Kotaku stories that Firewalk’s Ryan Ellis has stepped down from his position as recreation director on the studio.
After the shutdown of its debut venture Harmony, Ellis has reportedly moved right into a “help position” on the PlayStation studio. An interim or alternative director was not listed, and the outlet claims Firewalk employees are unclear on its subsequent steps.
PlayStation pulled the plug on Harmony simply two weeks after launch, with Ellis on the time saying it “did not land the best way we meant.” He additionally mentioned the developer and writer would “discover choices” to enhance and probably revive the sport.
Nevertheless, sources chatting with Kotaku declare Sony’s but to decide, and suppose the sci-fi shooter is completely lifeless. Within the meantime, Firewalk employees have reportedly been requested to discover pitches for one thing “utterly completely different” to work on.
There’s additionally hypothesis the studio could also be shuffled right into a help position for different first-party PlayStation groups, or that mass layoffs are on the horizon. There are reportedly round 150-170 staff on the studio, and a few have already began updating their portfolios, or departed Firewalk upfront.
The historical past of Firewalk and PlayStation to this point
Sony acquired Firewalk in 2023 following a publishing settlement the 2 corporations struck in 2021. On the time, Sony was trying to get in huge on the live-service market, which additionally fueled its acquisition of Bungie in 2022 and several other multiplayer tasks.
Since then, lots of these live-service video games have been shelved or scrapped. The way forward for Bungie is in flux and depending on its upcoming extraction shooter revival of Marathon.
As for Firewalk, sources advised Kotaku the acquisition was allegedly one of many dearer PlayStation studios on a per-head foundation, additional fueling hypothesis of a shutdown.
Amidst all of this, the identical sources prolonged their sympathies to Ellis, who they mentioned turned “too emotional” to talk throughout a staff all-hands earlier than Harmony’s finish.
“Ryan deeply believed in that venture,” mentioned one former developer. “No matter there being issues that would have been achieved in another way all through growth…he’s a great human, and filled with coronary heart.”
Kotaku’s full report on Firewalk and Harmony will be learn right here.
