PlayStation has officially ‘retired’ the Killzone franchise website

Sony has “retired” its official Killzone franchise website, affecting some online features and seemingly casting the franchise’s immediate future in some doubt.

A notice on Killzone.com has announced that going forward visitors to Killzone.com will be directed to PlayStation.com, but no clarification is offered on what it means for the future of the Guerrilla Games series.

“The official website for the Killzone franchise has retired,” the website notice reads.

“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.”

The Killzone series was once one of PlayStation’s flagship franchises, with six instalments released across PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and handheld consoles in the nine years following its 2004 debut.

However, the series hasn’t seen a release since 2013’s PS4 launch game Killzone: Shadow Fall and its developer seems very much focused on its action-adventure series Horizon.

Guerrilla recently announced Horizon Forbidden West for PS4 and PS5 and VGC understands that the studio has fleshed out plans for a trilogy of Horizon games.

Asked in 2017 about the future of the Killzone franchise, then-Guerrilla boss Hermen Hulst (now PlayStation’s head of Worldwide Studios) gave the Academy of Interactive Arts & Science a non-committal answer.

“I get asked that question [about the future of Killzone] a lot through Twitter and other social media channels,” he said.

“It’s really heartwarming to hear that there’s such a strong appetite from the loyal Killzone fanbase. It’s a franchise and universe that we still love with a passion at Guerrilla.

further reading

1

2021 Preview: Can Horizon Forbidden West do cross-gen right?

Guerrilla's sequel promises more luscious scenery and deeper exploration on both PS4 and 5

“It hasn’t been easy doing something so completely different. Whether or not we’ve put a permanent period behind the series, it’s too early to make announcements on that.

“All I can say is that we’ve always loved the Killzone universe and the Killzone series, and we still do. We share that passion for the game with a lot of our fans.”

Sony recently made signals it hadn’t totally forgotten about the Killzone series. In its PS5 UI reveal video, it opened with a user account using a Killzone avatar, while some of the names used in the demo appeared to be references to Killzone characters.

Guerrilla Games co-founder Hermen Hulst was named PlayStation’s new head of Worldwide Studios in November 2019, which sees him manager all of Sony’s 14 internal studios.