The sad story of the team vs. team hero shooter Concord doesn’t appear to simply stop at the game being killed after roughly two weeks of online life; it’s extending further to the developers at Firewalk Studios, who are reportedly facing the potential for layoffs as they await Sony’s reckoning.
According to insider sources, worries began to gestate when director Ryan Ellis announced to employees last week that he would be stepping down into an unspecified “support role” within the studio. Those same sources suggest that Ellis was a well-liked director of the game who poured himself into the creation of Concord and was reportedly tearful during a post-launch meeting when it was clear the shooter was starting to bomb.
“Regardless of there being things that could have been done differently throughout development, he’s a good human and full of heart,” remarked one developer.
As for the rest of the 150 to 170 employees at Firewalk, Sony has yet to communicate what happens next, but the vast majority are bracing for layoffs that could see the studio fully shut down. Sources say that Firewalk is one of Sony’s most expensive studios to run on a per-head basis, and there is precedent behavior with the company’s firing of 8% of its global workforce back in February. This has led many to reportedly exit ahead of time while others either update their resumes or wait to learn about any potential severance packages before deciding what to do next.
