Horizon Steel Frontiers is a significant new change for the whole Horizon franchise. This massively multiplayer online role-playing game, or MMORPG, is being constructed by Sony Interactive Entertainment and NCSoft. You need to know about the exact business and design choices behind this project. It is not just another console spin-off. It is a play against the global mobile market.
The Strategic Partnership
The most important thing is the platform selection. The game is released on the iOS platform, Android, and PC. It is not released on PlayStation 5. This exclusion is an indication of a direct emphasis on platform independence. NCSoft maximizes its income by selling the PC version only on its own purposely created PURPLE platform. You should view this distribution strategy as a way of evading the normal store charges. It is a mobile-first design, or in other words, the controls and systems are determined by the mobile devices.
Basic Gameplay Horizon Steel Frontiers: Hunt and Competition.
The game transforms the hunting experience that is known as a signature into a common world. Executive Producer Sung-Gu Lee had concentrated on the excitement of hunting giant machines. Steel Frontiers is reminiscent of a Monster Hunter sort of game.
Players make their machine hunters. You do not play as Aloy. This change enables the vast customization that is needed in an MMORPG. The world is referred to as the Deadlands. It is based on Arizona and New Mexico scenery.
Fighting combines the usual action of the console series with sophisticated MMORPG. It must be played in a tactical manner. Gamers seek frailties in mechanical creatures. Grappling hooks are mobile devices used to support world traversal. The players are also able to ride tamed machines.
The social component consists of two dynamics. You have to work together with others to be able to destroy huge machines. You are also competitive. Competitive tribes struggle to control essential resources in the world. This brings in a Player versus Player (PvP).
Technical Standards
The fundamental Horizon titles were a version of the Decima engine created by Guerrilla. Steel Frontiers is developed based on Unreal Engine 5 and is created by NCSoft. This standard engine option will guarantee more cross-platform compatibility, particularly with the mobile devices.
Mobile game visual fidelity was good based on pre-alpha footage. The world is both fertile and run-down. The aesthetic level of the IP does not decrease, as the designs of machines are ornate and detailed.
The Monetization Challenge
The game will involve a free-to-play business model. Microtransactions are the source of revenue. These are cosmetics, battle passes, and utility items.
The history of NCSoft requires examination. In its Lineage line, the company developed colossal success, based on aggressive pay-to-win (P2W) schemes. NCSoft encountered backlash on the part of players who were paying money to get an obvious advantage.
The creators assure that there will be no pay-to-win in Steel Frontiers. You need to take this promise with a grain of salt considering the financial stress on NCSoft. Power sale is a structural opportunity presented by the existence of competitive resource control in the game. When there is a progression boost or time savers through the sale of the game, it is a breach of the no P2W promise.
It is on this that you need to base your article. The biggest threat to the Horizon brand is the commercial environment of the game. The effectiveness of this international experiment remains on NCSoft providing a well-balanced F2P economy. There is an official release date that is not available yet.
Some In-Game Footage Images
