws. 

As it turns out, though, there was no “next game”. Killzone Shadow Fall came out on November 15, 2013, and now, in the early days of 2019, with more than five years having passed since then, that is the last we saw of Killzone. It wasn’t like Shadow Fall was a commercial failure either- the game had crossed 2 million units in sales by January of 2014, so clearly, it was doing well enough to warrant a sequel. Both Guerrilla Games and Sony, however, have gone in a very different direction. While working on Killzone Shadow Fall, Guerrilla had also begun developing a completely new IP- we now know that IP was Horizon: Zero Dawn, a game that was absolutely stunning, and also completely unlike anything Guerrilla Games had ever done with Killzone (the fact that Horizon’s story, storytelling, world building, open world design, and characters were some of its biggest strengths should tell you as much). 

Even on a more macro level, over the last seven to eight years, Sony’s focus has also clearly shifted, with them now preferring to make single player, cinematic, narrative-driven games like Uncharted, The Last of Us and, yes, Horizon: Zero Dawn. It’s also worth noting that Sony has clearly found a lot more success with these kinds of games than it ever had with its exclusives in the past. Since 2015, its first party titles have been on a roll, with games that follow this philosophy receiving unprecedented praise and selling surprisingly high numbers. The success that Sony has found just within the last couple of years with the likes of Horizon and Spider-Man – to say nothing of what Naughty Dog has accomplished with its games – is indicative that there’s potential for long-term, consistent success if PlayStation keeps heading in this direction. And clearly, looking at the games still bound for the PS4, it’s a direction that they will keep heading in.

Looking at this direction, then, it’s really no surprise that Killzone just doesn’t figure into Sony’s plans. The real question, though, is this- has Sony just dropped Killzone altogether? Do they want Guerrilla Games to focus entirely on Horizon, and Horizon alone? That is a question that isn’t easy to answer, because we haven’t really received an indication as to what the future might hold for Killzone one way or another. While Guerrilla Games have expressed that they still love the franchise, both themselves and Sony have been largely non-committal and vague about the possibilities of a sequel- and really, looking at the impressive first party lineup Sony has amassed, and the level of success they have been consistently finding as a result, that’s not all that surprising. For the first time in many years, Sony doesn’t need to make a Killzone sequel. It’s a franchise they can afford to let rest- maybe even permanently. 

That said, that doesn’t mean that that is what will definitely happen. Armed with a stronger sense of what makes their games tick, coupled with the cache and popularity that the IP has inherently, there’s a chance that Guerrilla and Sony might come back to Killzone eventually. Guerrilla Games, as we know, have recently been expanding aggressively, almost doubling in size, and with such an expansion, it’s natural to assume that the studio would like to not only churn out games at a faster rate, but maybe even work on multiple projects at the same time. There’s nothing to say that they wouldn’t want all hands on deck for Horizon 2 (and we know there’s going to be a Horizon 2), or that even if they do work on two projects at once, that the second one wouldn’t be a new IP. But Killzone is an established and successful franchise, so it’s logical to assume (or at least hope) that Sony might want to return to it. Alternatively, they might even hand it off to another studio while Guerrilla Games works on other projects.

That might all be speculation- but sadly, speculate is all we can do for now. Unlike with franchises like, say, Deus Ex and Mass Effect, where the publishers have been very clear about what the future holds for those properties, or Metal Gear, where circumstances have made its future abundantly clear even in the absence of any concrete work from Konami, Sony has said next to nothing about where Killzone is headed. The door isn’t completely shut on the series, but given the direction Sony is headed in, the future doesn’t look as assured as it once did either. Maybe Sony will find a way to bring back Killzone in a way where it can not only fit in with its current slate of first party exclusives, but also stand toe to toe with them- but then again, maybe it won’t. While Guerrilla Games have confidently transitioned from shooter to RPG, the fate of Killzone is uncertain, and all we can do for now is hope that the next couple of years bring some clarity. 

Horizon: Zero Dawn turned out to be a landmark achievement for Guerrilla Games, and is probably their best game to date- but they’re still very much known as the creators and developers of Sony’s Killzone, the inconsistent but widely beloved first person shooter series. With the dawn of Horizon, though, the future of Killzone has seemed somewhat uncertain, which hasn’t been helped by the studio’s refusal to commit to a sequel in recent years.

