In a move that very few of us saw coming, PlayStation’s Horizon series is heading to Nintendo Switch (albeit in the slightly more family-friendly, LEGO Horizon Adventures form). Is this a crossover episode? Are we witnessing the start of a bold new partnership between Sony and the Big N? Does this mean PlayStation IP will start leaking into the likes of Super Smash Bros.? We’d have to assume ‘no’ for that last one, but that’s not to say that the devs of this latest LEGO adventure wouldn’t be up for it.
In a new feature from Kotaku, Guerrilla Games’ franchise development lead producer Tim Symons (who previously spent a decade at Nintendo of Europe as a Product Development Manager amongst other roles) was asked whether Horizon on Switch might lead to a Smash collaboration at some point down the line. While the dev hardly answered in the affirmative, he did confess that it would be “nice” to see. “If you speak to Nintendo and they want to invite us,” Symons told Kotaku, “let me know”.
It’s a nice thought (Aloy would certainly be one of the more suitable PlayStation characters for Smash), though we struggle to imagine a world where it would happen. We all know how protective Nintendo is over its IP and while Smash Ultimate did welcome some crossovers that previously seemed impossible, mixing the Nintendo and Sony pools in such a popular franchise might feel like a step too far.
Of course, Smash Bros. may just be the biggest crossover event out there, and Guerrilla Games wouldn’t be the first to want to get in on it. Back in 2022, NieR:Automata‘s Taro-san told us that he was “hugely disappointed” that 2B and co. weren’t on Switch in time to make the Smash cut and let’s not forget that Minecraft‘s Steve is an available fighter in Ultimate. We suppose that seeing PlayStation characters face off against Mario, Link and Samus isn’t completely out of the question in the future, should this partnership continue…
But perhaps we’re getting ahead of ourselves. LEGO Horizon Adventures is due out on Switch this holiday. We were lucky enough to go hands-on with the game at Summer Game Fest and we liked what we saw, finding it to be a welcome entry point to Sony’s series.
As for what the future holds for these two, we’ll just have to wait and see.