The less than three-month-old game from PlayStation, "Concord," has officially shut down after over a month since the Sony gaming brand took the PvP shooter offline to plan its "best course" of action for it. Instead of working on the game to deliver a more substantial experience for players, PlayStation decided to throw everything away for "Concord," including closing down Firewalk Studios.
"Concord" is among the most prolific games in the present that saw one of the worst cases of flops, and it faced a horrific launch where gamers aired numerous complaints regarding what it offers, leading to this domino effect.
PlayStation Officially Shuts Down 'Concord' After Evaluation
An internal email from Sony Interactive Entertainment's CEO of Studio Business Group, Herman Hulst, revealed that the company's decision for "Concord" is to shut down the game after its more than a month-long evaluation. Hulst revealed that the company has exhausted "exploring" all the possible options and scenarios for the game, with its cancelation being the path they took.
According to Hulst, this permanent sunsetting of "Concord" is the "best path forward" for the first-person shooter (FPS) title, which did not see a month of availability as it was immediately taken down by PlayStation.
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Firewalk Studios Also Dissolved by PlayStation
The executive also announced that they are closing Firewalk Studios alongside their decision to sunset "Concord" after their evaluation, but Hulst did not share an explanation as to why the studio got dissolved. It was also revealed that Sony shut down Neon Koi, another subsidiary studio under SIE, which focused on a mobile game development that will no longer see a release.
It was further revealed by Sony that it will take its experiences in the development of "Concord" and how the public received it as a lesson for future "live service capabilities" that the company may develop soon.
Flop Games That Faced the Ax
Developers and studios have significant creativity in their work, but not all can translate to success as some may not connect their vision with their target audience, and there are games that are outright bad or feel rushed. Facing the ax from developers or publishers is a horrific experience for a development that saw effort, money and time being wasted, take for example Sega's cancellation of its most expensive FPS, "Hyenas."
Last year, the Embracer Group also decided to pull the plug on its supposedly upcoming survival horror that reimagined a classic game, "Alone in the Dark," and this flop led to shutting down Pieces Interactive, as well. On the other hand, there was also last year's most promising game called "The Day Before," which saw a disastrous launch over at Valve's Steam, leading to Fntastic closing down for good.
The gaming industry is known for being cutthroat as many studios compete to deliver the best experiences in their specific genre or type, and recent game flops proved that one mistake could take down the entire studio. This is the same case with Sony and PlayStation's decision to throw away its AAA-rated PvP shooter "Concord" after its plagued launch, with Firewalk Studios no longer seeing a future in the industry.
