-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
BREAKING: Sony is shutting down Firewalk Studios, the maker of the recent shooter Concord (Update: Neon Koi is also closing)
- Thread starter jm89
- Start date
Omnipunctual Godot
Gold Member
So much for the relaunch.
digoutyoursoul
Member
I feel a right shit for laughing at this, Lt.Harris tho
nowhat
Member
I mean. Who knows. Maybe Sony will re-release this on Gamepass.
Killjoy-NL
Member
Totally fucked?
Sony will release Ghost of Yotei in februari and almost everyone will forget all about Concord and Firewalk.
Angry_Megalodon
Member
It's officially not coming back
SkylineRKR
Member
Perhaps Secret Level might consider 14 episodes.
This is the problem with these corporations too far into their own asses. They have no clue apparently. They keep pushing this woke shit, literally the first second this game was shown live, it was being blasted to hell. You should know by now that if a reception is so negative accross the entire gaming space, the game will bomb. And the beta was an absolute confirmation; the gamer said fuck off.
Especially for a game that relies on the GaaS model, is another FPS, and this needs a healthy playerbase from day one to even succeed. Not to mention its essentially F2P trash at the cost of 40 bucks probably to try to recuperate the acquisitions costs quickly. Everyone could see this one coming, but Sony went and released it anyway. They should've severed it straight after the SoP, or after the Beta. But they would've lost the development costs regardless.
Still, Sony could like sell the shipments, and quietly close the servers early next year or something. They did pull it entirely and refunded, which is actually a good move towards the few buyers.
This is the problem with these corporations too far into their own asses. They have no clue apparently. They keep pushing this woke shit, literally the first second this game was shown live, it was being blasted to hell. You should know by now that if a reception is so negative accross the entire gaming space, the game will bomb. And the beta was an absolute confirmation; the gamer said fuck off.
Especially for a game that relies on the GaaS model, is another FPS, and this needs a healthy playerbase from day one to even succeed. Not to mention its essentially F2P trash at the cost of 40 bucks probably to try to recuperate the acquisitions costs quickly. Everyone could see this one coming, but Sony went and released it anyway. They should've severed it straight after the SoP, or after the Beta. But they would've lost the development costs regardless.
Still, Sony could like sell the shipments, and quietly close the servers early next year or something. They did pull it entirely and refunded, which is actually a good move towards the few buyers.
Last edited:
nowhat
Member
In February? I don't think this has been confirmed? Other than the release being in 2025.
I hate the "if I were the CEO threads", but, if I were the CEO/in charge of publishing - AC Shadows will be released in February 2025. It will undoubtedly be a shitshow. Wait for it to die down. Then, in July/August (after a "totally not E3" bigger reveal in June) release it. People would totally eat it up.
Topher
Identifies as young
lol.....come on. Because Firewalk, Haven and Bend have been the studios keeping Sony afloat all these years?
VolticArchangel
Member
Nothing unexpected, especially from Sony, with this new leadership.
All parties (except the studio owner who took a fat acquisition cheque) would have been better off if Sony didn't acquire them, let alone funding this.
All parties (except the studio owner who took a fat acquisition cheque) would have been better off if Sony didn't acquire them, let alone funding this.
Killjoy-NL
Member
Ah yeah, could've sworn the trailer stated february. Guess I mixed up the date somehow.
Windom Earle
Member
Concord tax just went through the roof bitches
nowhat
Member
It's probably AC Shadows, as it got moved to that date. February 14th, in fact. Valentine's day. Isn't that lovely!
twilo99
Gold Member
So a business organization that underperforms and gets shut down is worthy of such esteem for sure… groundbreaking stuff that has never happened in business before.
AmuroChan
Member
San Diego Studio alone releases a game every year. So let's not overreact because a studio that nobody cares about got closed down.
CompleteGlobalSaturation
Member
Concord metascore 62
DA:V metascore 84
diffusionx
Gold Member
So much for the copium about relaunching the game because of a few steam updates.
sloppyjoe_gamer
Gold Member
Remember when this cunt said that we'd have no more games to play? LMAO Looks like she no longer has a place to work at.....my my my how the turntables
justiceiro
Marlboro: Other M
Honestly, it feels like they put hermen as CEO just to close everything down and cancel everything.
Astray
Member
The way the studio was built up and "incubated" by ProbablyMonsters was quite unique.
AmuroChan
Member
Their accountants are well experienced in this regard. Sony Pictures lose money all the time on their movies.
Fake
Member
twilo99
Gold Member
Would love to know more about it…
From what I see this is nothing more than a classic corporate mess that happens all the time.
kaizenkko
Member
If they layoff Hermen after all this, nice. Hermen NEEDS to go too.
Shakka43
Member
I do feel sorry for the regular Joes and Janes in the team and hope they find something good fast. For the decision making ones? not one bit.
Angry_Megalodon
Member
A studio that underperforms is not newsworthy but how this drama happened definitely is.
it's groundbreaking that Sony pays 400M for a project by an unproven studio acquired from a bunch of nobodies who can't even design a proper website.
If this is not a scam (and it might very well be) this should be a case study.
Fake
Member
Iced Arcade
Member
I get it butttt God damn that's a quick murder.
Bought the studio less than 600 days ago lol
Bought the studio less than 600 days ago lol
ChorizoPicozo
Member
only the Next Star Wars.
TheDreadLord
Member
Two more in Sony’s graveyard.
efyu_lemonardo
May I have a cookie?
Probably meant it'll be studied as an example of a US$400 Million echo chamber that imploded immediately upon contact with the real world.
Calling it underperforming is a severely rose tinted perspective.
Haint
Member
There is zero doubt she already has a new $200k+ job, probably within Sony. These studios just pass around the same people.
gooner4life_uk
Member
Quite right, the game was a disaster, they should have pulled it when the beta had no players, given it more time, ran some more tests after making changes, but they stubbornly stuck to a formula that was not it.
Loboxxx
Member
blastprocessor
The Amiga Brotherhood
Definitely no pro update then, got yer.
Moriarty1889
Member
Good riddance. I am sure Herman Hulst is feeling so sad right now that his precious new IP wound up imploding.
TheChumpNation
Member
"Landed more narrowly than we'd hoped" is certainly one way to say it 
TheAmazingSpiderMan
Member
Where is the modern audience they pandered too 
nowhat
Member
Do we still have a confirmation for that $400M figure though? Like, at least a semi-official confirmation? The game was already in development for four years before the Sony acquisition, so there have been investments up to that point. And then the acquiring cost. And then the development afterwards. And then the marketing... although, in retrospect, I guess Sony didn't invest much in that department (not that it would have made much difference).
Obviously a huge L for Sony, and I'm not saying $400M is completely infeasible, but it seems unlikely, given the size of the studio. Oh well, we may never know.
Obviously a huge L for Sony, and I'm not saying $400M is completely infeasible, but it seems unlikely, given the size of the studio. Oh well, we may never know.
Last edited: