After the commercial failure ofConcord, PlayStation closed down the game’s developer Firewalk Studios. After the game’s servers were shut down last month, the publisher decided not to move forward with the studio, nor the project.
“After much thought, we have determined the best path forward is to permanently sunset the game and close the studio,” said CEO of Studio Business Group at Sony Interactive Entertainment Hermen Hulstin a messageto employees on Tuesday that has been shared publicly. “I want to thank all of Firewalk for their craftsmanship, creative spirit and dedication.”
Unfortunately, Firewalk Studios isn’t the only development closure this week. Sony Interactive Entertainment is also shutting down the German and Finnish development team Neon Koi. The mobile action game it was developing “will not be moving forward,” according to Hulst. “While mobile remains a priority growth area for the Studio Business, we are in the very early stage of our mobile efforts, the CEO of Studio Business Group said. “To achieve success in this area we need to concentrate on titles that are in-line with PlayStation Studios’ pedigree and have the potential to reach more players globally.” He then thanked the studio for its “hard work and endless passion to innovate.”
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PlayStation Will “Take the Lessons Learned From Concord”
Hulst said later in the message that Concord “did not hit [PlayStation’s] targets” and claims that the company “will take the lessons learned from Concord and continue to advance [its] live service capabilities to deliver future growth in this area.” Currently, PlayStation has a few more live service games on the schedule: the competitive heist game Fairgame$ and the reboot of a classic Bungie seriesMarathon, a PvP sci-fi extraction shooter. It will be interesting to see how PlayStation pivots with its future projects.
Despitethe failure of Concord, it seems like PlayStation is still keen to try out new IP. “I am a big believer in the benefits of embracing creative experimentation and developing new IP,” said Hulst in the message. “However, growing through sustainable financials, especially in a challenged economic environment is critical.”
“After much thought, we have determined the best path forward is to permanently sunset the game and close the studio,” said CEO of Studio Business Group at Sony Interactive Entertainment Hermen Hulst in a message to employees on Tuesday that has been shared publicly. “I want to thank all of Firewalk for their craftsmanship, creative spirit and dedication.”
Hulst says that PlayStation will “work to find placement for some of those impacted within our global community of studios where possible.” With layoffs occurring around the world, that sounds like a difficult task. So far, in 2024, there have been over 2,150 layoffs at Xbox, 600 people losing their jobs at Take-Two Interactive, and 530 workers no longer at Riot Games, according toBeebom.Supermassive Games also had layoffsearlier this year.
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