Concord game director steps down amid fears of layoffs and possible closure for Firewalk developers

According to a Kotaku article, Concord game director Ryan Ellis will be taking on a support role at Firewalk Studios.

Three sources told the website that Ellis, the former director of Destiny 2, who left Bungie and founded Firewalk back in 2018, announced his resignation last week, just after Sony had taken the game offline to "explore" options that would "better reach players." The move was made less than two weeks following Concord's near-complete disinterest. Concord had a total Steam concurrent player count of only 697.

Former developer Kotaku said that Ryan deeply believed in the project and wanted to bring players together by bringing them joy. "Despite the fact that there were things that could have done differently during development, he is a good person and full of love."

Concord's spectacular failure was shocking, not only because of its speed, but also because Sony was so confident in the game, it signed a publishing agreement in 2021, and purchased Firewalk outright in early 2023, even before Concord had been announced, let alone released. Concord's $40 price tag has been widely cited as a major reason for its failure. However, the game itself was not that great. We called it "an underbaked, expensive, and dated hero-shooter" in our 45% review.

Firewalk staff are pessimistic about the possibility of Concord returning, perhaps as a free to play game. Some have been asked for pitches on completely new projects, separate from Concord. There's also concern about layoffs and a possible closure of the studio.

This is not unprecedented. Sony-owned Bungie laid off 220 workers in the name "portfolio-optimization," and Firewalk, a studio that focuses on a single game, appears particularly vulnerable to cuts or closing. I've contacted Sony for comment. I will update this post if I get a response.