Presentation

The modern history of Guerrilla Games can almost be divided into two periods.

The first is that of Killzone. For more than a decade, this FPS series established the Dutch studio among the important technical teams of the PlayStation ecosystem. The second begins when Guerrilla agrees to leave this familiar ground to develop Horizon Zero Dawn, an open-world action RPG that forces the team to rethink much of its tools, its AI, and its production methods.

Founded in Amsterdam in 2003, Guerrilla has belonged to Sony since December 2005. This close relationship with PlayStation gives it important stability, but does not prevent it from profoundly transforming its craft.

The move from Killzone to Horizon is probably the best key to understanding the studio.

Guerrilla does not start from scratch. Its experience in rendering, AI, tools, and production is reused, moved, and sometimes rebuilt to address a much larger problem: moving from relatively contained spaces to an open world populated by machines able to behave like creatures while remaining readable as combat systems.

At the center of this continuity lies Decima, an engine born from the technologies developed for Killzone and then deeply transformed for Horizon. Guerrilla then shares it with Kojima Productions, letting part of its technical culture leave the sole framework of its own games.

Horizon itself evolves beyond a single formula. VR, a LEGO adaptation, collaborations with other teams, and new multiplayer forms show that Guerrilla is increasingly acting as both a creator and a guardian of a universe and a technology able to be interpreted elsewhere.

The studio's common thread is therefore neither the FPS nor the open world.

It is rather a way of moving forward: reuse the accumulated skills without remaining a prisoner of the formula that produced them.

History

2003-2005: Killzone brings Guerrilla closer to PlayStation

Guerrilla officially starts its activity in 2003 in Amsterdam.

The first Killzone was released in 2004 on PlayStation 2. Even before that release, the studio had signed an exclusive development agreement with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe in March 2004.

The relationship therefore precedes the acquisition.

On December 8, 2005, Sony bought Guerrilla and integrated it into its Worldwide Studios network.

Killzone then became more than a first important franchise. The series placed Guerrilla in an environment where each console generation brought new problems in rendering, AI, animation, sound, and tooling.

The studio gradually built a culture where technology and creation move forward together.

Killzone becomes a technical laboratory

Killzone 2, Killzone 3, and then Killzone Shadow Fall reinforced this reputation.

Guerrilla regularly published detailed work on its systems and production methods. Rendering, AI, effects, audio, and tools were not treated as independent layers.

Each project became an opportunity to improve the infrastructure that would serve the next.

This logic is essential to understanding the future transition.

When Guerrilla decided to leave Killzone, it did not abandon fifteen years of skills.

It carried them toward a different problem.

Horizon Zero Dawn: changing genre means changing studio

Developing Horizon Zero Dawn required a much deeper transformation than a simple change of universe.

Guerrilla moved from an FPS mainly built around relatively controlled tactical spaces to an open-world action RPG.

The scale changes.

The systems had to manage more characters, vast environments, new forms of navigation, and above all machines with behaviors complex enough to feel alive while remaining understandable as opponents.

This transition forced the studio to rebuild part of its pipeline and its artificial intelligence.

The risk was significant: a team becomes efficient when it repeats certain kinds of problems. Changing genre means accepting encountering many new ones.

Guerrilla nonetheless kept its technical foundations.

The change therefore was not about erasing Killzone.

It was about making its heritage serve another ambition.

The mechanical creatures of Horizon quickly became the most recognizable element of the new universe.

Their effectiveness comes from their dual function.

They have silhouettes and behaviors inspired by the living, which gives them an immediately readable visual identity.

But they are also combat systems: destructible components, weapons, vulnerabilities, and behaviors can be observed and exploited.

The same object therefore serves fiction, animation, AI, and gameplay.

This coherence sums up Guerrilla's culture well: technology is genuinely interesting when it becomes perceptible in how you play.

Decima: a technology that grows with the studio's needs

The engine now called Decima has its origins in the tools developed for Killzone.

It was then deeply transformed to meet the needs of Horizon Zero Dawn: large environments, streaming, animation, complex systems, and creation tools.

