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YoIt’s official: after Sony pulled its hero shooter Concord from sale shortly after its release, the studio that created it is now closing. Sony bought Firewalk Studios less than two years ago, as part of a strategy to improve PlayStation’s portfolio of live services. The closure of Firewalk cements Concord’s place as one of the biggest and most consequential flops in video game history: the cost to Sony will have been in the hundreds of millions, with estimates of Concord’s development cost ranging from $200 to $400. million dollars in total.
Sony also shut down Neon Koi, a developer with offices in Helsinki and Berlin, which focused on “mobile action games with epic stories” but had yet to release a game.
Having far outsold Xbox with its PlayStation consoles for two console generations in a row, Sony identified mobile gaming and live service games (such as Fortnite, Overwatch, and Destiny) as its growth priorities. You’ve had a hit on the live service, Helldivers 2, a surprise hit in January. But with Concord’s failure to launch and ongoing problem reports At Sony’s other live services studio, Bungie, which makes Destiny and which Sony bought in 2022 for $3.7 billion, this strategy doesn’t appear to be paying off.
“We have spent a lot of time these past few months exploring all of our options,” Sony studio head Hermen Hulst wrote in a no-nonsense press release. “After much thought, we have determined that the best path forward is to permanently suspend the game and close the studio. I want to thank all of Firewalk for their craftsmanship, creative spirit and dedication… I know none of this is easy news to hear, especially as colleagues and friends leave.
“Both decisions were given serious thought and ultimately we believe they are the right ones to strengthen the organization. “Neon Koi and Firewalk were home to many talented people and we will work to find a place for some of those affected within our global studio community wherever possible.”
The more than 150 people at Firewalk and approximately 30 at Neon Koi Join 13,000 other video game workers laid off globally so far this year, as a post-pandemic economic downturn reshapes gaming development.
The Firewalk staff posted a final farewell on X last night. “Firewalk began with the idea of bringing the joy of multiplayer to a wider audience,” it reads.
“Along the way, we assembled an incredible team that was able to grow a new startup into a team during a global pandemic… Build a new, custom next-gen FPS engine… and ultimately , ship and offer a great experience to players, even if it landed much more narrowly than expected in front of a strongly consolidated market. We took some risks along the way (bringing together aspects of card games and fighting games with first-person shooters) and while some of these and other aspects of the IP didn’t work out as we hoped, the idea of putting new things into the world “It is essential to promote the medium.”
The fact that a studio can do all of this and still fail spectacularly is sobering. Concord had its challenges, but it wasn’t a bad game, nor were its problems due to a lack of investment. But there was simply no place for it in a shooter market that was already oversaturated and in which established names like Call of Duty, Fortnite and Apex Legends are too dominant. The timeline for all of this is surprisingly compressed: in just over two months, Firewalk released its first game, pulled it from sale, and shut it down entirely. I have enormous sympathy for everyone who worked there.
Concord never got a chance to overcome its teething problems, as many live service games have done before. Instead, it will likely be remembered as the emblem of a surprisingly brutal year in game development, the most brutal I can remember. More than 30 video game studios have closed around the world since 2023, as the stakes of high-end game development have become unreasonably high. Concord is the largest and most costly tragedy in this environment, but it is not the first and it will not be the last.
what to play
We have now entered the traditional big game hunting season, with Obligations came out last week and Dragon Age Finally returning after a long pause this Friday. I have been playing Life is strange: double exposurea new game in the supernatural murder mystery series about young people with extraordinary powers.
This entry returns to Maxine Caulfield, the time-rewinding teen star of the first Life Is Strange game in 2015. Double Exposure isn’t perfect by any means, but returning to this character was very meaningful. Max was the first relatable teenager I played in a video game, at a time when female protagonists were still rare, let alone queer female protagonists. Now, almost 10 years later, I’m playing a game where bisexual adult Max can ask out a small-town lesbian waitress in the first half hour. Anyone who has an attachment to the first Life Is Strange and its characters, who has wondered what could have happened to Max and Chloe after the storm in Arcadia Bay, will really enjoy this game despite its flaws.
Available in: PS5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PC
Estimated playing time: 12 hours
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what to read
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Halloween is coming, so I sent two writers to a haunted prison to play horror games all night It seemed that the ideal review environment.
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Nintendo is ending service for its smartphone version of Animal Crossing in November, and replacing it with a premium version that has the same content but without the free nickel and dim gameplay. is called Animal Crossing: Complete Pocket Camp – It will initially cost £10 and will be released in December.
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Despite dismissing all claims made by Hindenburg Research in its report a few weeks ago, Roblox is to introduce a new type of parent-managed account, according to internal information emails viewed by The Verge. Sounds like damage control to me.
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The Amazon Prime adaptation of like a dragon comes out this week. I have yet to see it but the The reviews so far are… divisive..
What to click
Question block
This week’s question comes from the reader. Johnny:
“Growing up, my wife fell in love with Civilization IV. Now, with many more responsibilities, he’s looking to get back into gaming, but finds most modern civilization-building games too time-consuming and too concerned with multiplayer battles. Are there more relaxed civilization building games? that you or other readers recommend?”
For a game with all the building without any battle that is extremely suitable for stressed adults, I recommend Dorfromantik. You must select matching hexagonal tiles to slowly and peacefully expand your microworld, which has no warring humans to disturb the peace. yes that’s a little also relaxed, try Year 1800offering more traditional city building and an advancement of civilization. It usually plays out as a rivalry between you and other nations, but you can turn it off and go completely at your own pace if you wish.
Do you have any more recommendations for Jonny’s wife? Send them an email! And as always, if you have any questions for the question block (or anything else to say about the newsletter), Email us at pushbuttons@theguardian.com.