Labour union the Communication Workers of America (CWA) claim that Sony’s recent closures of Concord developer Firewalk and mobile studio Neon Koi are evidence of it looking to further its “monopoly position in the video game industry”. It’s also warned that it’ll be sharing its concerns with regulators and policymakers.
Firewalk was shuttered earlier this week after the unprecedented flop of Concord, the online multiplayer game which is rumoured to have sold fewer than 25k copies. Neon Koi, meanwhile, was acquired by Sony a couple of years ago, and was working on a mobile action game which never saw the light of day.
In a statement we’ve been trying to make sense of for several minutes, the CWA said: “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.”
We’re not fully sure we understand the insinuation here. Is it arguing that Sony bought Neon Koi then closed the company to reduce competition? Honestly, we don’t think whoever wrote this thought it through.
Nevertheless, that’s not going to stop the CWA from raising its concerns to regulators: “CWA plans to raise the anti-competitive impacts of Sony's increasing monopoly and monopsony power with the appropriate antitrust regulators, policymakers, and stakeholders.”
PS5, of course, isn’t anywhere close to being a monopoly. While it’s a successful product, it faces stiff competition from Nintendo, PC, and, to a lesser but not ignorable extent, Xbox. It’s also challenged by all other forms of entertainment, such as Netflix et al.
Ironically, the CWA supported Microsoft’s massive acquisition of Activision Blizzard, on the basis of a labour neutrality agreement. This, unfortunately, didn’t prevent the thousands of layoffs which have occurred within the division since the near-$70 billion deal closed.
[source gamedeveloper.com]
Comments 89
Is sense in the room with us?
But the real question is did they say anything when Microsoft did this? Welp just skimmed through the article and found my anwser.
Further monopolize? Is the CMA stupid? You don't shut down studios to Monopolize.
Unions are wonderful, but this one is off the mark here... and hypocritical.
@Americansamurai1
They are arguing that there is one fewer studio out there because Sony bought it and closed it. It's a dumb argument in this case.
Yeah honestly can't make head nor tail of that one 😂
Sony can apparently achieve monopoly by closing studios, only a gigachad of a company can twist reality so much that they turn an subtraction into an addition. Impressive!
Mean while Xbox/Microsoft bought 30% of game publishers, yup makes sense to me
@naruball Just like Elvis, it has left the building....
My car wouldn’t start this morning. I place the blame squarely on Sony seeking to further their monopoly in the gaming sector.
While I think all corporations need oversight and to be called out for their disregard for their employees welfare, this argument makes little sense to me.
That's the key issue of monopolies: Them reducing how much influence they have over other markets
Glad someone is finally ready to fight the real fight
@The_Wailing_Doom ah thanks, that makes sense. Well not sense sense, but I can understand what they thought they were doing
The CWA should hang out in the PS comments a lot more, them blaming Sony for everything will make them popular here.
Really weird for them to target Sony when Microsoft has been closing studios as well.
The CWA also intend to hit Hasbro with a stern warning over the game Monopoly for creating a monopoly 🙄
@Deadlyblack And in addition bought two of the biggest publishers in the world.
My take on this is that the CWA are saying Sony bought a company(s) that previously made mobile games then shuttered them so they can't make mobile games which would compete against Sony who ironically don't make mobile games thus reducing the mobile games market. So the CWA are against Sony supposedly creating a monopoly but supported microsoft/activsion/blizzard (I don't even know what to call them anymore) which for a while there looked liked being the biggest monopoly in the video game industry? I need to sit down with a cuppa.
@AdamNovice amen to that.
Someone at CWA needs to put down whatever they smoke or drink for a second.
The world never stops showing how insane it's getting.
So they have a vendetta against Sony because they bought into a studio with a concept which they released and was maybe the biggest flop in gaming history. So they shut the studio down. Which cost PlayStation a fair few quid.
Also bought a mobile gaming studio but didn't produce anything of value so they shut them down to save money, as a business is entitled to do.
So they best report them for failed ventures.
On the other page, they backed Microsoft about buying the world's biggest gaming publisher and said that is fine and didn't question or report when Microsoft decided just to fire entire teams to save money.
Something tells me that the CWA are in bed with Microsoft and of course it's all about the money.
Heaven forbid anyone challenges Sony.
PC players don't like what Sony is doing with PC releases and are focal about it, they are called whiners and say Sony should just ignore PC.
CWA challenges Sony and you all dismiss it and call it a non-argument.
It's okay when Microsoft gets challenged, but not Sony.
And yes, Microsoft got heavily challenged for the ABK acquisition, the fact that it became more about what's best for Sony and Call of Duty rather than providing how it might actually hurt consumers paved the way for Microsoft winning against the FTC.
Perhaps if the FTC didn't look like it was siding with a single company, things might have been different.
The CMA actually did something positive and forced Microsoft to make changes.
Eventually, this whole "walled garden" approach will go away. I am sure even Nintendo will one day have to put its games on other platforms. It's just a matter of time.
It's already happening in the mobile space with Apple. It will come to consoles, too!
Even if this ends up getting thrown out for lack of evidence or because it's a non-issue, there is nothing wrong with challenging Sony on it. And any company should be challenged!
"It’s also challenged by all other forms of entertainment, such as Netflix et al." How exactly? Sony allow netflix on the ps5 so I'm not sure how netflix and prime tv etc challenge Sony at all? Unless you mean the awful video games netflix have? Not seeing this at all.
