Sony is closing Concord Studio and permanently discontinuing the game

Sony is closing Firewalk Studios, the studio behind its PlayStation Concord Game taken offline last month after a disastrous launch. In a message to PlayStation employees, Hermen Hulst, CEO of the PlayStation Studio group of companies, said that Firewalk Studios will be closing, along with Neon Koi, a mobile games studio. Around 210 jobs are affected by the closures, Bloomberg Reports.

“We have spent a lot of time over the last few months exploring all of our options,” says Hulst. “After much consideration, we have come to the conclusion that the best path forward is to permanently discontinue the game and close the studio. I would like to thank everyone at Firewalk for their craftsmanship, creative spirit and dedication.”

Hulst says Concord failed to meet Sony's goals and the PlayStation maker will “learn lessons learned.” Concord and we will continue to expand our live service capabilities to achieve future growth in this area.”

Concord debuted on August 23rd on both PS5 and PC, but Sony took the game offline on September 6th following poor sales of the game. Estimates suggest sales of less than 25,000 copies Concord It only managed to reach an all-time high of just 697 players on Steam, which was below the starting high of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum.

Sony's Neon Koi mobile game development studio is also closing, although Hulst said, “Mobile remains a priority growth area.” Sony originally acquired the German-Finnish studio in 2022, when it was still known as Savage Game Studios, and that Team was working on an unannounced triple-A mobile live service action game.

“With this refocused approach, Neon Koi will close and its mobile action game will not be further developed,” says Hulst. “Both decisions were carefully considered and ultimately we believe they are the right ones to strengthen the organization.”

Some of the affected developers may find roles at Sony's other studios, but the rest will join the thousands in the games industry who have been laid off in recent years.

Update, October 29th: Added Bloomberg's Reporting on how many jobs were affected.