Concord confirmed dead as Sony closes developer after massive PS5 flop-GameCentral-Entertainment – Metro

Concord – it’s dead Jim (Sony Interactive Entertainment)

PS5 exclusive Concord is not going free-to-play, as Sony shuts down both Firewalk Studios and one of their mobile developers.

The long, sad story of PlayStation 5 exclusive Concord has come to its inevitable end, as Sony has confirmed reports that it will not be brought back and that they are shutting down developer Firewalk Studios.

PlayStation co-CEO Hermen Hulst made the announcement in a statement to Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) staff, after online shooter Concord was shut down after just two weeks.

‘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,’ said Hulst.

‘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,’ wrote Hulst.

Neon Koi was a little known mobile studio that Sony bought in 2022, when they were originally called Savage Game Studios. They’ve never really been heard of again since but while Hulst tries to put a positive spin on things, the implication is that Sony’s mobile and live service plans are both being put on the backburner.

‘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,’ said Hulst in his statement.

‘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, he added.

‘Regarding Firewalk, as announced in early September, 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.’

Video game publishers are not known for learning from their mistakes and there’s every chance that Sony will continue with more live service titles, with Hulst’s former studio Guerrilla Games believed to be working on a Horizon multiplayer game.

However, the days of talking about 12 live service games by 2026, and seemingly having every internal Sony studio working on one, seem long gone.

The next big test of Sony’s interest in the concept will be Fairgame$ by Jade Raymond’s untested new studio Haven. That hasn’t been heard about since its initial announcement last year, although apparently early reactions are positive.

Whether there’ll be any other new live service games commissioned after that remains to be seen, as publishers slowly realise that becoming the next Fortnite isn’t as easy as they made it seem to their investors.

Farewell Concord, we hardly knew thee (Sony Interactive Entertainment)

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