PlayStation Reportedly Delays Horizon Forbidden West

Sony has reportedly delayed the upcoming PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 exclusive Horizon Forbidden West to 2022. News of the supposed delay comes from more than one recent report that suggested the release date had indeed been pushed back. The game was previously targeting a Holiday 2021 release, though those working on the game and PlayStation executives had always suggested previously that this was a goal and not a plan set in stone.

GamesBeat's Jeff Grubb said in a recent Giant Bomb segment that he's heard that Horizon Forbidden West will no longer be releasing in September. He said the matter is still "undecided" (via VGC), but indicated that things were "leaning towards" a 2022 release date for the Horizon Zero Dawn sequel.

Bloomberg also reported on the matter in less uncertain terms. The outlet said Sony had elected to delay the game to the first quarter of 2022 according to one unnamed source said to be familiar with the matter.

Hermen Hulst, the head of PlayStation Studios, said months ago after the delay of the new God of War game that Sony and Guerrilla Games were targeting a Holiday 2021 release for Horizon Forbidden West. Hulst's comments left room for a delay to happen, however, and it looks like that might be the case now as some people suspected might happen whenever Hulst's comments were first shared.

"So we have, currently, two very big, very narrative-driven games in development: Horizon Forbidden West and the next God of War," Hulst said in a PlayStation Blog post. "And for both of those, they're frankly affected by access to performance capture and talent. For Horizon, we think we are on track to release this holiday season. But that isn't quite certain yet, and we're working as hard as we can to confirm that to you as soon as we can."

Thanks for watching our #HorizonForbiddenWest gameplay reveal! We don't have an exact release date just yet, but development is on track and we will have an update for you very soon - thank you as always for your ongoing support!

— Guerrilla (@Guerrilla) May 27, 2021

Guerrilla Games shared similar comments in the past like the ones above that left people wondering if the Holiday 2021 plans would work out.

According to Grubb, we might be getting a PlayStation event in September – perhaps a State of Play stream – which will bring news of other PlayStation games Sony has in the works along with a confirmation of the Horizon Forbidden West delay. Until that happens, the new game has not officially been delayed and is still planned for a Holiday 2021 release.