Concord boss reportedly demoted as Firewalk Studios prays other shoe won’t drop

Concord director Ryan Ellis has stepped down from his role amids reports PlayStation is still trying to figure out what do with Firewalk Studios’ super-sized flop.

Kotaku today reported Ellis, who led Concord through its final phases, has been moved into a different role within Firewalk. Ellis had previously worked as a creative director on Destiny 2, which may have made him seem the perfect pick for PlayStation’s big new live-service title. Despite his relatively strong track record, however, the efforts that he and other developers put into Concord, it didn’t see similar success to Bungie’s titanically successful shooter.

It’s been rough for some weeks at Firewalk, Kotaku also reported. During the launch, there was plenty of excitement from the developers, but unfortunately, the public didn’t seem to feel the same way. In a meeting following the game’s launch, after it was evident the game was a bomb, there were times that “Ellis was too emotional to speak,” insider sources told Kotaku.

Kotaku also noted morale at Firewalk has sunk to new lows, with some at the approximately 170-person studio expecting layoffs. Some have already resigned and looked for work elsewhere. Alternatively, developers have been pitching ideas for something else for Firewalk to work on. It will be some time before anyone really knows what will happen next.

It is clear that Concord was an abject failure though, no matter how the onion’s sliced. Although Concord retained the “top-notch gunplay” of a Bungie title like Destiny 2, as IGN described it, the recently released title’s approach to monetization, storytelling, and character design went a different direction. Many speculate that, following Concord’s timid release and eventual server shutdown, the game will be given a free-to-play makeover and rereleased.

There doesn’t seem to be much hope that Concord can course-correct though, whether it be from the gamers who panned it to the increasingly worried Firewalk devs who worked on it. If the game does manage to turn things around, it could be a redemption arc to rival the likes of No Man’s Sky and Cyberpunk—though for every revival, there’s a hundred games that never rise again.

As for fan reception to Ellis’ exit, some have been rightfully concerned for the hardworking devs still looking for an exit plan. Others have taken this moment to celebrate.