Skip to main content

Concord studio shuts down as Sony sunsets the troubled shooter

Two characters face off in Concord.
Firewalk Studios

Sony announced that it’s officially sunsetting Concord and closing its developer Firewalk Studios after a disastrous launch that led to it taking the game offline after just two weeks.

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), which acquired Firewalk in 2023, revealed in an email sent out to employees on Tuesday that it’s shutting down the studio, along with mobile developer Neon Koi, in order to “strengthen SIE’s Studio Business.” That means two studios acquired by Sony over the past two years have been closed.

Recommended Videos

While CEO Hermen Hulst says that there was a lot to like about Concord, it did not meet expectations and could not compete in the PvP first-person shooter space, which is full of competitors like Overwatch 2. Hulst added that Sony will “take the lessons learned from Concord and apply it to future projects. “We have spent considerable time these past few months exploring all our options,” he wrote. “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.”

Firewalk Studios posted a statement on its X (formerly Twitter) account laying out its accomplishments, including a clarification that Concord started full production in 2022 since the studio spent years as a small startup. It called Concord 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.”

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

As for Neon Koi (previously known as Savage Game Studios), which was reportedly working on a “AAA mobile live-service action game,” but had no other announced projects, Hulst said that the company wants to work on games that “are in line with PlayStation Studios’ pedigree and have the potential to reach more players globally.” Hulst did reveal that Neon Koi was working on a mobile action game, but it won’t be moving forward with it.

Hulst added that SIE will work to find new placements within the company for impacted team members.

“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,” he wrote.

Concord had an infamously rocky launch on PlayStation 5 and PC in August. At its peak on launch day, it only had 697 concurrent players on PC, according to SteamDB. Mediocre reviews and low turnout led to Sony taking the game offline after just two weeks. The plan, according to Firewalk Studios game director Ryan Ellis, was to “explore options” for the game’s potential future. However, reports last month claimed that Ellis stepped down from the studio. Employees at the studio were also reportedly looking into pitches for new projects.

Carli Velocci
Carli is a technology, culture, and games editor and journalist. They were the Gaming Lead and Copy Chief at Windows Central…
A Horizon online game is reportedly in the works ahead of Forbidden West follow-up
Aloy standing in front of the Hollywood sign in Horizon Forbidden West.

The Horizon series is seemingly everywhere right now, with Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered and Lego Horizon Adventures on the way, and there's more in the pipeline beyond just the expected third entry in the main series. Bloomberg video game reporter Jason Schreier reports that the next franchise game won't be that third game, but rather an online project that "a lot of people" are working on.

"Horizon online is their next project not whatever the third single-player game looks like, so that one might be a ways off," Schreier said on the Spawn Wave podcast over the weekend. The conversation starts at around 54:27.

Read more
After Freedom Wars, this PlayStation Vita classic deserves a remaster
Soul Sacrifice Delta's key art.

If there’s one thing that the PlayStation Vita delivered, it was great Monster Hunter clones after Capcom’s hit series jumped ship from PSP to Nintendo 3DS. The list included games like Koei Tecmo’s Toukiden, Bandai Namco’s God Eater, and Gungho’s Ragnarok Odyssey Ace. While these mission-based games were perfect fit for the Vita’s pick-up-and-play lifestyle, they were also available on PS3.

Sony Japan even joined into the fray with the 2015 Vita exclusive Freedom Wars, which is celebrating its 10-year anniversary with a remaster on modern platforms next January, courtesy of Bandai Namco. On the heels of that surprise announcement, there’s one other hunting action game that needs to break free from the Vita’s shackles: Soul Sacrifice Delta. It's an enhanced version of 2013's Soul Sacrifice that added more content and gameplay adjustments.
Grimdark Archfiend hunter
Soul Sacrifice Delta was released in 2014 and designed by Keiji Inafune (yes, the auteur behind the infamous Mighty No. 9). It plays like how you’d expect from a Monster Hunter-like action game. You can hunt down your main target and hit its weak points to gather materials and create stronger weapons. It’s an engaging gameplay loop that makes sure you’re always prepared to fight increasingly stronger monsters.

Read more
PlayStation has quietly doubled the price of Horizon Zero Dawn on PS4
Aloy aiming an arrow into the wilderness at a robot.

Following the announcement of Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered for the PlayStation 5 and PC, PlayStation has raised the price of the original game's PlayStation 4 Complete Edition by $20 on the PlayStation Store.

As that edition of the game had been retailing for $20 for a couple of years now, that means PlayStation has doubled the price without warning.

Read more