Sony permanently shuts down Concord and developer Firewalk Studios

Following its aborted launch in early September, Sony has determined to completely shut down Concord and likewise shut down developer Firewalk Studios. They’re additionally closing cell developer Neon Koi as they reevaluate the method to cell gaming, cancelling the studio’s “cell motion sport”.

Taking the bizarre step of self-publishing an inner e-mail in regards to the enterprise selections – to be truthful, they’d have simply leaked, so that is far neater – CEO of Studio Enterprise Group, Hermen Hulst stated:

“After a lot thought, we’ve got decided one of the best path ahead is to completely sundown [Concord] and shut the studio.   I wish to thank all of Firewalk for his or her craftsmanship, artistic spirit and dedication.

“The PvP first particular person shooter style is a aggressive house that’s repeatedly evolving, and sadly, we didn’t hit our targets with this title. We’ll take the teachings discovered from Harmony and proceed to advance our dwell service capabilities to ship future progress on this space.

“I do know none of that is simple information to listen to, significantly with colleagues and pals departing SIE.  Each selections got critical thought, and in the end, we really feel they’re the correct ones to strengthen the group.  Neon Koi and Firewalk have been dwelling to many gifted people, and we are going to work to seek out placement for a few of these impacted inside our world neighborhood of studios the place potential.”

You can read the full statement here.

Firewalk also had a public farewell, taking to Twitter to inform the story of the studio and sport’s improvement. In it they reveal that following the studio’s founding in 2018, they didn’t actually develop and enter full manufacturing on the sport till 2022 – a two yr turnaround is definitely pretty respectable from that time. In addition they underwent the all the time tough strategy of integrating following their acquisition by Sony.

“We took some dangers alongside the way in which,” they wrote, “marrying facets of card battlers and combating video games with first-person-shooters – and though a few of these and different facets of the IP didn’t land as we hoped, the concept of placing new issues into the world is crucial to pushing the medium ahead. The expertise at Firewalk and the extent of particular person craft is really world-class, and groups inside Sony Interactive Leisure and throughout the trade will probably be lucky to work with them. Please attain out to Recruiting at PlayStation for inquiries, and thanks to all of the very many groups, companions and followers who supported us alongside the way in which.”

We actually share that sentiment for each Firewalk and Neon Koi, with the final couple of years making for bleak studying throughout the sport’s trade. Hopefully individuals can land on their ft as quickly as potential.

Harmony will go down as one of many greatest leisure flops of all time, the sport having reportedly price a whole bunch of million of {dollars} to supply – together with Sony’s acquisition of Firewalk mid-development. Regardless of aspirations to rival the likes of Overwatch or Valorant, the sport barely acquired out of the beginning blocks upon its launch in August. With a £35 price ticket as a substitute of being free-to-play, it drew a concurrent participant depend that maxed out at 697 players on Steam and barely scraped three figures on PC after the primary couple of days.

After a pair weeks, Sony took the decision to pull the game from sale, droop on-line service, and concern refunds to all gamers, whereas Firewalk was given time to “discover choices” for a possible return. This was broadly anticipated to be a pivot to free-to-play or a subscriber tie in for PlayStation Plus, however Sony has determined that writing the sport off (and potential tax advantages from doing so) is the higher path financially.

In our Concord review we scored it an 8/10 and have been admittedly saddened to see the axe fall so quickly.

Supply: Sony