Firewalk Studios is being shut down

[voke]

Yeah a Socom Reboot announcement like GoW 2018 would have been so hype in 2016, They would have all the goodwill of single player games and people would have had a huge positive reception. There is a place for GaaS but it seems they greenlighted every service game pitched no questions asked, where is the first party quality control

SOCOM reboot is such an insane miss from Sony. Without zipper I guess it will never happen.

 

[CrackmanNL]

Nah they already pushed FairGame$ back, especially Hermen with his cosign that's either getting cancelled or reworked. You can already tell they propping Marathon ahead of it. Shutting down Neon Koi alongside Firewalk is basically muffling the noise on that and preventing the risk of more damage. They calculated failures doesn't mean they want ones as bad as this, there will be criticism from shareholders next meeting.

On Hermen's job, he can still coast off this year with Helldivers 2 being one of their fastest selling titles and Astrobot being a GOTY contender result of Japan Studios restructuring, I think he is pretty safe based on (marketing) deals made by Jim, Shu, Svensson and co. upcoming years as well.

Yeah SOCOM in the works no one would'v complained, especially in a time where almost every MP shooter is purple. Same for Factions, could'v been maintained and supported by a studio under ND guidance.. with Helldivers 2 and Bungie they would'v cornered easily the more ''adult'' side of the shooter market.

 

[Bryank75]

This guy is insufferable. He's the whiny bitch of all content creators and I wonder if he even enjoys games at all.

Yeah,I just posted him to annoy everyone

 

[Danja]

Yeah a Socom Reboot announcement like GoW 2018 would have been so hype in 2016, They would have all the goodwill of single player games and people would have had a huge positive reception. There is a place for GaaS but it seems they greenlighted every service game pitched no questions asked, where is the first party quality control

I think they got too high on their own supply and assumed their first party stable reached the highest of heights and now they couldn't fail lol. But you can't expect to win when you mess with the winning formula like forcing out the CEO of Worldwide Studios Shawn Layden and then putting Shu in-charge of indies while promoting your European lackey Hermen and then allowing him to infiltrate SIE with his yes men buddies from Guerrilla.

They had MAG which simply needed a PS4 remaster / relaunch.

They had Warhawk which needed a remake

Socom as you mentioned

Uncharted Online - should have been a no brainer

Guerilla Cambridge could have taken over the Killzone Franchise... Instead they doomed them by shoving VR onto them.

 

[Bryank75]

Mystic on the topic

 

[Savagefrogdemon]

Everybody knew Concord was going to tank before it even released you only have to look at how low the viewership numbers where on youtube for trailers on the game. It was just an overwatch clone without the great character designs that blizzard are known for.

 

[Muddasar]

Just an absolute failure at the management & leadership level. From not being able to see the market problems the game would've faced earlier in development, to the inability to sell the game's unique game features & mechanics vs. contemporaries, to the rollout, to the shutdown, and now the studio closure. Something is flawed in SIE leadership from the upper management position to have let things get this far with a game like Concord. It could also be meddling from Sony Corp, mainly Totoki, pushing a direction that is just not working for SIE here.

They better make sure Fairgame$ is an unquestioned success, same with Marathon, else this GAAS push needs to be completely shut down. Unfortunately people thinking it'll get us back to what feels like should be common-sense decisions from SIE, won't happen. They will just push Day 1 for all of their games to Steam to compensate for losses, increase prices for PS+ yet again, cut back on 3P co-developed exclusives & timed exclusives (not like many 3P want to do them anymore seems like. See: Pearl Abyss, Square-Enix), and do even more questionable remasters. Heck, they might also increase porting efforts to Nintendo and Xbox.

Basically, I think the mindset at SIE to do a PS3-style revitalization just aren't there anymore, so it's probably fruitless to imagine that being the case. Which is very sad for me personally, but it is what it is. That SIE doesn't exist anymore; this new SIE is basically the somewhat better cousin of Xbox.

...and Neon Koi didn't get a chance to reveal their game before getting shut down!!

I wouldn’t be surprised if Hermen gets the sack before Marathon and Fairgames even get released.

This Concord debacle is simply unforgivable.

Combine that with Neon Kai acquisition/closure and Bungie having major issues.

What an absolute disaster.

 

[Savagefrogdemon]

I wouldn’t be surprised if Hermen gets the sack before Marathon and Fairgames even get released.

This Concord debacle is simply unforgivable.

Combine that with Neon Kai acquisition/closure and Bungie having major issues.

What an absolute disaster.

Hulst will be fine as long as the big franchise titles perform well in sales.

 

[Neversummer]

They should sue Probably Monsters for this scam and Sony shareholders in turn should sue Herman Hulst for running this irresponsible fiduciary scam. The useless people at Firewalk got salary for 2 more months than necessary

Now hopefully we can get rid of Bungie, Haven and Firesprite too

A lil of topic but this YouTuber essentially hit it with the nail regarding the state of Sony & PS in the gaming/console market @ 30:00

Sony is stumbling if not at a really bad position while Nintendo double downs in there platform focusing on making banger singleplayer games making most of there franchise annualized to by yearly for the most part & focus on making multiplayer live service games for Nintendo gamers that it could build up & support.

By the end of the gen will look back at the PS5 gen & early PS6 & question what went wrong. Sony/PS has done nothing then look at short term growth & profit extremely irresponsible while Nintendo seeks growth & profit slower & more methodical while ensuring everything funnels down to there platform where they can dictate & have full control of there profit & growth.

