Business Sony is shutting down Firewalk Studios, the maker of the recent shooter Concord

*Below is an internal email from Hermen Hulst, CEO, Studio Business Group, Sony Interactive Entertainment distributed today to SIE employees.

**********************************************************************************

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.

https://sonyinteractive.com/en/news/blog/an-update-from-playstation-studios/ (Archive)

 

[FierceBrosnan]

certain aspects of Concord were exceptional

I'm going to assume the old word filter kicked in and they actually meant "retarded".

 

[The Last Stand]

$400 million well spent, Sony!

 

[Monolith]

C'mon, Sony, give Concord a second chance. We were all busy that week.

 

[AllieKat]

Learn to weld cocksuckers!

NO REFUNDS*

*Except for Concord buyers.

 

[Stoneheart]

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.

Its not that hard, make a good game and sell lootbox keys for boxes with knife skins. or sell hats,
even better let people sell hats to each other to build up value for those hats and take a cut from every transaction.

 

[Schwarzwald]

Can you imagine being a 60-something Japanese executive, reviewing quarterly returns, seeing the cost of this product, seeing its sales, and then how many copies it actually sold? Then you go and see what the product actually is?

I'm guessing that happened at about 9 AM Tokyo time on October 29th.

 

[TowinKarz]

Predictible, spent millions, got 250 players.

 

[Haramburger]

Useless game dev niggers float from project to project, hoping to scrape a living wage for 2-4 years at a time until game is done and they get laid off or referred by a friend to a studio with some security, like EgAy or Bioshit. They hope someday to contribute to a hit that makes them a 2000's Blizzard or Riot. They settle for milking five to seven years off absolute black holes like Anthem, Suicide Squad or Concord.

Meanwhile, a lone chad like Concerned Ape makes millions in his basement and answers to no one, but that would require talent + project management skills.

 

[Grimoire Canthari]

Firewalk Studios? More like Firedwalk Studios. Get purged.

 

[Product Placement]

Not shocked. Was kind of hoping Sony would put them on remaster or bring back old IPs duty, as by all accounts outside art style, Concord wasn't a bad game, just super unremarkable in the current market. And Sony really lacks first party games.

 

[Morethanabitfoolish]

Then you go and see what the product actually is?

Imagine the scene at the end of Old Yeller but set to "whistle while you work" as he takes the studio out back.

 

[ElHijodeDeficienciaCogni]

Can you imagine being a 60-something Japanese executive, reviewing quarterly returns, seeing the cost of this product, seeing its sales, and then how many copies it actually sold? Then you go and see what the product actually is?

I'm guessing that happened at about 9 AM Tokyo time on October 29th.

They had to have seen what the product was. Sony was going all in on Concord with stuff like a PS5 Pro packaged deal, Concord themed Dualsense Edge controllers ($300 btw), and funding a full episode of the Amazon Prime's Secret Level anthology series. Someone in Sony thought that this was going to be their new masthead title which was going to turn around Sony's ailing fortunes and help return the brand to its former glory.

That said those Edge controllers did look very nice, and the crackhead art hoe space cat girl was cute. All they had to do was not go out of their way to make everything else ugly as fuck. I am under no delusion that Concord would have been able to take a bite out of an already saturated and passé hero shooter market, but Sony could have recouped some of their losses if they had enough common sense to tell people in California to stop being disgusting little mutants.

 

[Dante Alighieri]

I'm going to assume the old word filter kicked in and they actually meant "retarded".

I miss the word filter

 

[LillWeeb]

To the people at FireWalk Don't worry about being lonely the the people from Bioware might be joining you soon too

 

[FierceBrosnan]

I miss the word filter

I actually started saying "exceptional individual" when speaking about absolute speds in polite company because of it. The best part is I didn't even need to explain what I meant because whoever was listening would give a knowing nod like "yeah, they're *exceptional* alright" and we'd have a little giggle.

 

[cybertoaster]

Out of fucks to give, press S, RIP bozos, YWNBAGD, keep yourself safe et al...

Meanwhile, a lone chad like Concerned Ape makes millions in his basement and answers to no one

Not the best example, he's won the lottery in a way, I seen better indies going nowhere because their games never go viral like that.

 

[Haramburger]

Not the best example, he's won the lottery in a way, I seen better indies going nowhere because their games never go viral like that

Factory Town
Baba is You
Void Stranger
Coffin of Andy & Leyley
Vampire Survivor
"Name seven more, name ten more," I could go all night.

 

[glass_houses]

Sony could have recouped some of their losses if they had enough common sense to tell people in California to stop being disgusting little mutants.

Sony had the same problem that DC and Marvel comics do: they confused the loudest people on social media with their actual paying audience. No one can marshal a social media campaign quite like SJWs, and they are very skilled at manipulating surveys and lobbying. They're also very good at chasing dissidents away. Combine that with the fact that two in every three Western video game developers is some flavour of "queer", then it's pretty easy for investors to think that they're going to make a shitton of money pandering to these nutjobs... but it keeps backfiring because even if the average customer has been brow beaten into sucking the nigger girl cock in public, in private they're still going to spend their money how they fucking want too, and if someone has to spend their working hours putting up with someone they despise, the last thing they want is to put up with them in their leisure time.

 

[ElHijodeDeficienciaCogni]

Sony had the same problem that DC and Marvel comics do: they confused the loudest people on social media with their actual paying audience. No one can marshal a social media campaign quite like SJWs, and they are very skilled at manipulating surveys and lobbying. They're also very good at chasing dissidents away. Combine that with the fact that two in every three Western video game developers is some flavour of "queer", then it's pretty easy for investors to think that they're going to make a shitton of money pandering to these nutjobs... but it keeps backfiring because even if the average customer has been brow beaten into sucking the nigger girl cock in public, in private they're still going to spend their money how they fucking want too, and if someone has to spend their working hours putting up with someone they despise, the last thing they want is to put up with them in their leisure time.

Yeah, but you got to admit this controller looks really dope.