Sony permanently closes Concord developer Firewalk Studios, Sunsets game

Less than two months after Sony took its live-service hero shooter Concord offline following a disastrous launch, the company announced Tuesday that it would shutter developer Firewalk Studios and close the book on the infamous game. Firewalk employees will leave Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) and the PlayStation parent company will “permanently pause” the game, admitting it failed to achieve its goals with the multiplayer title. In addition to shutting down Concord developer, Sony said it would also shut down mobile game developer Neon Koi.

Firewalk Studios closed

Firewalk’s closure marks the end of a shameful chapter for Sony, which saw the company launch Concord on August 23 to the sound of crickets. The $40 hero shooter failed to find an audience in a competitive genre full of free-to-play options, peaking at a whopping 697 concurrent players on Steam before being dropped from PlayStation and PC stores less than two weeks later was taken offline. edition.

“We have spent a lot of time in recent months exploring all our options,” says Hermen Hulst, CEO of Studio Business Group at SIE, in a statement. internal email to employees. “After much consideration, we have decided that the best path forward is to permanently discontinue the game and close the studio.”

Hulst said certain aspects of Concord didn’t appeal to enough players, despite some of its “exceptional” qualities. “The PvP first person shooter genre is a competitive space that is constantly evolving, and unfortunately we did not achieve our goals with this title. We will take the lessons learned from Concord and continue to enhance our live service capabilities to achieve future growth in this area.”

In an X-post (formerly Twitter) Tuesday, Firewalk Studios signed off for the final time, calling the development team “truly world-class.”

“We took some risks along the way – combining aspects of card battlers and fighting games with first-person shooters – and while some of these and other aspects of the IP didn’t turn out as we’d hoped, the idea of ​​incorporating new things came together. stopping the world is critical to advancing the medium,” the studio said in the post.

Sony said the decision to close both Firewalk and Neon Koi was seriously considered and was ultimately the right decision to “strengthen the organization.” The company also said it would seek to place laid-off employees from both developers within its global portfolio of game studios where possible.

The failed Concordat

Firewalk Studios was founded in 2018 as part of ProbablyMonsters, led by Bungie veterans. Sony acquired the developer in April 2023 and reportedly pumped more than $200 million into its first game, Concord. Industry insiders have claimed that the shooter, which Sony acquired as part of its live service push, reportedly cost $400 million to make, representing Sony’s biggest ever loss on a game.

A retro-futuristic sci-fi hero shooter with an art style and witty banter akin to Guardians of the Galaxy, Concord launched on August 23 for a price tag of $40. The game was virtually dead upon arrival, with an estimated 10,000 sold copies on Steam and approximately 15,000 on the PlayStation Store.

Concurrent player numbers in the double digits led to Sony taking the game offline on September 6 and issuing refunds to all players who purchased the game. At the time, the company said it would “explore options,” leading some to believe that Concord could return in another form, perhaps as a free-to-play title or on Sony’s game subscription service, PlayStation Plus.

In our review of Concord, we said the game was a “serviceable first-person hero shooter, very much in the vein of Overwatch” that failed to differentiate itself in meaningful ways in a crowded field.