Firewalk Studios is being shut down

rofif

...owns a 3080...why?
24 Jun 2022
2,075
2,595
Loosers in school.
Can't make Friends or get into friends groups.
Nobody likes them
They grow up
Find a group that likes them but they have to change gender and get woke.
But in that group they all agree wit themselves
Get a job at sony
Be a shitty TOXIC POSITIVTY boss / director / worker
See the world through your stupid dick politics nobody asked about
Force your crap on everyone
"but you are all wrong you are bullying me!"

WASTE 400 MIL$$$
This could've been 2 uncharted games, bloodborne remaster, killzone and resistance collections. And there would still be cash left over
 

Gods&Monsters

Banned
21 Jun 2022
5,607
11,467
Finally they can put this shitshow behind them. Now they can concentrate on destroying the rest of their legacy by going PC Day 1 and giving the victory to Steam.

Bravo Hulst

Episode 1 Applause GIF by Friends
 

voke

Veteran
10 Jan 2023
2,641
3,443
They made an excellent FPS game that has VERY bad character designs. The audience it gathered were grifters and their goons shitting on it quickly and overpowered the small community who wanted to enjoy a new game. Sad ending overall.
 

Zzero

Major Tom
9 Jan 2023
4,005
2,333
I feel sorry for all effected employees at Neon Koi.
*end statement*
 

TrishaCat

Veteran
17 May 2024
1,085
841
Closing a studio after only a single failure is lame and cringe
Finishing a game and not making it available in some way is also very cringe.

Sony should release the game with tools for fans to host their own servers so that the game can continue to exist and be played without being on the dime of Sony.
 

rofif

...owns a 3080...why?
24 Jun 2022
2,075
2,595
Inclusion is good on paper.
But we are forcing inclusion of non existing or veeeeery small group of people.
How do we know that group is small? They were target for concord and look how many people bought it.

There are ton of gay people in the world and THATS GREAT. But Gayu =/= not woke.
woke is political forced view. Gay is sex preference.
People are mixing gender, sexual orientation and politics
 

Zzero

Major Tom
9 Jan 2023
4,005
2,333
They made an excellent FPS game that has VERY bad character designs. The audience it gathered were grifters and their goons shitting on it quickly and overpowered the small community who wanted to enjoy a new game. Sad ending overall.
You don't spend a billion dollars building a "small community". They fucked up big time and Sony probably made the right decision pulling support oone week in.
 

Puff

Veteran
10 Jan 2023
1,503
3,671
*Below is an internal email from Hermen Hulst, CEO, Studio Business Group, Sony Interactive Entertainment distributed today to SIE employees.
Dear Team,

Today, I want to share some important updates from Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Studio Business Group.

We consistently evaluate our games portfolio and status of our projects to ensure we are meeting near and long-term business priorities. As part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen SIE’s Studio Business, we have had to make a difficult decision relating to two of our studios – Neon Koi and Firewalk Studios.

Expanding beyond PlayStation devices and crafting engaging online experiences alongside our single-player games are key focal areas for us as we evolve our revenue streams. We need to be strategic, though, in bringing our games to new platforms and recognize when our games fall short of meeting player expectations. While mobile remains a priority growth area for the Studio Business, we are in the very early stage of our mobile efforts. To achieve success in this area we need to concentrate on titles that are in-line with PlayStation Studios’ pedigree and have the potential to reach more players globally.

With this re-focused approach, Neon Koi will close, and its mobile action game will not be moving forward. I want to express my gratitude to everyone at Neon Koi for their hard work and endless passion to innovate. Regarding Firewalk, as announced in early September (An Important Update on Concord), certain aspects of Concord were exceptional, but others did not land with enough players, and as a result we took the game offline. We have spent considerable time these past few months exploring all our options.

After much thought, we have determined the best path forward is to permanently sunset the game and close the studio.   I want to thank all of Firewalk for their craftsmanship, creative spirit and dedication. The PvP first person shooter genre is a competitive space that’s continuously evolving, and unfortunately, we did not hit our targets with this title. We will take the lessons learned from Concord and continue to advance our live service capabilities to deliver future growth in this area.
I know none of this is easy news to hear, particularly with colleagues and friends departing SIE. Both decisions were given serious thought, and ultimately, we feel they are the right ones to strengthen the organization. Neon Koi and Firewalk were home to many talented individuals, and we will work to find placement for some of those impacted within our global community of studios where possible.

I am a big believer in the benefits of embracing creative experimentation and developing new IP. However, growing through sustainable financials, especially in a challenged economic environment is critical. While today is a difficult day, there is much to look forward to in the months ahead from the Studio Business Group and our teams. I remain confident that we are building a resilient and capable organization driven by creating unforgettable entertainment experiences for our players.  

Thank you for your continued support.
 

Zzero

Major Tom
9 Jan 2023
4,005
2,333
I think we all saw this coming.
SIE has been in cost cutting measures recently and a studio that lost quite a bit of money and is looking at 5-6 years until their next game is not going to be kept, especially with Seattle/Bellevue Washington levels of salaries.
Oh yeah, they are in Seattle, aren't they? They can go over and make the next Halo. Can't be any worse than 343I.
 

ghostwriter74

Active member
27 Jun 2023
107
149
That gives me a stomach ache. Hulst himself praised the game and team highly a good two years ago. At Sony, they were convinced that they had not only bought the developer, but also presented the title in a big way in the SoP. And there was also a secret level episode! After the beta, which flopped, they stuck to the date and price and let the developer and the title run into trouble. And despite the basic framework, the title was taken off the internet and the developer has now closed down. In my opinion, that is more Xbox "quality" and I would have expected more from Sony.

I have no idea who messed up, but I fear Hulst is largely to blame. The problem now is the external impact. Fairgames and Marathon are two other titles that hardly anyone seems to be interested in without even having seen any gameplay. Unless they are F2P at launch, the few Concord fans will not buy anything again, invest time and may end up being ripped off again. What is left of the Life Service strategy anyway? LoU Online canceled, Studio Liverpool and their Life Service project dead, Firewalk and Concord dead, Marathon is said to be in bad shape and nobody knows what is going on with Fairgames. Only Helldivers 2 is a surprise hit, but its profits have already been wiped out by the loss from canceled titles and closed studios.

Let's hope that the Horizon Online games do well, otherwise Hulst will surely lose his job. Overall, however, it is a huge embarrassment for Sony that should now lead to consequences. The Live Service and PC port strategies have obviously failed.
 
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