Hard to “like” that post, and that’s sad to hear. It’s really too bad that they don’t try to adapt but it might be more “valuable” for them to write off that studio as a loss for taxes, at least in the short term.
I believe this is the fastest closure after a game debut ever or at least for this gen.
For first game debut, probably. For a studio getting shut right after their last game launch, we have Visions of Mana studio, shut down by their parent company.
Now watch the excuses fly and defense forces come out. Sony has closed alot of studios in the last decade and their 1st party is really getting small. Sony always seems to escape accountability from their fan bases on things like this. This will be another one
Oh yeah, that’s true. I guess second then. First one was a shameful act because of timing. This one was witnessing a train wreck in its rightful definition. It’s crazy.
That one honestly made me angry and less likely to buy a game I was interested in.
That was on Tencent right? That had to be a low blow for Square.
NetEase. And on top of that SE got a lot of flak, because people assumed it was them.
That doesn’t jive with the e-mail that’s in the OP:
“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.”
Unless that’s a lie, the number of people who’re losing their jobs is 172 + 38 - X, where X is however many people will find new jobs within Sony.
I am surprised that Media Molecule has outlasted these studios.
I’m going to put this one on Sony. I’m sure Sony was the one that decided on the pricing/monetization scheme for the game and that is what ultimately killed it. The game should have launched as F2P no question.
Fairgames and to some extent, Marathon have got to be a bit intimidated by this. They really can’t afford to screw up.
https://x.com/wario64/status/1851423282341228646?s=46&t=O_AGT9SEnlptKOF_2SxtqQ
Antique stuff here.
There was next to no interest in the open beta though. People didn’t want to play this even when it was free. It just did not appeal to any audience, price aside.
This stinks a lot. The loss of jobs is always gross. There is no denying Concord was aggressive mediocre and unwanted but it wasn’t because its developers were bad and untalented, but because a lack of real vision, and a publisher who seem to have always intended to throw a lot of projects at the wall in hopes at least few hit.
Frankly, that’s pretty bad. It’s not like Sony have many studios to rely on for first party releases.
They’ve messed up badly because even their own community didn’t want this game. And they know what their community wants. They know it well.
Where else would you “put this”? It’s literally only on Sony.
For those commenting on Concord and blaming Firewalk… it’s literally what Sony bought them to make. It’s Sony’s fault for not doing any market research or bothering to look at any of the competition failing while they continued to fund it.
Bend, Firesprite, Haven, and Media Molecule, are all one bad game from being shut down. The Horizon Multiplayer team also has to sweating bullets. Wild times