Concord's initial development deal was reportedly $200m, though its financial and human cost was far higher
Following the news Sony has closed Concord studio Firewalk, the live-service game’s initial development deal reportedly cost $200m.
This, however, was not enough to cover the game’s entire development costs, sources familiar with the agreement told Kotaku. This cost also did not include the purchase of the Concord IP rights or Firewalk itself, which Sony acquired last year.
Yesterday’s news detailed the human cost of closing the studio, which employed around 150-170 people. The $200m figure adds a sense of the financial cost of even beginning development.
A report from September, after the game was shut down, suggested the game had cost $400m to produce, with development rife with “toxic positivity”.
A final statement from Firewalk shared last night on social media details what the studio achieved during its time on Concord.
“Firewalk began with the idea of bringing the joy of multiplayer to a larger audience,” reads the statement.
The assembled team then grew a new startup, the statement continues, built a “customised next-generation FPS engine”, managed an acquisition from Sony, and ultimately delivered “a great FPS experience to players – even if it landed much more narrowly than hoped against a heavily consolidated market”.
Firewalk is signing off one last time.
Firewalk began with the idea of bringing the joy of multiplayer to a larger audience. Along the way we assembled an incredible team who were able to:
– Navigate growing a new startup into a team during a global pandemic: Firewalk was…— Firewalk (@FirewalkStudios) October 29, 2024
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“We took some risks along the way – marrying aspects of card battlers and fighting games with first-person-shooters – and although some of these and other aspects of the IP didn’t land as we hoped, the idea of putting new things into the world is critical to pushing the medium forward,” the statement continues.
