Following the closure of Firewalk Studios’ Concord, the game’s developer is reportedly in “difficulty” and game director Ryan Ellis has resigned from a “support role,” according to a new report.
Since PlayStation decided to take the game offline on September 6, the game’s player numbers and sales are expected to be low, so there’s been a lot of speculation as to whether the game will eventually be brought back in a different state, possibly as a free-to-play title. Well, Sony itself seems to still be weighing its options.
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According to Kotaku, former Destiny 2 creative director Ellis, who was signed on to lead the project in 2017, told employees last week that he would be transitioning from his previous role into a “support role.”
“Ryan believed deeply in this project and bringing players together through the fun of it,” one former developer said of Ellis. “Whatever there was throughout development that could have been done differently… . …He was a good man with a full heart.
According to Kotaku, Firewalk employees are currently unsure of their and the studio’s future following this situation, as Sony appears to be deciding how or whether to work with Concord or shift its focus elsewhere.
In addition to some reportedly being asked to “explore” another project the studio might work on next, others at the studio have speculated they could end up working on another Sony first-party game together, while some “feel “Massive layoffs would be the most likely outcome of Concord’s failure, including the possible closure of the entire studio.”
Ryan Ellis wrote in a PlayStation Blog post announcing Concord’s closure: “Concord fans – we’ve been listening closely to your feedback since launching Concord on PlayStation 5 and PC and want to thank everyone who has joined Polaris on its journey. “Your support and the passionate community growing around the game means the world to us.
“However, while many qualities of the experience resonated with players, we also recognized that other aspects of the game and our initial launch did not live up to our expectations. Therefore, at this time we have decided to release the game from September 6, 2024 Start offline today and explore options, including those that better engage our players.
