Sony has shut down the Killzone.com website, affecting some online functionality and raising questions about what future, if any, the franchise has going forward.
The site now reads:
Dear Killzone.com visitor,
The official website for the KILLZONE franchise has retired. Going forward, visitors to Killzone.com will be directed to PlayStation.com.
While this change doesn’t affect the online multiplayer modes, player statistics or ranking data for KILLZONE MERCENARY and KILLZONE SHADOW FALL, it is now no longer possible to create or manage clans in KILLZONE SHADOW FALL. We apologize for this inconvenience.
Thank you to Killzone.com’s many fans and visitors throughout the years for their enthusiasm and support.
Sincerely,
Guerrilla
Online multiplayer is still available, but you can’t access player data from Mercenary anymore or manage clans in Shadow Fall.
It’s been a long, long time since the release of the last Killzone games, with Killzone: Mercenary for PlayStation Vita arriving in September 2013, and Killzone: Shadow Fall then arriving as a launch title for the PlayStation 4 in November 2013. Both put a good emphasis on online multiplayer, as Mercenary brought small-scale 4v4 battles to the small screen, and Shadow Fall provided a solid slice of FPS multiplayer, following up on the popularity of Killzone 2 and 3 online.
However, it’s now seven years later, the PS Vita was officially discontinued at the start of 2019 and the PlayStation 4 has now been superseded by the PlayStation 5, a full generation having now passed with no sequel to what was once one of Sony’s tentpole franchises.
A big part of that, of course, is that developer Guerrilla Games has moved on and enjoyed great success with 2017’s Horizon: Zero Dawn and is currently hard at work on a sequel Horizon: Forbidden West for PS5 and PS4.
So is this the start of the end for Killzone? Of course not! The IP still exists, and while new games haven’t been coming out, there are rumours that they are working on a multiplayer project, not least because of job listings mentioning it. Multiplayer doesn’t seem that suited to Horizon, that would suggest some kind of Killzone revival or a new IP. Still, it does feel like the beginning of the end for Shadow Fall and Mercenary, small as their player bases surely are at this point.
Source: Killzone.com
Starman
That’s a surprise, but maybe they’re just lowering people’s expectations before it returns eventually. I really enjoyed the multiplayer on Killzone games. There’s a lot of potential ways it could return, like a rainbow 6 style squad game, or the obligatory battle royale even.
Tuffcub
*cries in Helghan*