The staff at Firewalk Studios are reportedly in limbo following Concord being pulled offline only two weeks after the live service game’s launch. According to a new report, game director Ryan Ellis has apparently stepped down from his position in favour of a supporting role at the studio, while many are pessimistic that the game will have any sort of comeback. Others believe that mass layoffs will be coming soon, including the possible shutdown of the whole studio.
According to sources that spoke to Kotaku, Concord developer Firewalk Studios is uncertain about its future at the moment. The staff, consisting of around 150-170 employees, are anxiously waiting for Sony’s decision on Concord. Some say they’re not hopeful that Concord will make a return while others have apparently been asked to pitch completely different ideas on what Firewalk could work on next.
Sources told Kotaku that employees fear Firewalk Studios could be relegated to a support studio for any one of Sony’s other first-party games currently in development, while more dire whispers say the studio could face a complete shutdown after the failure of Concord. Employees are reportedly already updating their resumes and portfolios, ready for whatever comes next, be it a studio closure or mass layoffs. Some have apparently exited the studio already while others are planning to wait and see what the severance package looks like.
Concord is considered one of gaming’s biggest failures. As a live service game with a $100 million budget behind it, the live service PvP shooter managed to attract less than 1,000 players on Steam at its all-time peak. The game is estimated to have sold only 25,000 copies – a catastrophic number coming from one of the industry’s biggest publishers. Sony went the extra mile by completely erasing the game from PSN accounts if you bought it digitally. Physical owners only get as far as the loading screen before being booted back to the PS5 home screen.
Source: Kotaku
