Sony permanently shuts down Concord and developer Firewalk Studios

thesixthaxis.com:

Following its aborted launch in early September, Sony has decided to permanently shut down Concord and also close down developer Firewalk Studios. They are also closing mobile developer Neon Koi as they reevaluate the approach to mobile gaming, cancelling the studio’s “mobile action game”.

Taking the unusual step of self-publishing an internal email about the business decisions – to be fair, they would have just leaked, so this is far neater – CEO of Studio Business Group, Hermen Hulst said:

“After much thought, we have determined the best path forward is to permanently sunset [Concord] and close the studio.   I want to thank all of Firewalk for their craftsmanship, creative spirit and dedication.

“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.

“I know none of this is easy news to hear, particularly with colleagues and friends departing SIE.  Both decisions were given serious thought, and ultimately, we feel they are the right ones to strengthen the organization.  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.”

You can read the full statement here.

Firewalk also had a public farewell, taking to Twitter to tell the tale of the studio and game’s development. In it they reveal that following the studio’s founding in 2018, they didn’t really grow and enter full production on the game until 2022 – a two year turnaround is actually fairly respectable from that point. They also underwent the always tricky process of integrating following their acquisition by Sony.

“We took some risks along the way,” they wrote, “marrying aspects of card battlers and fighting games with first-person-shooters – and although some