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Sony pulls the plug on Harmony and shuts down Firewalk Studios


Sony has formally killed off Harmony and is shuttering the studio behind the sport. Harmony‘s servers have been taken down simply two weeks after the launch of the aggressive crew shooter from Firewalk Studios after poor gross sales. Firewalk’s sport director Ryan Ellis selected to move himself right into a extra supportive function following Harmony‘s struggles, and Sony had mentioned it might contemplate its choices for the mission. The choice is in.

“After a lot thought, we now have decided the most effective path ahead is to completely sundown the sport and shut the studio,” Hermen Hulst of Sony Interactive Leisure’s Studio Enterprise Group mentioned in a statement in the present day. “I wish to thank all of Firewalk for his or her craftsmanship, inventive spirit and dedication.” A consultant advised Bloomberg News that Firewalk Studios had 172 workers who will lose their jobs.

The net sport enterprise is brutal, and Harmony might have suffered for its lengthy improvement time, which meant different crew shooters had already risen to prominence and outlined gamers’ expectations. Many related video games are free to play and assist themselves financially with a battle cross or seasonal mannequin. Avid gamers might have balked on the $40 price ticket for a brand new property, or perhaps the style was just too crowded for Harmony to muscle in.

Regardless of the causes, in the present day’s information marks one other tough chapter for the sport improvement world. Firewalk Studios is an outlier for having this degree of economic failure, however it’s nonetheless one more closure within the trade that has seen loads of turbulence lately. Layoffs and shutdowns have been a top story in gaming, however a number of of the current instances have been like Firewalk, which was acquired by Sony Interactive Leisure simply final spring. Netflix abruptly shut down its AAA studio final week earlier than the crew had even introduced a mission. Microsoft closed three studios from the Zenimax household earlier this 12 months. As fewer events management a rising share of the video games trade, the tolerance for experimentation and slim revenue margins will possible shrink too. And one of these sudden upheaval may develop into all of the extra frequent.

Replace, October 29, 2024, 2:52PM ET: Story up to date with extra context about Harmony, Firewalk Studios’ workers numbers and broader studio closure developments.

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