New sales figures for the Horizon franchise have been revealed in the wake of Sony’s lawsuit against Tencent Games. Developer Guerrilla Games first kickstarted the Horizon franchise with 2017’s Horizon Zero Dawn, which introduced gamers to the young nomad warrior Aloy as she searched for her destiny in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by animal-like machines and feuding tribes. Since then, there has been the 2022 sequel Horizon: Forbidden West, a 2023 VR spin-off titled Horizon Call of the Mountain, and 2024’s kid-friendly collect-a-thon LEGO Horizon Adventures.

Earlier this week, the Horizon series was thrust back into headlines with the announcement that Sony was launching a lawsuit against Tencent Games over Light of Motiram, a game that was announced in November 2024 by subsidiary developer Polaris Quest. It quickly drew comparisons to the Horizon franchise thanks to its strikingly similar visual style, a gallery of robotic “Mechanimal” wildlife that wouldn’t look too out of place in the Claim or the Forbidden West, and even a red-haired, bow-wielding female protagonist who strongly resembles Aloy.

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Thanks to Zero Dawn and Forbidden West, Horizon 3 is Unlikely to Inherit One PlayStation Trend

If Zero Dawn and Forbidden West paint a portrait of the series' future, Horizon 3 may not be the threequel to move many mountains.

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Sony’s resulting lawsuit against Tencent has revealed updated sales figures for the Horizon franchise. Gaming insider Shinobi602 took note of one of the legal documents filed by Sony in light of the lawsuit, which states that the Horizon franchise has sold over 38 million copies worldwide. This is about a 6 million increase from the last Horizon sales report in May 2023, which revealed that the franchise sold 32 million units globally.

Horizon Has Sold Over 38 Million Copies Worldwide

This ties into Sony’s argument that Tencent had access to the Horizon series at the time it first conceptualized Light of Motiram, even if it hadn’t previously approached Sony for the rights to license the IP. Sony is now seeking statutory damages of up to $150,000 from Tencent for each infringed work, as well as a court order that would block Light of Motiram from being released and order Tencent to destroy all related promotional materials for the game.

Regardless of how this lawsuit ends, Sony has a third mainline game in development that will presumably pick Aloy’s story up from where Horizon Forbidden West’s Burning Shores DLC left off. A live-action film adaptation of Horizon Zero Dawn is also in the works at PlayStation Productions and Columbia Pictures, as was announced a few months after the previously planned television series was scrapped. An online, multiplayer Horizon game is also planned.

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9 /10

Horizon Forbidden West
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Action
RPG
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Systems
PC-1 PlayStation-1
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Top Critic Avg: 88 /100 Critics Rec: 96%
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Released
February 18, 2022
ESRB
T for Teen: Blood, Language, Use of Alcohol, Violence
Developer(s)
Guerrilla Games
Publisher(s)
Sony
Engine
Decima
Franchise
Horizon
Steam Deck Compatibility
Unsupported
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
PHYSICAL
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Join Aloy as she braves a majestic but dangerous new frontier that holds mysterious new threats. This Complete Edition allows you to enjoy the critically acclaimed Horizon Forbidden West on PC in its entirety with bonus content, including the Burning Shores story expansion that picks up after the main game.

Explore distant lands, fight bigger and more awe-inspiring machines, and encounter astonishing new tribes as you return to the far-future, post-apocalyptic world of Horizon.

The land is dying. Vicious storms and an unstoppable blight ravage the scattered remnants of humanity while fearsome new machines prowl their borders, and life on Earth is hurtling toward another extinction.

It's up to Aloy to uncover the secrets behind these threats and restore order and balance to the world. Along the way, she must reunite with old friends, forge alliances with warring new factions and unravel the legacy of the ancient past.

Genre(s)
Action, RPG
OpenCritic Rating
Mighty
How Long To Beat
29 Hours
PS Plus Availability
N/A