It was quite inevitable and it is now confirmed, the resounding and monumental failure of Concord pushed Sony Interactive Entertainment to close the Firewalk studio, which put all 172 employees out of work. This decision was first revealed by Bloomberg and its investigative journalist Jason Schreier before the news was made public by the Japanese manufacturer in the person of Hermen Hulst, co-CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment. “We regularly evaluate our games portfolio and project status to ensure we are meeting short- and long-term business priorities. As part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen SIE’s studio business, we have had to make a difficult decision regarding two of our studios – Neon Koi and Firewalk Studios.” he says, before adding that online multiplayer games remain important areas to generate revenue streams, but that the strategy must change and adapt to the needs of the players. We recall that the Concord game was pulled the plug just fifteen days after its launch, with an attempt to resurrect it on Steam, but the attempt unfortunately failed.
But the announcement of the closure of Firewalk Studios is also accompanied by the layoff of another studio: Neon Koi. Formerly known as Savage Game Studiosthe company had been commissioned by Sony to take care of mobile games, but again, the floodgates are cut off before even a single project is publicly announced. Sony Interactive Entertainment realizes that the DNA of its console, and that of its audience, does not match these snack games and that it is better to stop the bleeding now before another financial disaster. “Although mobile remains a priority growth area for Studio Business, we are only at the very beginning of our efforts in this area. To succeed, we must focus on titles that fit PlayStation Studios’ pedigree and have the potential to reach more gamers globally.”
