Sony closed Concord studio Firewalk to ‘further its monopoly’ in games, labour body says

The Communication Workers of America (CWA) has claimed that Sony’s decision to close Firewalk and Neon Koi was a move to “further its monopoly position in the video game industry”.

As reported by Game Developer, the labour body condemned Sony’s decision, which this week saw it close two of its studios.

Parent company Sony Interactive Entertainment, which only acquired Firewalk last year, confirmed on Tuesday that it was shutting the company after its debut title Concord bombed.

“Collective bargaining not only allows workers a seat at the table to bargain for fair compensation, but also a voice on the job to have a say over how workers will be impacted by job cuts,” the CWA said in a statement.

Firewalk’s first and only release was  Concord, a live service shooter which Sony signed early in development for an initial $200 million, according to Kotaku.

Its sources claimed that amount wasn’t enough to cover the game’s full development, and also didn’t include the acquisition of the Concord IP rights or Washington-based Firewalk itself. An earlier report claimed it cost $400 million to make the game.

Sony took Concord offline and pulled the game from sale within two weeks of its release this summer, citing a poor reception from players.

“Sony’s decision to dissolve studios outside their walled garden of PlayStation-exclusive content, rather than making games that have to compete in the highly diverse and competitive mobile game market, should be a cautionary warning sign of Sony’s interests in furthering their monopoly position in the video game industry,” the CWA continued.

“CWA plans to raise the anti-competitive impacts of Sony’s increasing monopoly and monopsony power with the appropriate antitrust regulators, policymakers, and stakeholders.”