Following the closure of Firewalk Studios’ Concord, the game’s developers are said to be in “limbo,” with game director Ryan Ellis having stepped down from a “supporting role,” according to a new report.
Since PlayStation decided to pull the game on September 6th due to the low player and sales expectations surrounding the game’s release, there has been a lot of speculation that the game might be brought back later in another format, possibly as a free-to-play title. Well, it looks like Sony itself is still weighing its options.
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According to Kotaku , Ellis, the former Destiny 2 creative director who signed on to lead the project in 2017, told employees last week that he would be moving from his original position to a “support role.”
“Ryan believed in the project and wanted to bring players together and have fun with it,” one former developer said of Ellis. “Even though there were things that could have been done differently during development … he was a kind person with a lot of enthusiasm.”
According to Kotaku , Firewalk employees are currently unsure of what the future holds for them and the studio, as Sony appears to be deciding whether to continue developing Concord or how to move forward, or to shift its efforts elsewhere.
In addition to some employees reportedly being asked to “explore options” for other projects the studio could work on next, other employees have speculated that they may end up co-developing another Sony first-party game, while some employees “feel that Concord’s failure is most likely to result in large-scale layoffs and possibly even the closure of the entire studio.”
“Concord fans – We’ve been listening closely to your feedback since Concord launched on PlayStation 5 and PC, and want to thank everyone who has joined us on the journey to the North Star,” Ryan Ellis wrote in a PlayStation blog post announcing Concord’s closure. “Your support and the passionate community that has grown around the game means everything to us.
“However, while many aspects of the experience are resonating with our players, we also realize that other aspects of the game and our initial launch have not gone as smoothly as we expected. Therefore, at this time, we have decided to retire the game starting September 6, 2024 and explore various options, including those that will better engage our players.”
