Sony’s Horizon franchise is a compelling one, to be sure, despite its open-world issues and hit-and-miss character writing. It’s the strongest aspects of the franchise—the visuals, combat, and RPG elements—that will keep it sustained into the future, and the follow-up to Horizon Forbidden West will no doubt attempt to expand on such crown jewels.
But whatever the next Horizon game looks like, it’s safe to say that it will be a PlayStation exclusive, at least at first. Guerrilla Games, the studio behind the Horizon franchise, is a Sony-owned studio, and has been instrumental in the so-called “console wars” during the past two hardware generations, further buttressing PlayStation’s robust first-party library. But Sony’s attitude toward console exclusives could be shifting, as evidenced by the recent announcement that Helldivers 2 would be coming to Xbox. If this Helldivers port is indicative of the company’s strategy moving forward, then anything is possible, and heavy-hitters like Horizon 3 could conceivably leave the PlayStation and PC ecosystem. Assuming this happens, then the next Horizon game could find a comfortable home, not on Xbox, but on the Nintendo Switch 2.
One of Horizon Zero Dawn’s most famous robotic foes saw a bit of backslide in Forbidden West, and should return to form in Horizon 3.
The Case for Horizon 3 To Get a Nintendo Switch 2 Port
The Nintendo Switch 2’s Portability and Mouse Controls Are Perfect for the Horizon Franchise
The first Nintendo Switch became an unlikely bastion for open-world gaming. Perhaps the portable nature of the console, which encourages short-term gaming sessions as much as long-term ones, synergizes especially well with the open-world format, which often incentivizes quick, bite-sized activities. There’s also the fact that so many open-world games, including games like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, leverage escapism and immersion to a greater degree than other genres, making players feel like they’ve truly been transported to a new world; there’s something undeniably novel about having that experience in the palm of one’s hand.
For these reasons alone, Horizon 3 would be a great fit for the Nintendo Switch 2, but there’s another, more impactful Switch 2 feature that would be well-suited for Aloy’s next adventure: mouse controls. The Joy-Con 2s can be detached and used in a manner indistinguishable from a computer mouse, which makes the Switch 2 a surprisingly great platform for shooters. Since the Horizon franchise relies heavily on ranged combat, the Switch 2’s mouse controls would be an obvious boon. Who knows, maybe this theoretical Switch 2 port of Horizon 3 could even leverage the system’s motion controls.
Horizon 3 Would Be a True Test of the Switch 2’s Power
For many, the best part about the Switch 2 isn’t its mouse functionality or exclusives, but its sheer increase in raw power compared to its predecessor. Indeed, the first Nintendo Switch was far behind the pack in terms of rendering and processing power, and while the Switch 2 isn’t quite as good as something like the base PlayStation 5, it’s still a major upgrade. The sequel console can run demanding titles like Cyberpunk 2077 without major problems, so there’s no reason to believe that it couldn’t handle something like Horizon 3, under the right circumstances.
On top of all this, Nintendo is already somewhat cozy with the Horizon series courtesy of LEGO Horizon Adventures, which launched on the original Switch. That game wasn’t exactly a critical or commercial darling, but it did demonstrate that Sony is being less stingy with its first-party properties, allowing them to roam and graze in different pastures—so long as they always come home to PlayStation. With this loose connection already established, and Xbox effectively bowing out of the exclusive games market, a game like Horizon 3 coming to the Switch 2 doesn’t seem like such a far-fetched idea.
