After the announcement of Horizon: Steel Frontier, Japanese media 4Gamer interviewed Lee Song, the executive producer of the game.During the period, many topics were discussed. During the interview, Lee Song confirmed that the current version of "Horizon: Steel Frontier" supports a team of up to 16 people, and plans to launch 6 types of long-range weapons and 6 types of melee weapons.

Regarding the business model of the game, 4Gamer heard that "Horizon: Steel Frontier" will be a free model, but there will be no gashapon (gambling) mechanism.

4Gamer interview summary:

First of all, how do you feel now after the press conference?

Lee Song：

It was hard to keep it secret from everyone, and even though we put a lot of effort into it, there were rumors that development had been canceled, so I'm relieved to finally be able to announce it (laughs).

Did NCSOFT recommend this project to SIE?

Lee Song：

I have a very good friend at SIE, and I contacted them in 2019 and said, "We want to make a game like this, what do you think?"

They agreed, so we contacted the original developer, Guerrilla Games, and the project started.

We had three meetings with Guerrilla Games to discuss what kind of game we wanted to make and how to get involved.We impressed them by explaining how much we loved the Horizon series and how serious we were about this project.When I did that, they said things like, "You guys are serious," and "You're such a big fan," and I gained their trust (laughs).

Speaking of multiplayer, how many people can be in a party?

Lee Song：

We have currently completed development of teams up to 16 people.

In addition, we attach great importance to the concept of tribes in team games.It's not just about building a team and calling it a day; the goal is to create tribal bonds between players and have those bonds last.

Questions about combat.In the posted video, one character fights with a giant sword, while others use bows and arrows.Bows and arrows are the iconic weapons of the "Horizon" series, so what about the weapon system of this game?

Lee Song：

Good question.The biggest problem I encountered in this game was how to handle the weapons.In the original, most of the combat was fought with bows and arrows, right? But that's not possible in a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG).

Therefore, in this game, we divide the characters into melee and ranged, and set the ratio of characters required in combat to 50/50.To match this setting, half of the characters in the party are melee and the other half are ranged.In a single-player game, we assume that the player will play both roles.

What types of weapons are available?

Lee Song:

Melee weapons include greatswords and twin swords, and ranged weapons include bows and longbows.We currently plan to launch six melee weapons and six ranged weapons, but more varieties may be added in the future.——

Please tell me about the payment system.I heard this game is free.

Lee Song:

We want a lot of players to play, so we're thinking about a friendly business model where players can easily buy passes and things like that.

Additionally, since the game puts a lot of effort into character customization, we are also considering adding a system that would allow players to sell custom presets, for example.We are currently considering this issue.

However, we can be sure that there will be no gashapon mechanism in the game.

There is no card drawing mechanism at all in the new MMORPG, which feels a bit too hard-core.

Lee Song：

This is something I did deliberately.I hope the younger generation can experience the fun of MMORPGs like Lineage.

At the same time, I also hope that veteran players like us can easily get started (laughs).——

What are the goals of this project?

Lee Song:

The exact number hasn't been determined yet, so it's hard to say, but as a series lead who has worked on all the Lineage games, my personal goal is to make a game that surpasses Lineage.

Will there be Japanese dubbing when the game is released in Japan?

Lee Song：

Of course, we plan to use Japanese voice actors.I think it would be suicide to release a game in Japan without using Japanese voice actors.

We hope to pass on the fun of "Horizon" to Japanese MMORPG players through this game.

Oh, and by the way, this is a global game, so we won't ignore the Japanese market like we did with Aion 2.No, I'm kidding."Aion 2" is also a great game, so stay tuned for its release in Japan!