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Firewalk Studios Officially Closing Following Concord's Disastrous Release and Subsequent Shutdown
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<blockquote data-quote="Admin" data-source="post: 65312" data-attributes="member: 1"><p>Sony is shuttering Firewalk Studios in the wake of its disastrous release of Concord, the PS5 shooter that lasted less than two weeks before being shuttered. The news was first reported by <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/sony-acquires-aaa-multiplayer-developer-firewalk-studios" target="_blank">Bloomberg's Jason Schreier</a>.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Firewalk Studios' closure follows the reported departure of director Ryan Ellis, who stepped down after Concord was taken offline. Sony Interactive Entertainment publicly posted the internal email from Studio Business Group CEO Hermen Hulst with a <a href="https://sonyinteractive.com/en/news/blog/an-update-from-playstation-studios/" target="_blank">statement on the closure</a>, which you can read below. Hulst wrote that SIE had "spent considerable time these past few months exploring all our options," but ultimately decided to sunset the studio, which it <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/sony-acquires-aaa-multiplayer-developer-firewalk-studios" target="_blank">had acquired in April 2023</a>. The email also announces SIE's decision to close Neon Koi, a German studio working on a mobile action game.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/firewalkstudios_firewalk-is-signing-off-one-last-time-firewalk-activity-7257092832086089729-20Uf?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop" target="_blank">A post on LinkedIn </a>from Firewalk Studios said that the studio "began with the idea of bringing the joy of multiplayer to a larger audience." It notes that it began as a new startup in 2018, built a customized FPS engine, and more. The post goes on, "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.</p><p></p><p>"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. Please reach out to Recruiting at PlayStation for inquiries, and thank you to all the very many teams, partners and fans who supported us along the way."</p><p></p><p>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</p><p></p><p>First released on August 23 for PS5 and PC, Concord struggled at the outset with <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/concord-victim-long-development-time-playstation" target="_blank">low concurrents</a> before Sony suddenly announced it was pulling the plug on September 3. We wrote in our postmortem of <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/concord-victim-long-development-time-playstation" target="_blank">why Sony's hero shooter failed</a>, "The cost of coming late to the party means you must bring something new to the table. Unfortunately, Concord is neither particularly innovative nor content-heavy."</p><p></p><p>Analysts, meanwhile, pointed to its <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/concord-is-estimated-to-have-sold-only-25000-units-heres-why-analysts-think-its-failing" target="_blank">weak marketing, high price point, and lack of distinguishing characteristics</a> in the midst of moving an estimated 25,000 units.</p><p></p><p>"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," Hulst wrote in his email announcing the closure. "We will take the lessons learned from Concord and continue to advance our live service capabilities to deliver future growth in this area."</p><p></p><p></p><p>It's been a difficult year overall for the games industry, which has been rocked by <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/ive-never-seen-it-this-bad-game-developers-explain-the-huge-layoffs-hitting-riot-epic-and-more" target="_blank">mass layoffs and studio closures</a> as it continues to reckon with the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Xbox, EA, Riot, and other publishers have all experienced layoffs in the past year, and Playstation-owned Bungie announced cuts in August <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/bungie-says-it-remains-committed-to-destiny-after-layoffs-will-reveal-plans-for-multi-year-journey-soon" target="_blank">impacting around 17 percent of the studio</a>.</p><p></p><p>Elsewhere, there are signs of trouble for PlayStation's other live service games. Bungie recently posted a lengthy development update video for Marathon that nevertheless noted that it's <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/bungie-shooter-marathon-is-on-track-but-too-early-in-development-to-show" target="_blank">still too early to show</a>, and <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/fairgame-is-the-first-game-from-jade-raymonds-haven-studios" target="_blank">Fairgame$ has been mostly MIA since first being revealed in 2023</a>. Sony president Hiroki Totoki has previously said that around <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/sony-commits-to-launch-just-six-of-playstations-12-live-service-games-by-march-2026" target="_blank">six of PlayStation's live service games are expected to be released</a> by March 2026. As for Concord, there was speculation that it might go free-to-play at some point, but with Firewalk's shutdown it appears to be finished for good.</p><p></p><p>"See you in the Tempest," Firewalk's goodbye post reads before signing off one last time.