The engine therefore does not exist separately from the works.

It evolves because the games pose it new problems.

This culture then extends beyond Guerrilla when the studio shares the technology with Kojima Productions, who notably used it for Death Stranding. The two teams collaborate around its development.

A technology born to serve internal productions thus becomes another way for Guerrilla to contribute to the PlayStation ecosystem.

2017-2022: Horizon becomes the new public identity

Horizon Zero Dawn was released in February 2017 and profoundly transformed the studio's image.

For more than a decade, Guerrilla had been almost inseparable from Killzone. Horizon gave it a new property able to carry its identity to a much wider audience.

The universe extended with The Frozen Wilds, then arrived on PC in 2020.

Horizon Forbidden West, released in 2022, no longer had to prove Guerrilla could produce an open world. It had to deepen the formula while evolving Decima and the studio's systems.

Guerrilla thus moved from a period of rupture to a period of consolidation.

Horizon becomes bigger than Guerrilla alone

As the property grew, Guerrilla accepted it would be interpreted by other teams.

Horizon Call of the Mountain was co-developed with Firesprite for VR.

LEGO Horizon Adventures involved Studio Gobo and accepted a much lighter tone than the main games.

Other collaborations push this logic even further.

Guerrilla's role then subtly changes.

The studio remains creator and developer, but also becomes guardian of a property solid enough to support several forms.

This evolution carries a risk: over-diversifying a universe can make it unrecognizable.

It also offers proof of maturity: a property may no longer need a single genre to remain itself.

What Sets It Apart

Reusing skills, not formulas

The move from Killzone to Horizon is probably the best demonstration of Guerrilla's identity.

The studio changes genre but keeps much of what it has learned.

Rendering, AI, tools, and production remain useful, even if they must be transformed.

This way of evolving is more interesting than a total rupture.

The new project forces Guerrilla to learn; the old one keeps it from having to relearn everything.

Technology does not exist separately from design

Guerrilla has a strong engineering culture, but technical performance is not a sufficient end.

In Horizon, AI serves the behavior of the machines.

Streaming serves the world.

Tools serve the iteration of artists and designers.

The engine serves several forms of creation.

Technology therefore becomes part of design itself.

This relationship explains why Decima is also important for understanding the studio: it does not just represent what Guerrilla knows how to program, but the way the team organizes creation at scale.

Decima as collective memory

Decima carries several generations of learning.

The needs of Killzone built some foundations. Horizon transformed others. The collaboration with Kojima Productions moved the technology beyond the studio.

The engine thus functions almost like a collective memory.

It contains solutions accumulated over productions while staying flexible enough to welcome new problems.

This technical continuity lets Guerrilla deeply change projects without starting each time from a blank page.

A property that can change form

Horizon started as a single-player open-world action RPG.

It then became a VR experience, a LEGO adaptation, and a ground for other collaborations.

This diversification shows that Guerrilla no longer necessarily sees an intellectual property as a frozen gameplay formula.

The studio rather tests what must stay stable when the form changes: characters, machines, visual rules, world, and recognizable feelings.

This is probably the next great step in its evolution.

After proving it could leave Killzone without losing its skills, Guerrilla must now show that Horizon can leave its initial formula without losing its identity.

Good to Know

  • Guerrilla Games officially started its activity in 2003 and remains based in Amsterdam.
  • Killzone began in 2004 and became the first major franchise associated with the studio.
  • Guerrilla signed an exclusive development agreement with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe in March 2004.
  • Sony Computer Entertainment acquired Guerrilla on December 8, 2005.
  • The technology now called Decima has its origins in the tools developed for Killzone.
  • Horizon Zero Dawn was released in February 2017 and marked the studio's major transformation toward open-world action RPG.
  • Guerrilla shares Decima with Kojima Productions and collaborates with the team around its evolution.
  • Horizon Zero Dawn arrived on PC in 2020, expanding the property's presence beyond PlayStation consoles.
  • Horizon Forbidden West was released in 2022.
  • Guerrilla now accompanies other teams on several projects linked to Horizon, while continuing to develop Decima.