Horizon Forbidden West saw a fairly positive reception when it launched in February, and Publisher Sony and Developer Guerilla Games already announced a sequel. Unfortunately, fans don’t know much about the upcoming Horizon Call of the Mountain. However, Guerilla Games has revealed that it’s a VR spin-off with a new protagonist and set many years after the events of Forbidden West.
However, those may not be the only things that are different about Horizon Call of the Mountain. Trademark filings indicate that the game may be a streaming exclusive, with no option for players to download it.
According to the World Intellectual Property Organization’s database, Sony Interactive Entertainment filed international trademark documents for Horizon Call of the Mountain in early January. This is standard practice for a new intellectual property. However, Sony’s chosen to file Call of the Mountain under the category of “non-downloadable game software.” This is a subset of a Class 41 trademark, which generally applies to non-interactive educational content but also covers certain video streaming services and television programs.
Sony also filed the trademark under Class 9, which covers all computer programs, in addition to Class 41 as mentioned above. Neither of these categories is surprising on their own, with Microsoft’s Halo Infinite falling into the same Classes. However, Infinite’s Class 9 description focuses on the subsection that applies to sporting and cultural activities. The filing for Horizon Call of the Mountain, meanwhile, specifically uses terms like “on-line,” “web-based,” and “non-downloadable.”
It is worth noting that Sony describes Horizon Call of the Mountain as downloadable in the trademark’s Class 9 description. One explanation for this apparent contradiction is that players can choose to either download Call of the Mountain or stream it from a central server. However, Halo Infinite is also available for both download and streaming, but its trademark didn’t need to be filed under both software categories. Another possible explanation is that players have an option to stream Horizon Call of the Mountain without subscribing to a larger service, as is required to stream Halo Infinite. However, that is simply speculation.
It would be too early to say that this trademark filing confirms that Horizon Call of the Mountain is a streaming exclusive. However, the fact that fans know so little about the game leaves open the door for speculation. Besides a brief blog post and short video released in January, the public has little to go on. Neither gives much information beyond the above-mentioned new protagonist, new time period, and that it will be optimized for the PlayStation VR 2. Hopefully, Sony will come out with more details before too much longer.
Horizon Call of the Mountain is in development.