‘Concord’ game director Ryan Ellis has reportedly stepped down from his position at Firework Studios.
Concord game director Ryan Ellis has reportedly stepped down from his position at Firework Studios
The hero-shooter was deemed a failure by Sony after it attracted only 25,000 players when it released at the end of last month on PlayStation 5 and PC - with the publisher removing it from digital stores and issuing full refunds to all customers - and now a new Kotaku report suggests the titles’ boss has left Firework.
A former developer told the outlet: “Ryan deeply believed in that project and bringing players together through the joy in it.
“Regardless of there being things that could have been done differently throughout development ... he’s a good human, and full of heart.”
Following the announcement of ‘Concord’s closure, staff at Firewalk have reportedly been left “in limbo” while they wait to see what Sony will do with the studio.
Industry insiders claimed employees at the developer were “pessimistic” about the future of the franchise, with some said to be concerned the publisher will consider mass layoffs at Firewalk as a result of the game’s failure.
Once Sony announced ‘Concord’ would be taken offline on 3 September, Ellis - who was a former director on ‘Destiny 2’ before he left Bungie to found Firewalk in 2018 - said the developer would “explore options” that would “better reach our players”.