Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has announced the closure of two of its studios, Neon Koi and Firewalk Studios, as part of a strategic shift in its gaming portfolio. Despite the company’s focus on expanding beyond PlayStation devices and building online multiplayer experiences, the PvP first-person shooter Concord from Firewalk did not achieve enough traction with players. As a result, the game, which had been taken offline in September, will now be permanently sunset, and Firewalk Studios will close.
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. –SIE Communications
SIE expressed appreciation for the creative work of Firewalk’s team, acknowledging the competitive nature of the PvP shooter space and the lessons learned from Concord. Neon Koi, a studio focused on mobile gaming, will also close, and its planned mobile action game will not proceed, as SIE prioritizes projects that align more closely with PlayStation Studios’ standards and global reach. The company emphasized the importance of strengthening its business with sustainable projects and expressed a commitment to supporting affected staff through potential placements within its global network of studios.
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…— Firewalk (@FirewalkStudios) October 29, 2024
Concord was pulled from storefronts on September 6th after having only launched just two weeks prior. The game allegedly costs hundreds of millions of dollars ($200m for development plus the cost of marketing and Sony’s purchase of Firewalk Studios) and has been in development for several years. Despite all this, the game failed to sell even 25,000 copies and never broke 700 concurrent players on Steam. With all of this working against Firewalk Studios and their poor design choices added on top, there was absolutely no way Concord was going to return in any meaningful capacity. C’est la vie.
