Sony announced that it is shutting down the developer of Concord, Firewalk Studios, only two years after acquiring it following the game's commercial flop.
PlayStation CEO of the studio business group Hermen Hulst talked a little about the latest development. He said that the news was not something good to hear for anyone involved, even across the community.
Sony Shuts Down Firewalk Studios
Hulst argued that the decisions to shut down Firewalk Studios and Neon Koi were made following serious thought. He said that Sony believes the move is the right one to strengthen the organization as a whole.
He noted that both Firewalk Studios and Neon Koi were home to a lot of talented workers. Hulst added that they will work on supporting them as they look for other career opportunities elsewhere.
The development comes after Sony decided to take Concord off the market and shut the game down on Sept. 6, 2024. It also indicated at the time that the commercial flop had a chance to sometime return in the future in some shape or form, according to Variety.
The decision to actually shut down the Concord developer came a little more than a year and a half since Sony bought Firewalk Studios.
On Tuesday, Hulst said that there were certain aspects of the game that were exceptional. However, he argued that others were not quite as attractive to players.
Hulst said that the company explored a lot of time in the last few months trying to consider other options to maintain Firewalk Studios and Concord. But they ultimately decided that shutting both down was the best decision moving forward.
Concord's Commercial Flop
The developer was first formed in 2018 and was filled with former Bungie employees who were working on a new multiplayer shooter. This was being done under the umbrella of the gaming studio startup Probably Monsters, Kotaku said.
The development team took years to work on Concord until it was finally ready to be playable. It was then picked up by Sony as it saw the shooter as a promising prospect for its portfolio that features live-service titles.
One of the main factors that probably shunned players away from Concord was its $40 cost for entry. This comes as the majority of other popular live-service games were free-to-play. Even before it was launched, the game was on a downward trajectory.
The free beta for Concord barely got 2,000 players on PC via Steam and it had around 700 when it launched. This was even lower than the player count for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which was already considered a massive failure, according to Forbes.
