After years of console domination, we’re beginning to see cracks within the PlayStation model because it tries to brute power its approach in the direction of live-service supremacy. There’s no clearer instance of this than the high-profile failure of Harmony and the closing of Firewalk Studio.
This week, PlayStation introduced that it was shuttering Firewalk Studio, a developer based in 2018 that Sony acquired simply final yr. The explanation for the acquisition and the closure are the identical: Harmony, a live-service PvP hero shooter launched on each PS5 and PC, developed by creatives who reduce their tooth on video games like Future and Name of Responsibility.
To be completely frank, Harmony bombed. In keeping with SteamDB data, participant counts on PC by no means broke 1000, and estimated gross sales figures throughout each PS5 and Steam have been abysmal. On the time of its disastrous launch, I laid out the explanation why Harmony didn’t land, together with the eight years it spent in growth that triggered it to utterly miss the hero shooter pattern that was kickstarted by Crew Fortress 2 in 2007 and peaked with Overwatch in 2016:
“Figuring out the associated fee and growth time required for a AAA on-line video games, studios need to assess, predict and/or just guess as to what would be the subsequent massive hit. What video games will achieve 4, 5, six years time if we start creating it proper now? Will the viewers nonetheless look after that form of sport once we’re lastly able to launch it? It virtually requires the providers of a fortune-teller to get the reply proper.”
Mainly, for those who begin making a sport based mostly on what’s well-liked now, you’re most likely already too late.
That fairly simple mistake is compounded by Harmony’s exorbitant growth price. The huge funds that allowed for PlayStation’s attribute best-in-class visuals and a library of cinematic cutscenes we’ll by no means see meant that whereas rivals have been launched free-to-play, Sony selected to promote the sport for $40. Mixed with low client consciousness and tons of high quality, free alternate options, Harmony’s worth put it at an enormous — and, because it seems, deadly — drawback.
Content material clever, it’s laborious to say that Harmony was absolutely baked when it launched. The character kits have been awkward at finest, the techniques — which Firewalk mentioned mixes components of combating video games and card video games — have been largely unclear, and the map designs had a lot to be desired. Elements of the web will say that Harmony’s characters additionally doomed the sport. Although it is a laborious argument to consider contemplating Valve’s personal hero shooter, Impasse, was launched at across the similar time to widespread pleasure and an exploding participant rely. And Impasse doesn’t also have a finalized character roster, although it’s free-to-play.
However all that is to say that Harmony is a black eye on the PlayStation model, and never simply due to its business failure. Sony’s dealing with your complete scenario has been catastrophic. It’s one factor to launch a flop, however pulling the sport from shops and participant accounts barely weeks after launch, and then shutting down the studio it simply acquired and scattering its builders into the wilds of 2024’s already depressing video games trade, are the panicked selections of an organization completely uncertain of the place to go subsequent.
This sort of failure and subsequent panic is alien to trendy Sony. Because the launch of the PlayStation 4, its gaming model has been practically unstoppable, releasing critically-acclaimed sport after sport and defeating its rivals within the console race. Nintendo has all however exited the console wars, selecting as an alternative to be everybody’s second console of alternative, whereas Xbox has spent years rebuilding itself in an try and get near being second place once more. However whereas video games the platform’s signature single-player video games like God of Conflict, Ghost of Tsushima, Spider-Man, and The Final of Us racked up awards and gross sales, the sport trade modified. Trade analysts like MIDiA could say that the majority players favor single-player video games, however the fact is that in 2023, 80% of sport time was spent on simply 66 video games, most of that are on-line video games akin to Fortnite, Minecraft, Name of Responsibility, and League of Legends. Reside-service is the place the eye and {dollars} are at.
It’s not laborious to see why Sony could be focused on pursuing an aggressive live-service video games technique, then, past simply the potential earnings. PlayStation’s first-party groups like Naughty Canine and Insomniac spend practically half a decade creating their AAA single-player video games earlier than they’re launched. So, if Sony has a number of live-service video games to maintain gamers distracted in between main AAA releases, then instantly it’s obtained a fairly wholesome trying launch calendar that alternates between single-player sport releases and live-service content material.
It was most likely with this in thoughts that Sony acquired Future 2 developer Bungie in 2022, its most high-profile live-service studio acquisition up to now. That wasn’t all; on the time Sony introduced that it deliberate to have 10 live-service video games operating by the tip of the 2025 fiscal yr. Final yr, seemingly in response to a behind-the-scenes realization of how tough a purpose that was to attain, Sony revised that quantity down to simply six. With the shuttering of Harmony and quite a few rounds of layoffs at Bungie, it’s clear that the PlayStation live-service period is off to a rocky begin. So what can Sony do about it?
First, it’s vital to grasp the present state of play and the place Sony’s at in its live-service objectives. PlayStation has canceled quite a few on-line video games, some formally confirmed, others solely recognized through rumors and reviews. Amongst them are Naughty Canine’ The Final of Us PvP venture, a web based Spider-Man sport, a live-service Twisted Metallic, and Payback, a third-person Future spinoff.
As for the tasks nonetheless reportedly in growth, there’s Bungie’s Marathon (which simply acquired an official developer replace and, for the second, appears protected) in addition to two rumored Horizon video games – one a co-op expertise, the opposite an MMO. Sony additionally acquired Haven Studios in 2023, a brand new sport studio began by former Ubisoft veteran Jade Raymond. Whereas Haven was bought for its personal upcoming AAA PvP venture, Fairgames, Sony additionally deliberate for the studio to assist bolster its different live-service efforts – till its closing, Haven aided Firewalk in growth of Harmony.
Thus far, Sony’s most profitable contribution to the live-service style is through a studio it doesn’t truly personal. Arrowhead Studio’s massively profitable Helldivers 2, could present the PlayStation Studios emblem when it boots up, however it’s only printed by Sony. And, whereas it launched to nice fanfare, Helldivers’ current updates have been much less well-received by the neighborhood, additional indicating the long-term challenges PlayStation faces within the live-service area.
The technique right here is muddled at finest. The Final of Us and Spider-Man are each extremely well-liked video games for Sony, however to not even attempt to ship on a multiplayer element when that’s such an enormous focus for PlayStation this technology looks like a missed alternative. In the meantime, Sony can also be prepared to launch video games from new studios like Firewalk for $40 in a style dominated by premium, free-to-play experiences is a big gamble, until Sony believes that the PlayStation model is powerful sufficient to bolster the very first sport from a comparatively unknown studio. And with out even giving Harmony time at making any form of significant change after the launch, Sony shutters the studio outright.
In its official assertion, Sony says it is going to “take the teachings discovered from Harmony and proceed to advance our stay service capabilities to ship future development on this space.” However with a lot having gone incorrect for Harmony, it looks like Sony ought to take a look at every thing it did with Harmony and do the other.
Possibly don’t be so conceited as to consider that the PlayStation title alone is sufficient to prop up a sport in an over-saturated style. And if a live-service sport fails to satisfy its targets every week after launch, possibly don’t instantly pull it from shops. And, for any potential developer in talks to hitch the PlayStation household, possibly guarantee them that they gained’t be shut down the second after their first sport isn’t a success.
Matt Kim is IGN’s Senior Options Editor. You possibly can attain him @lawoftd.