Sony shuts down Concord developer Firewalk and officially cancels the game

Concord According to an internal email from CEO Hermen Hulst, developer Firewalk Studios has been shut down by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The failed shooter is gone for good, Hulst confirmed, and will not be returning.

“After much consideration, we have determined that the best path forward is to permanently discontinue the game and close the studio,” Hulst said in the email to employees on Tuesday. “I would like to thank everyone at Firewalk for their craftsmanship, creative spirit and dedication.”

Hulst explained after taking it Concord After going offline in September, SIE has spent “a lot of time over the past few months exploring all of our options” for the shooter. “The PvP first-person shooter genre is a competitive space that is constantly evolving, and unfortunately we failed to achieve our goals with this title,” he said. “We will learn the lessons from this Concord and we will continue to expand our live service capabilities to achieve future growth in this area.”

In a statement on

“We took some risks along the way – combining aspects of card battles and fighting games with first-person shooters – and while some of these and other aspects of the IP didn't translate as we had hoped, the idea came to us to do new things “The world is critical to advancing the medium,” the studio said. “The talent at Firewalk and the level of individual craftsmanship are truly world-class, and teams at Sony Interactive Entertainment and across the industry will be fortunate to work with them. […] Thank you to all the many teams, partners and fans who have supported us on this journey.”

In addition to Firewalk Studios, Hulst announced that another Sony-owned studio, Neon Koi, would be closing. Helsinki-based Neon Koi, previously called Savage Games and acquired by Sony in 2022, developed a mobile action game for PlayStation.

Concord was originally released in late August for PlayStation 5 and Windows PC, then removed from sale and taken offline on September 6th. At that time Concord Game director Ryan Ellis said the studio planned to “explore options, including ones that better reach our players,” as it “determines.”[d] “The best path forward” for the game.

Concord made headlines due to the low number of players on Steam when it launched. According to a report from IGN, analysts estimated that first-week sales were unusually poor for a first-party game published by Sony – only around 25,000 copies Concord were estimated to have been sold. Faced with bad press and declining player numbers, Sony and Firewalk quickly pulled the plug. Concord went offline two weeks after launch. Customers who purchased the game received their money back.

Ahead of Tuesday's announcement, Sony and Firewalk's plans were revealed ConcordThe future seemed open, leading to speculation that the game could be re-released as a free-to-play game – Concord costs $39.99 – or as part of Sony's PlayStation Plus subscription.

Firewalk Studios was founded in 2018 as part of the MaybeMonsters game studio collective founded by Harold Ryan. Sony and MaybeMonsters announced a publishing deal for Firewalk's debut game in 2021. In April 2023, Sony announced that it planned to acquire Firewalk from MaybeMonsters.