A screenshot from Concord (2024), Firewalk Studios

The former owner of Concord developer Firewalk Studios, ProbablyMonsters, is reportedly shake “to the core” by Concord’s abysmal failure, but management is allegedly ignoring any discussion on DEI or wokeness being the cause of the game’s downfall.

A screenshot of the character Bazz in Concord (2024), Firewalk Studios

ProbablyMonsters, whose CEO and Founder is Harold Ryan, the former President and Chairman of the Board at Bungie, sold Firewalk Studios and Concord to Sony back in April 2023.

A press release from Sony shared, “Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (“SIE”) announced today it has entered into an agreement with ProbablyMonsters Inc. to acquire Firewalk Studios™, a studio of industry-leading creatives developing an original AAA multiplayer game for PlayStation®5 (PS5™) and PC. Firewalk will collaborate alongside world-class development teams, including Bungie and Haven Interactive Studios, to define a new generation of live service experiences for PlayStation gamers.”

A screenshot from Concord (2024), Firewalk Studios

Then Sony CEO CEO and President Jim Ryan said, “Firewalk Studios is led by a world-class team that is highly experienced and deeply passionate about creating exceptional multiplayer games that foster memorable shared experiences.

He added, “I’m confident the studio’s upcoming project will be a robust addition to PlayStation Studios’ portfolio, and its live service and technology expertise will be instrumental in helping grow PlayStation’s reach.”

A screenshot from Concord (2024), Firewalk Studios

Harold Ryan also stated, “ProbablyMonsters is incredibly proud of the team and the game we incubated and built over the past few years. Firewalk Studios joining PlayStation Studios is a brilliant move for the team, game, and future players.”

“Our goal at ProbablyMonsters is to find the best path to market for all of our games, and we couldn’t be happier for the Firewalk team,” he concluded.

A screenshot from Concord (2024), Firewalk Studios

Firewalk Studios released Concord at the end of August and it was already dead. On Steam the game failed to have more than 700 concurrent players.

Concord Steam DB concurrent player data

It did not fare any better on PlayStation with PSNProfiles.com reporting that only 1,539 individuals owned the game.

A screenshot of PSNProfiles.com showing the First Takedown achievement for Concord (2024), Firewalk Studios

Following the poor sales, Firewalk Studios Game Director Ryan Ellis announced in a blog post on the official PlayStation website that the game was being shut down less than two weeks after it was released.

He wrote, “At this time, we have decided to take the game offline beginning September 6, 2024, and explore options, including those that will better reach our players.”

He also shared that the company will be offering full refunds, “While we determine the best path ahead, Concord sales will cease immediately and we will begin to offer a full refund for all gamers who have purchased the game for PS5 or PC. If you purchased the game for PlayStation 5 from the PlayStation Store or PlayStation Direct, a refund will be issued back to your original payment method.”

A screenshot from Concord (2024), Firewalk Studios

The game went dark on September 6th, but the day before it was shut down, the company’s Senior Concept Artist Amanda Kiefer revealed that employees are “terrified of the future.”

She wrote on X, “I was going to DM you after seeing this, but this site makes me pay to do that, so at the risk of getting dogpiled, I’m just going to say this here: a lot affected the art side of concord including design by committee, failure of some leadership to listen to the art team, etc”

She continued, “the character concept art team including myself is going through an extremely difficult time emotionally, and some of the team no longer want to work in games, design characters, or even do art anymore after this. Because of this, posts like yours, though understandable are unfortunately ill-timed. None of us know which way the wind will blow with the studio, we are worried sick and terrified of the future. Not only that, but we have been shouldering the brunt of the emotional labor as executives/directors dodge most of the blame.”

ImagineAmanda on X

Kiefer then added, “Behind the scenes of all this talk about concord and character designs, people’s livelihoods are at risk and there are very real financial consequences that might hurt us even more.

She concluded, “That’s just what I can say from our point of view. I’m not saying change course or anything – us artists like being able to use social media to promote our work and get more jobs. But I am saying we see this, and it does absolutely effect us since we just got our teeth kicked in.”

ImagineAmanda on X

Now, a source close to ProbablyMonsters informs That Park Place that ProbablyMonsters has been shaken to its core due to not only the game’s failure, but to the extent that it failed.

While the company and its employees have been shaken by the failure, one thing that is not shaking them and that they are not even acknowledging is the game’s embrace of woke ideology and diversity, equity, and inclusivity (DEI).

Interestingly, this source also informed That Park Place that the company did indeed have discussions beforehand about how heavy it would embrace woke ideology. As shown in the game’s final product it does not appear that dissenting voices were able to bring any reason to those wanting to insert the woke ideology. And now it appears executives want to bury their heads in the sand.

If what this source relays is true other projects coming out of ProbablyMonsters incubation as well as their Battle Barge and Hidden Grove studios are most definitely at risk of being infected by the woke ideology and leading to similar disasters such as Concord.

A screenshot from Concord (2024), Firewalk Studios

Ironically, this head in the sand style management is exactly how the Firewalk Studios team operated following intense negative feedback from gamers after the game was showcased during a PlayStation State of Play.

Instead of acknowledging the feedback and attempting to listen to gamers and course correct, Firewalk Studios completely ignored it and attempted to trudge on as if the negative feedback did not exist.

Kim Kreines, Firewalk’s Director of IP eventually addressed the criticism telling VGC, “Yeah, that trailer. That moment is such a tiny slice of everything that we’ve been working on for years and years. We’re excited for the game and for the IP, [and] for the game to be in people’s hands, the IP to be in people’s minds.”

She continued, “I’m personally very excited for the IP for folks to delve into the galactic guide if that is something they choose to do, for these vignettes to come out on a weekly basis. You’ll start to fall in love with the depth of the characters. That’s something that you learn week to week. Their personalities will unfold, their relationships will unfold for you, their backstories. None of that is something that you can get in a tiny little slice of it.”

“But that’s a start,” Kreines added. “There’s something there. So I’m glad folks watched it. I’m glad they participated and I can’t wait for them to see more, to see everything that is there.”