PlayStation Shuts Down Concord Developer Firewalk Studios and Mobile Studio Neon Koi

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William D’Angelo
, posted 2 hours ago / 622 Views

Sony Interactive Entertainment announced it has shut down Concord developer Firewalk Studios and mobile studio Neon Koi.

Neon Koi’s mobile action game will not be moving forward and Concord, which was delisted and taken offline on September 6, will not be returning.

“As part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen SIE’s Studio Business, we have had to make a difficult decision relating to two of our studios – Neon Koi and Firewalk Studios,” said Sony Interactive Studio Business Group CEO Hermen Hulst.

A Sony spokesperson told Bloomberg around 210 employees will be laid off between Firewalk Studios and Neon Koi. This is according to a spokesperson for Sony.

Read the full message from Hulst below:

Dear Team, 

Today, I want to share some important updates from Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Studio Business Group.   

We consistently evaluate our games portfolio and status of our projects to ensure we are meeting near and long-term business priorities. As part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen SIE’s Studio Business, we have had to make a difficult decision relating to two of our studios – Neon Koi and Firewalk Studios.  

Expanding beyond PlayStation devices and crafting engaging online experiences alongside our single-player games are key focal areas for us as we evolve our revenue streams.  We need to be strategic, though, in bringing our games to new platforms and recognize when our games fall short of meeting player expectations.   

While mobile remains a priority growth area for the Studio Business, we are in the very early stage of our mobile efforts.  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.  

With this re-focused approach, Neon Koi will close, and its mobile action game will not be moving forward. I want to express my gratitude to everyone at Neon Koi for their hard work and endless passion to innovate.   

Regarding Firewalk, as announced in early September  (An Important Update on Concord), certain aspects of Concord were exceptional, but others did not land with enough players, and as a result we took the game offline.  We have spent considerable time these past few months exploring all our options.   

After much thought, we have determined the best path forward is to permanently sunset the game 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. 

I am a big believer in the benefits of embracing creative experimentation and developing new IP. However, growing through sustainable financials, especially in a challenged economic environment is critical.   

While today is a difficult day, there is much to look forward to in the months ahead from the Studio Business Group and our teams.  I remain confident that we are building a resilient and capable organization driven by creating unforgettable entertainment experiences for our players.   

Thank you for your continued support. 

Read a final message from Firewalk Studios posted to Twitter below:

Firewalk is signing off one last time.

Firewalk began with the idea of bringing the joy of multiplayer to a larger audience. Along the way we assembled an incredible team who were able to:

• Navigate growing a new startup into a team during a global pandemic: Firewalk was founded in 2018 and was very small for its first couple years, only entering full Production in 2022.
• Build a new, customized next-generation FPS engine in Unreal 4 -> 5, delivering top-tier gameplay feel, beautiful worlds, and a performant 60fps technical experience on a stable and scalable backend on PS5 and PC to hundreds of thousands of players in our beta.
• Manage an acquisition / integration while readying technical and preliminary tests.
• And ultimately ship and deliver a great FPS experience to players- even if it landed much more narrowly than hoped against a heavily consolidated market.

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.

See you in the Tempest.

– Firewalk Studios

…

[end transmission]

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A life-long and avid gamer, William D’Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

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