Sony Interactive Leisure will shut Neon Koi and Harmony developer Firewalk Studios, the corporate introduced.
Because of the closures, Neon Koi’s cellular motion recreation will stop growth, 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 had been impacted to search out placement for some inside its international PlayStation Studios “the place attainable.”
Right here is the total message from Sony Interactive Studio Enterprise Group CEO Hermen Hulst on the closures:
Pricey Staff,
At present, 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, now we have needed to make a troublesome determination 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 wanting assembly participant expectations.
Whereas cellular stays a precedence development space for the Studio Enterprise, we’re within the very early stage of our cellular efforts. To realize success on this space we have to focus on titles which are in-line with PlayStation Studios’ pedigree and have the potential to achieve extra gamers globally.
With this re-focused strategy, Neon Koi will shut, and its cellular motion recreation is not going to be shifting ahead. I wish to specific my gratitude to everybody at Neon Koi for his or her arduous work and limitless ardour to innovate.
Concerning Firewalk, as introduced in early September (An Necessary Replace on Harmony), sure features of Harmony had been distinctive, however others didn’t land with sufficient gamers, and consequently we took the sport offline. We now have spent appreciable time these previous few months exploring all our choices.
After a lot thought, now we 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, artistic spirit, and dedication.
The player-versus-player first-person shooter style is a aggressive area that’s repeatedly evolving, and sadly, we didn’t hit our targets with this title. We’ll take the teachings discovered from Harmony and proceed to advance our dwell service capabilities to ship future development on this space.
I do know none of that is straightforward information to listen to, significantly with colleagues and mates departing SIE. Each selections got severe thought, and in the end, we really feel they’re the correct ones to strengthen the group. Neon Koi and Firewalk had been house to many gifted people, and we’ll work to search out placement for a few of these impacted inside our international group of studios the place attainable.
I’m an enormous believer in the advantages of embracing artistic experimentation and creating new IP. Nonetheless, rising by way of sustainable financials, particularly in a challenged financial atmosphere is important.
Whereas right now is a troublesome day, there may be a lot to sit up for 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 on your continued help.
