Sony Interactive Studios is swinging the ax ruthlessly God of WarKratos will have trouble matching. The video game company announced plans Tuesday to close two in-house studios and “go into sunset forever.” Concordmultiplayer online shooter that took us offline after less than two weeks in September.
The brutal end of the game (and the game studio) that the company supported for almost a decade and which resulted in a drop of more than $100 million.
“We’ve spent a lot of time over the past few months evaluating all of our options,” wrote Hermen Hulst, CEO of the Studio Business Group at Sony Interactive Entertainment in a blog post. “After much consideration, we have decided that the best way forward is to permanently sunset the game and close the studio. I want to thank everyone at Firewalk [Studios] for their art, their creative spirit, and dedication.”
The End of Concord
It is said that Firewalk spent eight years in development Concord (more than double the average length of time it takes to create a game), and Sony had high hopes for the franchise. The studio employs about 150 people, including veterans from game companies, such as Bungie and Activision. Sony did not respond Fast company‘s request for comments on how much it spent on Firewalk and Concordbut some estimates have been over $200 million.
Firewalk comes out last.
Firewalk started with the idea of bringing multiplayer fun to a bigger audience. Along the way we assembled an amazing team who knew how to:
– Zulazula raises a new beginning in the group in a time of global violence: Firewalk was…— Firewalk (@FirewalkStudios) October 29, 2024
When Sony started taking over Concord offline last month, the company suggested that it is considering making changes to the game and making it a free-to-play offering. But in his blog post, Hulst (which, behind the scenes at Sony, is said to be a big supporter Concord) didn’t mince words, saying, “the PvP first-person shooter genre is a competitive space that’s constantly evolving, and unfortunately, we didn’t reach our goals with this title.
Another studio is also cut
Sony is also shutting down Neon Koi, a development studio that specializes in mobile titles. Hulst admitted that Sony is in the early stages of exploring the mobile market and the company realized that the money allocated to that studio could be better used to grow the PlayStation brand.
“While mobile remains a key growth area for Business Studio. . . we need to focus on titles that are relevant to the PlayStation Studios pedigree and have the potential to reach more players around the world,” he wrote.
Concord and Firewalk’s fate shines a big light on Sony Interactive’s future, however. Concord he was supposed to be the flag bearer for the company’s move into the live service game market (multiplayer online games that evolve over time with the release of additional content and updates). Sony said it plans to “learn lessons” from the game’s failure to “deliver future growth in this area” but the clock is ticking—loudly.
Outlook for the video game industry
The video game industry is evolving away from home consoles as other entertainment platforms—including music, movies, and television—have embraced streaming options. A hot live service topic (like Fortnite) could mean billions of dollars in revenue. It seems that Sony needs to expand its footprint beyond the PlayStation as the industry redefines itself, even if most of its early efforts in this category have flopped—and the company has reduced the number of live service games it plans to release.
It’s not all bad news in this case. Earlier this year, Sony saw significant success in the live streaming services market with Helldivers 2. And many players Horizon Zero Dawn is still in the works, along with the release of Bungie’s next shooter, called marathon, next year.
All this comes as the video game industry as a whole, faces sluggish growth in 2024. A report from analyst firm NewZoo in August forecast year-on-year growth of 2.1%, down from the 2.8% it forecast in January. . And the 2024 holiday is a strange year for both Sony and the industry. There is a drought of big game releases coming up this holiday season. Sony, in fact, has no top titles from any of its in-house studios.
