Firewalk Studios, the dev behind massive PS5 flop Concord, is facing an uncertain future. Kotaku has revealed that game director Ryan Ellis (formerly Destiny 2 creative director at Bungie) has stepped down, and employees are bracing themselves for mass layoffs and even full studio closure.
Concord dev Firewalk is one of the ‘more expensive’ PlayStation Studios
Kotaku‘s sources have said that Firealk employees are in limbo ever since Sony took the unprecedented step of shutting Concord down within two weeks of launch. Like analysts and many in the gaming community, some Firewalk devs are also skeptical about Concord’s return.
The report further claims that some employees have already jumped ship while others are preparing to exit Firewalk. The team is expecting mass layoffs, with some going as far as anticipating potential closure because Firewalk is one of the “more expensive” developers in the PlayStation Studios family on a “per-head” basis.
It looks like Sony has yet to make a decision about both Concord and Firewalk, but Kotaku’s report suggests that employees have positive things to say about Ellis, noting that he genuinely believed in Concord and “poured a great deal of himself into the game.” “Regardless of there being things that could have been done differently throughout development, he’s a good human and full of heart,” they added.