Sony Interactive Leisure to shut Firewalk Studios, Neon Koi

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Sony Interactive Leisure will shut Neon Koi and Harmony developer Firewalk Studios, the corporate introduced.

On account of the closures, Neon Koi’s cellular motion recreation will stop improvement, and Firewalk Studios’ Harmony, which was delisted and brought offline simply two weeks after it launched on August 23, shall be completely sundown.

Sony Interactive Leisure will work with the Neon Koi and Firewalk Studios workers who have been impacted to seek out placement for some inside its international PlayStation Studios “the place doable.”

Right here is the complete message from Sony Interactive Studio Enterprise Group CEO Hermen Hulst on the closures:

Pricey Staff,

At the moment, I wish to share some essential updates from Sony Interactive Leisure’s Studio Enterprise Group.

We constantly consider our video games portfolio and standing of our tasks to make sure we’re assembly close to and long-term enterprise priorities. As a part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen SIE’s Studio Enterprise, we now have needed to make a tough resolution relating to 2 of our studio— Neon Koi and Firewalk Studios.

Increasing past PlayStation gadgets and crafting partaking on-line experiences alongside our single-player video games are key focal areas for us as we evolve our income streams. We must be strategic, although, in bringing our video games to new platforms and acknowledge when our video games fall in need of assembly participant expectations.

Whereas cellular stays a precedence progress space for the Studio Enterprise, we’re within the very early stage of our cellular efforts. To attain success on this space we have to consider titles which can be in-line with PlayStation Studios’ pedigree and have the potential to succeed in extra gamers globally.

With this re-focused strategy, Neon Koi will shut, and its cellular motion recreation is not going to be transferring ahead. I wish to categorical my gratitude to everybody at Neon Koi for his or her arduous work and countless ardour to innovate.

Relating to Firewalk, as introduced in early September (An Essential Replace on Harmony), sure points of Harmony have been distinctive, however others didn’t land with sufficient gamers, and in consequence we took the sport offline. We have now spent appreciable time these previous few months exploring all our choices.

After a lot thought, we now have decided the perfect path ahead is to completely sundown the sport and shut the studio. I wish to thank all of Firewalk for his or her craftsmanship, inventive spirit, and dedication.

The player-versus-player first-person shooter style is a aggressive house that’s repeatedly evolving, and sadly, we didn’t hit our targets with this title. We are going to take the teachings realized from Harmony and proceed to advance our reside service capabilities to ship future progress on this space.

I do know none of that is straightforward information to listen to, notably with colleagues and pals departing SIE. Each choices got severe thought, and finally, we really feel they’re the correct ones to strengthen the group. Neon Koi and Firewalk have been residence to many gifted people, and we’ll work to seek out placement for a few of these impacted inside our international neighborhood of studios the place doable.

I’m an enormous believer in the advantages of embracing inventive experimentation and creating new IP. Nevertheless, rising by way of sustainable financials, particularly in a challenged financial atmosphere is crucial.

Whereas at present is a tough day, there’s a lot to look ahead to within the months forward from the Studio Enterprise Group and our groups. I stay assured that we’re constructing a resilient and succesful group pushed by creating unforgettable leisure experiences for our gamers.  

Thanks in your continued assist.

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