PlayStation 5 Exclusive Horizon: Forbidden West Pegged for a Late 2021 Release

Horizon: Forbidden West is a biopunk open-world title from developer Guerrilla Games and publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE). It is a sequel to the 2017 title Horizon Zero Dawn, which paved the way for devs to expand the world for the latter title. Horizon 2 promises a closer look into the post-apocalyptic world set in the distant future. The developers originally set the sequel for release by the end of this year. But the global pandemic of 2020 hampered the release of innumerable games. Therefore, it wouldn’t have come as a surprise if the game’s developers postponed the release to 2022.

Hopefully that is not the case. Playstation’s various promotional stories and posts circulated on social media suggest otherwise. Their Instagram advert shows Horizon Forbidden West among the list of Guerrilla Games sequels due for “late 2021”. Similarly, another video published on IGN’s YouTube channel shows the game among the list of four “Sony PlayStation 5 – Official Game Range Trailer” games. Check the video out below.

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CEO Ryan feels “pretty good” about Horizon 2

In an interview with GQ, SIE CEO Jim Ryan spoke about the company’s plans and what lies ahead for the 2021 games that got delayed to 2022. He confirmed Gran Turismo 7’s delay into 2022 and blamed it on the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. The lockdown majorly took a toll on production schedules, forcing several big-budget titles due for the first two months of 2021 to slip into the upcoming years.

On a positive note, Ryan clarified the fate of some other Sony games scheduled for 2021. He is “feeling good” about Returnal, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Horizon Forbidden West, all of which have high chances of sticking to their initial release dates later this year. But the platform holder will not hesitate to delay them if they feel the need for improvement and production.

“There are two approaches to this: you can either hold the date and put out the game irrespective of quality or you can ship it when it’s right,” he said. “We have always taken the latter approach. There have been some fairly high-profile instances of publishers trying the former approach.”

He further added, “It never works at the best of times. But I think in this world, where creative people are working remotely, you’ve just got to respect the fact that that development needs to take what it needs to take and to get the games right.”

Horizon fans can safely assume that the latter half of the year will be interesting. The social media ads, the interview and the PS5 games release video are hopefully enough to confirm the game’s release. Yet, we suggest you not to get your hopes too high and wait for the actual announcement post.

Which game are you looking forward to this year?

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