It’s been officially confirmed that Sony is shutting down Firewalk Studios, the game developer behind Concord. It isn’t too surprising that this has happened, especially as Concord didn’t land in the market the way Sony wanted it to. From the start of Concord’s official release, it seemed that this was the way that Firewalk Studios was going to go. It’s really unfortunate, as this was their first game with a lot of talented people, but the game wasn’t marketed well, and it was a premium hero shooter in a sea of free-to-play hero shooters. Additionally, as soon as Concord was closed down and those who purchased it were refunded, the Director of Concord stepped down. It was noted by many who worked at Firewalk Studios that the developers still left at the studio were in limbo, and many also expected Firewalk Studios to be shut down.
It has now been confirmed by Jason Schreier that Sony is shutting down Firewalk Studios in a post on X. Additionally, a full internal email has been posted on the Sony Interactive Entertainment blog, where an internal email from Herman Hulst, the CEO of Sony has addressed the closure. However, in this email, not only did they announce that Firewalk Studios is being closed down, they also announced Neon Koi’s closure, and the mobile action game they’ve been working on will no longer be going forward.
Regarding Concord and Firewalk Studios, Hulst’s statement says: “Certain aspects of Concord were exceptional, but others did not land with enough players… We have spent considerable time these past few months exploring all our options.” Hulst then goes on to explain that Concord is being permanently sunsetted, and Firewalk Studios is being closed. This means that Concord will not be going free-to-play after all, after it was noted that the files of the game were still being updated on SteamDB.
At the moment, there is a lot of uncertainty about where the staff affected will end up. The statement by Hulst says, “Neon Koi and Firewalk were home to many talented individuals, and we will work to find placement for some of those impacted within our global community of studios where possible.” The number of staff they are looking to relocate and hire internally isn’t stated, but it’s possible that the numbers will come out in future updates as Firewalk Studio staff and Neon Koi staff members respond to the tragic news of both studios being closed.
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