Summary
- Concord and Firewalk Studios' tumultuous run has continued, as studio director, Ryan Ellis, has reportedly stepped down from his role.
- Ellis will reportedly move into a support-based role after previously serving as the game's "shot caller."
- The move, along with the pulling of the game entirely, has left developers at Firewalk uncertain of their futures.
- Mass layoffs or a studio shutdown have all been feared, according to the report.
Whenever Sony's troubled live-service hero shooter, Concord, does return, if it returns, it'll do so with♏out its director. That's because, , which cit🐻ed multiple sources, Firewalk Studios' Ryan Ellis, who served as the Game Director, has stepped down.
The move comes a little over two weeks since Sony and Firewalk anno💎unced that it would be pulling the plug on its latest live-service endeavor. At the time꧟, , Ellis noted that the team would "explore options, including those that will better reach our players."
Co🍰ncord Is Proof That We Own Nothing In The Digital Age
All it t🐎akes is a notification to take games we own away from us𒐪.
If that remains the case, then Ellis will do so in a support role, . Through Concord's development, launch and subsequent removal, Ellis served as the "main shജot caller" on the project, having "deeply♌ believed" in its potential.
The reported move has left a high level ⛦of uncertainty among developers at Firewalk.
What Comes Next Is Unclear
, Kotaku goes on to note that for those involved with the game studio, there is a level of uncertainty about what will happen next. Some are pessimistic that Concord will ever return, despite its options being explored. Previously, The Gamer repor📖ted how Concord was seemingly receiving updates on the back-end via Sony QA engineers.
Elsewhere, some hands have been asked to begin exploring pitches for a new game entirely. There is also repor🌞ted speculation that Firewalk could become a support studio for Sony and its other fir🃏st-party projects.
That said, other individuals, , believe that mass layoffs will be the result of Concord's failure. A possible shutdown was also mentioned. In advance of that, Kotaku noted that developers have begun updating their resumes and p😼ortfolios.
Some have reportedly already left, though, while others are waiting to see what type of severance would be offered in the event of a total shutdown. Only time will tell what does indeed happen, not only with Concord, but with Firewalk as a whole. To this point, refunds have been issued for Concord, with the game being removed from accounts🔯 altogether. Meanwhile, the planned Concord-themed episode of Secret Le🦋vel will still reportedly be ma🌺de available.
Every New Consoﷺle Is Going To Focus More On Backwards Compatibility Thanꦅ The Last
Whꦉen new games take five-plus years to ༺develop, old games become more important than ever.
