By Sagar V. Mankar Sony Interactive Entertainment recently announced the closure of two of its studios – Firewalk Studios and Neon Koi.
The decision to shutter these studios comes as Sony reevaluates its gaming portfolio and priorities, with a focus on expanding beyond PlayStation devices and delivering more engaging online experiences alongside its traditional single-player offerings.
Hermen Hulst, the CEO of Sony’s Worldwide Studios, broke the news in an internal email to employees. Regarding Firewalk Studios, Hulst stated that “after much thought, we have determined the best path forward is to permanently sunset the game [Concord] and close the studio.”
Concord, a PvP first-person shooter developed by Firewalk Studios, had a troubled launch in late August 2024, with the game being pulled offline just two weeks after release due to poor player engagement. Hulst acknowledged that the competitive shooter genre is “continuously evolving” and that Sony “did not hit our targets with this title.”
However, Hulst expressed gratitude for the “craftsmanship, creative spirit and dedication” of the Firewalk team, and said the company would “take the lessons learned from Concord and continue to advance our live-service capabilities to deliver future growth in this area.”
In April 2023, Sony acquired Firewalk Studios from ProbablyMonsters, which had reportedly been developing Concord since 2018. Prior to that they have invested over millions in projects as per 2021 deals with developers.
Alongside the closure of Firewalk Studios, Hulst also announced that the Helsinki-based Neon Koi studio, previously named Savage Games and acquired by Sony in 2022, will be shutting down. Neon Koi was developing a mobile action game for PlayStation, but Hulst stated that the company needs to “concentrate on titles that are in line with PlayStation Studios’ pedigree and have the potential to reach more players globally” in the mobile space.
The decisions to close both Neon Koi and Firewalk Studios will result in approximately 210 job losses, according to a report from Bloomberg.
Despite these setbacks, Sony remains committed to its broader gaming strategy, which includes expanding beyond its traditional console business and investing in live-service experiences. In a separate investor Q&A, Sony executives acknowledged the lessons learned from both the success of Helldivers 2 and the failure of Concord and expressed a desire to build an “optimum title portfolio” that balances proven single-player games with more experimental live-service offerings.