 

[Neversummer]

Sony/PS would be better of if they took MS approach & just bought whole publishers & acquire the team that already have a history of cadence, quality & output.

Buy Capcom (western/asia/esports)
Buy Square Enix (japan/asia)
Buy Hoyoverse (mobile)
Kadokawa (ps production/anime/manga)

Not to mention Bungie marathon is multiplat in where the PS5 console sell & landscape is looking spooky they have marathon being multiplat where it should be PS & PC exclusive to push PS console hell it should even get a PS4 just to further ensure game population.

PS future look bleak due to Jim, Herman & Sony/PS short sighted vision chasing small profits/growth on competitors platform at the demise of there own platform, storefront & hardware. It’s like they saw Xbox implode & said ehh let’s head the same direction as those guys

 

[Vertigo]

Still the fastest I’ve ever deleted a game. I don’t even think I finished a match. That beta showed me everything I needed. Slow, bad art direction, shitty characters…

I still feed bad. Even tho I said they would be out of business the day this came out. Didn’t expect it to be true.

And this seems like a ruthless axe of the studio too. I wouldn’t be surprised if it came unannounced to the team and they found out when we did.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Hulst will be fine as long as the big franchise titles perform well in sales.

But which ones do they have between now and end of FY 2024? Ghosts of Yotei maybe? LEGO Horizon is a smaller release that might do well but not phenomenal. Astro Bot is doing pretty well but, again, nothing like a Spiderman 2 or GOW Ragnarok.

Helldivers 2 hit its success under Jim Ryan technically, so not too much Hulst can take credit for on that note in terms of orchestrating it from a leadership POV.

I mean he'll most likely be secured until early next FY but Fairgame$ and Marathon fail I can see those being nails on the coffin for his tenure as head of PS Studios.

 

[Muddasar]

Still the fastest I’ve ever deleted a game. I don’t even think I finished a match. That beta showed me everything I needed. Slow, bad art direction, shitty characters…

I still feed bad. Even tho I said they would be out of business the day this came out. Didn’t expect it to be true.

And this seems like a ruthless axe of the studio too. I wouldn’t be surprised if it came unannounced to the team and they found out when we did.

Sony needed to be.

It was their money which got flushed down the toilet.

 

[Neversummer]

It was expected after what happened.

Loud weirdo gamers really killed a talented studio.
We don't see games with suck good gameplay in years and when one is released it face the cancel culture of social media.

Sadly.

Nah. A mediocre game being sold at $40 when pvp competitors are free to play killed this game + the negative aura PS brand has been having since 2020 (pc ports) ps players not vibing w the live service push aswell as being concerned by the diminish short term vision Sony/PS leadership being having how & why would PS fans co-sign a live service game from a new ip & new studio & it’s $40 & PS hasn’t announce the 2nd phase of new singleplayer “exclusive”

Oh + releasing more notable PC ports like GOW ragnarok & Spiderman. PS is slowly making PS games less desirable & not just for PC players & outsiders but also PS fans.

 

[Gods&Monsters]

can't wait, FairGame$ has a high chance of flopping and so does Marathon

Around 2020-2022 everybody was busy buying big-named studios, IPs and publishers while Sony bought garage no-name PC/Gaas trash no one cares about, only to shut them down 2 years later.

Imagine all the cheap opportunities they had during the gold rush. Arc System, CD Project, From, Capcom, Square

I'm rooting for Marathon because Bungie are good developers but everything else

 

[Muddasar]

Around 2020-2022 everybody was busy buying big-named studios, IPs and publishers while Sony bought garage no-name PC/Gaas trash no one cares about, only to shut them down 2 years later.

Imagine all the cheap opportunities they had during the gold rush. Arc System, CD Project, From, Capcom, Square

I'm rooting for Marathon because Bungie are good developers but everything else

Marathon will do just fine.

Fairgames is DOA unless it is something unique. The trailer did not show that.

 

[Neversummer]

One PR disaster after another. What a pathetic market leader.

They was never the market leader.

Nintendo is the true market leader & there action speaks for themselves. Nintendo would never pull the things Sony/PS has done the past 4 years. I’d argue they would fire the person that ever tried to change the Nintendo slow & methodical approach of growth, profit & building a platform/storefront/community that isn’t reliant on others

 

[Neversummer]

Bruh these YouTuber & grifters are wishing & foaming out there mouth Fairgames is the next Sony disaster solely to monetize both there YouTube & twitter.

Fairgames is essentially already dead imo it got reveal w a cgi that was somewhat cringe & really gave no details of what the game was similar to concord. It feels like PS is trying to advertise there live service games like singleplayer game but multiplayer games don’t really work like that. You start off w a hype gameplay trailer w close alpha test & then release the game w twitch exclusive cosmetics to promote the game. It didn’t help concord that w the live streamers that where paid for prompt it had a big stamp saying “ PS sponsored” which completely negates the illusion that the streamers actually fw the game.

 

[Loy310]

Who thinks Haven could be next?

lmao, with fans like yall the whole playstation business might just go bust.

 

[Danja]

lmao, with fans like yall the whole playstation business might just go bust.

It is weird to see them wanting to see games fail just because... FairGame$ should probably be rebranded but I def don't wanna see it fail.