However, there’s a possibility that that might be about to change. Guerrilla Games has been going through a pretty huge expansion, which entails moving to a new office and increasing their numbers to a total of 400 employees. As part of this new drive, they’ve hired two faces- Simon Larouche and Chris Lee, who worked on Rainbow Six: Siege as the game director and designer respectively (via ResetEra).

The LinkedIn pages of both (linked above) show that they’re now working for Guerrilla, with Larouche joining in February of 2018, and Lee joining this month, in October. What’s interesting, though, is that both their profiles indicate that they’re working on an unannounced title at the studio, with Larouche’s position on the project being Game Director, and Lee’s position being Principal Game Designer.

Why is that interesting? Well, other than the fact that they’re working on an unannounced title, those are also the exact same positions that both of them had while working on Rainbow Six: Siege, which seems to suggest that the new game they’re working on could be a similar first person multiplayer-centric shooter. There’s every chance that they could be working on Horizon 2, or maybe a new IP entirely, but it’s also worth considering that Larouche has worked at Guerrilla in the past as well, and was involved in the development of Killzone 2. 

Additionally, given the fact that Guerrilla Games plans to expand as significantly as it does, it wouldn’t be out of the question to assume that they could be working on two AAA projects at the same time. Does this mean this new unannounced game has to be Killzone 4? No, it doesn’t, but then again, it could be.

Either way, stay tuned to GamingBolt, and we’ll keep you updated on any new info that comes our way.

Sony’s Guerrilla Games, the team behind the Killzone franchise and last year’s Horizon: Zero Dawn is undergoing massive expansion. They currently have around 250 “permanent” employees on their payroll, but that number will be increasing to 400 as part of their plans to expand.

This, apparently, is being done so that they can put out their games much faster than they have been able to in the past. Horizon: Zero Dawn, for instance, was a project that they worked on for over six years. With their expansion, they’re looking to cut the number down to two to three years, regardless of whether the game being developed is a sequel or a new IP.

“After Horizon Zero Dawn, we are accelerating,” Guerrilla’s CEO Herman Hulst told Dutch outlet Parool. “The best talents are coming to us, and last month we have already hired nine new people, but we also needed more space for our sound and motion tracking studios.” This seems to be in line with recent reports that have come to our attention. For instance, very recently, ex-Eidos Montreal employee Giles Armstrong joined Guerrilla Games as their new Senior Writer.

“We have worked at Horizon for 6.5 years, which is exceptional,” Hulst continued. “We want to release games in the two or three years, both new titles and games based on existing titles.”

Their offices, as a result, will also be changing. The Amsterdam-based studio will be moving offices, and will now be occupying a larger space, a building that was previously used by the Telegraaf newspaper. It spans five stories and 7,300 square meters. “We’re going to turn it into a palace, and our communal space is on the top floor, with the most beautiful view,” Hulst said of their new offices.

This sounds like excellent news. Horizon: Zero Dawn was an absolutely excellent game, and the prospect of the studio working with more resources and more people at their disposal for not just its sequel, but any other game they might work on, sounds like an exciting prospect. The fact that they will probably be able to put out their games at a much quicker rate is, of course, an added bonus. It’s also great to see that Sony have this sort of confidence in their first party studios.

Guerrilla Games has made it big with Horizon: Zero Dawn, their open world action RPG that hit the PS4 earlier this year to rave reviews and an impressive amount of copies sold. The success of the game all but assures that there will be a follow up- that it will, in fact, become a tentpole franchise for Sony.

Which is all well and good, but it also does cast a giant question mark over the fate of the Killzone franchise. Fans of Sony and Guerrila’s flawed first person shooter series apparently are eager to know exactly whether or not we may expect more titles in the future.

“I get asked that question a lot through Twitter and other social media channels,” Guerrilla Games’ managing director, Hermen Hulst, said in a recent interview with the Academy of Interactive Arts & Science.

“It’s really 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. All I can say is that we’ve always loved the Killzone universe and the Killzone series, and we still do. We share that passion for the game with a lot of our fans.”

Which is… not even close to a clear answer, let’s be honest. This could be interpreted either way- it could mean the franchise is dead, but he doesn’t want to say it in as many words, or it could mean that it’s still around, but Guerrilla doesn’t want to divert attention from Horizon for now.

My personal theory is that there will be new Killzone games- but they will not be by Guerrilla, and will instead be handed by Sony to some other studio, while Guerrilla themselves continue to work on Horizon.