The infamous Concord saga finally comes to a close, literally. Sony has officially shuttered Firewalk Studios, the team behind the laughably short-lived live-service multiplayer shooter.
Concord was notoriously taken offline less than two weeks after its release on PlayStation 5 and PC. This was due to an appalling player count and a general lack of interest from the gaming community, which also led to the reported departure of game director Ryan Ellis.
The news of the studio’s closure comes courtesy of Sony Interactive Entertainment, which posted an internal email from Studio Business Group CEO Hermen Hulst on its official website. A section of the statement concerning Firewalk’s fate reads as follows:
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.
Firewalk Studios also posted an announcement on its LinkedIn page regarding its closure, thanking its team members and fans for their support over the years. “See you in the Tempest,” reads the post as the studio signed off for the last time.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
Si Jia
