2 weeks Ago By Justin Carter
Update: Firewalk "signed off one last time" with a statement confirming its closure. In it, the studio noted several of its accomplishments, from growing out its team during the pandemic to developing Concord on Unreal Engine 4 (and later Unreal Engine 5), and "ultimately shipping and delivering 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, [like] marrying aspects of card battlers and fighting games with first-person-shooters," Firewalk continued.
"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. [..
.] Thank you to all the very many teams, partners and fans who supported us along the way." Original story: Sony is closing down Firewalk Studios and Neon Koi, both of which it had acquired years prior.
The former developed Concord , a sci-fi shooter that was shut down down two weeks after its late August launch on PlayStation 5 and PC. Following the game's closure, reports alleged that director Ryan Ellis had stepped down from a leadership role, and that Firewalk's overall future was uncertain. In its letter, PlayStation noted "certain aspects" of Concord worked, but closing the studio was the "best path foward.
" "I want to thank all of Firewalk for their craftsmanship, creative spirit and dedication," wrote Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Herman Hulst. "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.
" Neon Koi and Sony's mobile plans Neon Koi , meanwhile, is the developer formerly known as Savage Game Studios. PlayStation acquired it in 2022 with the aim of boosting its mobile game presence, and following the rebrand, Neon Koi said it was developing an unannounced action game. Throughout last year, Neon Koi lost CEO Michail Katkoff and general manager Sophie Ko , and PlayStation lost its mobile VP Nicola Sebastiani.
Hulst said the mobile market "remains a priority growth area," but acknowledged PlayStation was "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." Similar to Firewalk, he expressed "gratitude to everyone at Neon Koi for their hard work and endless passion to innovate.
" Both studios' closure comes months after PlayStation laid off nearly 900 workers , which included the shut down of its London Studio . Following those layoffs, SIE's platform experience VP Hideaki Nishino said the eliminations would help PlayStation could grow and "invest in the future.".
