Firewalk Studios’ Concord was shut down shortly after launch, and there’s been a lot of talk about whether it would have a chance to return, and more importantly what would happen to its developers. Well, we now know the answers to both questions—Concord is gone forever, and Firewalk is shut down.
Sadly, it seems likely that this is the result since PlayStation decided to take the game offline on September 6th, after the game launched with low player numbers and sales expectations, especially in a market that has seen so many closures and sales industry environment. Layoffs in 2024. For affected developers, knowing this may make things easier.
iGamesNews
In an official blog post, Sony released an internal email from SIE Studio Business Group CEO Hermen Hulst confirming the decision to “permanently close” Concord and shut down Firewalk. Mobile developer Neon Koi is working on an as-yet-unannounced “mobile action game,” but it’s not yet available, and the company has been shut down at the same time.
Hulst wrote that the decision to close is part of an “ongoing effort to strengthen SIE Studios’ business.” “Both decisions were carefully considered and, ultimately, we feel they are the right choice to strengthen the organization,” he added. “Neon Koi and Firewalk are home to many talented people and we will work hard to find placements for some of them.” potentially making an impact within our global studio community.”
According to Bloomberg, “approximately 210 jobs” are affected, so with both studios closing, roughly that number of employees will need to find new jobs at PlayStation or elsewhere. Sony only acquired Firewalk in 2023, and Neon Koi has only been a PlayStation studio since 2022, when it was acquired by the console giant as Savage Games Studios.
iGamesNews
“Firewalk was built to bring the joy of multiplayer gaming to a wider audience,” the studio wrote in a post on Twitter about the closure, which reflected on some of its team’s achievements. “We’re here to Some risks were taken along the way – a fighting game that combined aspects of a card battle game and a first-person shooter – bringing something new into the world even though some aspects of the IP and others didn’t quite land as we had hoped. ideas are critical to moving the media forward.
“Firewalk’s level of talent and personal craftsmanship is truly world-class, and the team within Sony Interactive Entertainment and across the industry will be privileged to work with them.”
In addition to thanking the Firewalk staff, Hulst wrote of Concord in an email: “The PvP first-person shooter genre is an ever-evolving competitive space, and unfortunately we didn’t achieve our goals with this game . We will learn from this and Concord will continue to enhance our real-time service capabilities for future growth in this area.”
Kotaku reports that the hero shooter’s initial development deal has cost the company $200 million, and that’s not counting many other aspects of development, and PlayStation has now decided to finalize the deal, just over two months after launch Just closed the studio. d may have been added to the total.