</p><p></p><p></p><p><em>Kat Bailey is IGN's News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.</em></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/firewalk-studios-officially-closing-following-concords-disastrous-release-and-subsequent-shutdown" target="_blank">Continue reading...</a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Admin, post: 65312, member: 1"] Sony is shuttering Firewalk Studios in the wake of its disastrous release of Concord, the PS5 shooter that lasted less than two weeks before being shuttered. The news was first reported by [URL='https://www.ign.com/articles/sony-acquires-aaa-multiplayer-developer-firewalk-studios']Bloomberg's Jason Schreier[/URL]. Firewalk Studios' closure follows the reported departure of director Ryan Ellis, who stepped down after Concord was taken offline. Sony Interactive Entertainment publicly posted the internal email from Studio Business Group CEO Hermen Hulst with a [URL='https://sonyinteractive.com/en/news/blog/an-update-from-playstation-studios/']statement on the closure[/URL], which you can read below. Hulst wrote that SIE had "spent considerable time these past few months exploring all our options," but ultimately decided to sunset the studio, which it [URL='https://www.ign.com/articles/sony-acquires-aaa-multiplayer-developer-firewalk-studios']had acquired in April 2023[/URL]. The email also announces SIE's decision to close Neon Koi, a German studio working on a mobile action game. [URL='https://www.linkedin.com/posts/firewalkstudios_firewalk-is-signing-off-one-last-time-firewalk-activity-7257092832086089729-20Uf?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop']A post on LinkedIn [/URL]from Firewalk Studios said that the studio "began with the idea of bringing the joy of multiplayer to a larger audience." It notes that it began as a new startup in 2018, built a customized FPS engine, and more. The post goes on, "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. Please reach out to Recruiting at PlayStation for inquiries, and thank you to all the very many teams, partners and fans who supported us along the way." 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 First released on August 23 for PS5 and PC, Concord struggled at the outset with [URL='https://www.ign.com/articles/concord-victim-long-development-time-playstation']low concurrents[/URL] before Sony suddenly announced it was pulling the plug on September 3. We wrote in our postmortem of [URL='https://www.ign.com/articles/concord-victim-long-development-time-playstation']why Sony's hero shooter failed[/URL], "The cost of coming late to the party means you must bring something new to the table. Unfortunately, Concord is neither particularly innovative nor content-heavy." Analysts, meanwhile, pointed to its [URL='https://www.ign.com/articles/concord-is-estimated-to-have-sold-only-25000-units-heres-why-analysts-think-its-failing']weak marketing, high price point, and lack of distinguishing characteristics[/URL] in the midst of moving an estimated 25,000 units. "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," Hulst wrote in his email announcing the closure. "We will take the lessons learned from Concord and continue to advance our live service capabilities to deliver future growth in this area." It's been a difficult year overall for the games industry, which has been rocked by [URL='https://www.ign.com/articles/ive-never-seen-it-this-bad-game-developers-explain-the-huge-layoffs-hitting-riot-epic-and-more']mass layoffs and studio closures[/URL] as it continues to reckon with the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Xbox, EA, Riot, and other publishers have all experienced layoffs in the past year, and Playstation-owned Bungie announced cuts in August [URL='https://www.ign.com/articles/bungie-says-it-remains-committed-to-destiny-after-layoffs-will-reveal-plans-for-multi-year-journey-soon']impacting around 17 percent of the studio[/URL]. Elsewhere, there are signs of trouble for PlayStation's other live service games. Bungie recently posted a lengthy development update video for Marathon that nevertheless noted that it's [URL='https://www.ign.com/articles/bungie-shooter-marathon-is-on-track-but-too-early-in-development-to-show']still too early to show[/URL], and [URL='https://www.ign.com/articles/fairgame-is-the-first-game-from-jade-raymonds-haven-studios']Fairgame$ has been mostly MIA since first being revealed in 2023[/URL]. Sony president Hiroki Totoki has previously said that around [URL='https://www.ign.com/articles/sony-commits-to-launch-just-six-of-playstations-12-live-service-games-by-march-2026']six of PlayStation's live service games are expected to be released[/URL] by March 2026. As for Concord, there was speculation that it might go free-to-play at some point, but with Firewalk's shutdown it appears to be finished for good. "See you in the Tempest," Firewalk's goodbye post reads before signing off one last time. [I]Kat Bailey is IGN's News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.[/I] [url="https://www.ign.com/articles/firewalk-studios-officially-closing-following-concords-disastrous-release-and-subsequent-shutdown"]Continue reading...[/url] [/QUOTE]
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Firewalk Studios Officially Closing Following Concord's Disastrous Release and Subsequent Shutdown
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