Concord's gone, but that's not really the headline: PlayStation shut down two studios it only recently acquired, reportedly leaving over 200 staff in limbo
"Both decisions were given serious thought, and ultimately, we feel they are the right ones to strengthen the organization," Sony says.
Following the shutdown of Firewalk Studios' Concord not long after its rocky release, there'd been plenty of chatter about whether it'd get a chance to come back, and more importantly what'd happen to its developers. Well, we now know the answer to both of those questions - Concord's gone for good, and Firewalk has been shut down.
Sadly, this seemed like it could well be the outcome ever since PlayStation made the decision to take the game offline on September 6 following a launch which saw low player counts and sales estimates, especially in an industry climate that's already seen far too many closures and layoffs in 2024. Not that knowing that probably makes things any easier for the devs affected.
In an official blog post, Sony released an internal email from Hermen Hulst - the CEO of SIE's studio business group - confirming that it's taken the decision to "permanently sunset" Concord and close Firewalk. Mobile developer Neon Koi, which was working on an unannounced "mobile action game" that now won't see the light of day, has also been shuttered at the same time.
Hulst wrote that the closures were decided upon as part of "ongoing efforts to strengthen SIE’s studio business". "Both decisions were given serious thought, and ultimately, we feel they are the right ones to strengthen the organization," he added, "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."
According to Bloomberg, "about 210 jobs" are affected, and therefore around that number of staff will need to find new work - either within PlayStation or elsewhere - due to the two studios shutting down. Sony only acquired Firewalk in 2023, while Neon Koi had only been a PlayStation studio since 2022, having been acquired by the console giant while under its previous name of Savage Games Studios.
"Firewalk began with the idea of bringing the joy of multiplayer to a larger audience," the studio wrote in a Twitter post adressing the closure, which recapped some of the achievements of its team, "We took some risks along the way – marrying aspects of card battlers and fighting games with first-person-shooters – and although some of these and other aspects of the IP didn’t land as we hoped, the idea of putting new things into the world is critical to pushing the medium forward.
"The talent at Firewalk and the level of individual craft is truly world-class, and teams within Sony Interactive Entertainment and across the industry will be fortunate to work with them."
In addition to thanking Firewalk staff, Hulst wrote of Concord in his email: "The PvP first person shooter genre is a competitive space that’s continuously evolving, and unfortunately, we did not hit our targets with this title. We will take the lessons learned from Concord and continue to advance our live service capabilities to deliver future growth in this area."
Kotaku reports that initial development deal for the hero shooter, which PlayStation has now decided it's done with and shuttered the studio behind just over two months after release, cost the company $200 million, with this not covering a number of other aspects of development that'd likely have added to the total.