I imagine their support for the ABK deal had a lot to do with Microsoft actually allowing employees to unionize.
@GamingFan4Lyf
WTF are you smoking? Can I have some?
It's getting ridiculed because its nonsensical, it literally makes no sense? In your world of us or them maybe you should stop for one second and actually think about what you are posting?
If you believe this makes sense, then you explain how shutting two studios is trying to gain a monopoly? Surely if you agree with this it shouldn't take a second or two to explain why and what logic you are using.
I'm genuinely interested in why you think this is valid, please let us know.
@naruball this is pushsquare 🤔
Those guys sound like a mix of Elon saying he wants to sue Apple, Google and other companies because they don't pay for ads on X anymore and government bullsh*t trying to make money from a situation.
Sony has literally games everywhere. PC, xbox, switch and mobile. Competition wasn't the problem that made them nuke those studios lol.
Just when you thought the Concord debacle was over this happens
@Titntin And maybe it is.
My point wasn't to defend CWA. It's a criticism that any time Sony is challenged, people here dismiss it immediately, but will actively support challenging the competition.
Sony needs to be challenged from every angle. Just like Microsoft needs to be challenged. Just like Nintendo needs to be challenged.
We have no idea what supporting evidence there is to point to a monopoly by studio closure.
I guess because those were studios working outside of PlayStation platform but then were closed - which means that consumers on other platforms are now forced to get PlayStations for Sony games?? Who knows?
Why it matters now when Sony's entire business model has been like that (as has Nintendo's - and as has Microsoft's until recently) is anyone's guess.
Maybe because Sony opened the door and then closed it immediately after it didn't "win" due to competition?? Again, I don't know.
It's probably total nonsense. But, I support its right to challenge! Maybe there is something there we don't see that can get presented in court that points to wrong-doing.
Maybe they are seeing how Apple has been getting challenged (and losing) and is being forced out of its exclusivity so they are going after Sony since Microsoft is pulling down its wall. Maybe Nintendo will be next.
@AdamNovice I'll let you know that stubbed my toe today because of Sony.
Damn you, Sony!
My roll of toilet paper was empty this morning, i blame Sony for creating a greater monopoly on gaming
@GamingFan4Lyf if Sony shutter a studio it would actually reduce their ‘monopoly’ because they are reducing their products.
If MS (or other company) shutter studios the opposite would happen.
I am a lawyer who is very familiar with labor/employment laws. I have read through this multiple times, and I have no idea what they are getting at with this statement. So much wrong here, starting with the fact that PS doesn’t hold a monopoly position in the first place.
@GamingFan4Lyf You agree Sony should be challenged even for nonsensical things? Why?
You mention the ABK situation, which is totally uncomparable to this.
If they have a case, maybe when explained, people can get behind it. For now it kind of sounds a bit ridiculous
@PsBoxSwitchOwner @LogicStrikesAgain
Not necessarily. Microsoft was sued by gamers after the ABK merger. It was settled out of court.
While it was seemingly non-sensical, perhaps they would have provided a better argument about the ABK merger than the FTC came up with.
But I am sure the "settlement" was simply that Microsoft wouldn't bury the gamers in millions of dollars in legal fees if they dropped the case.
Yes, right now it sounds dumb. Even I don't understand how closing a studio increases monopoly. But I welcome the challenge to Sony - even if it's a losing situation for the challenger.
@GamingFan4Lyf
...aaah, so you also can't see any merit in it either?
You accuse people on a playstation site of jumping to its defense, but you are simply jumping into an attack because you dislike them. How is your behaviour any better when you have no reason to be on the attack? Here's a clue - your behaviour is the same as that you are calling out.
There are many reasons you might wish to challenge Sony's business practices, but unless you do so with any real meaning, you become irrelevant. The CMA looks like a joke with those statements, and rushing to defend them when you cant even give a valid reason doesn't show you as a deep thinker, so why would anyone listen to anything else you are saying? You do yourself an injustice as I know you are capable of more rational thought, but posts like these undo that impression.
The same union that supported Microsoft buying every other gaming company is complaining about Sony shuttering a couple to become a monopoly? 🤣
The CWA doesn't even represent Neon Koi workers as its an American union and that studio was in Berlin.
@Titntin I provided possibilities of their angle. Whether it holds weight is not for any of us to decide.
It wasn't completely without rational thought.
My guess is that their angle is that Sony dangled a multi-platform carrot and then took it away when things didn't go Sony's way and therefore eliminating platform choice (and jobs) and somehow forcing people back to Sony's platform - thereby increasing its market share in the console space by continuing to force people into it.
Sony has plenty of evidence to the contrary as Nixxes is still operating and doing a great job with PC ports (other than a weird control bug in the map screen in Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, the game has been solid for me on PC). Also, Sony will have its first Switch game ever with LEGO Horizon. Plus, MLB The Show was forced to go multi-platform.
Why do I get the nagging feeling that the CWA probably had some previous "settlement" over buyout concerns (much like Activision also making the numerous lawsuits involving Kotick etc disappear),& this word salad came after a quick anonymous call reminded their execs the deal didn't have an expiry date?!🙄
After all,remember when several members of American Congress (from both sides) suddenly started the inquisition of the FTC "bullying" poor little Microsoft & why they weren't supporting a "Murican" mega corporation buying another USA megacorp?
I'm not suggesting Sony was saintly with Jim Ryan & Hermen Hulst having gone on a live service expansion spree hoping to find the elusive first party COD pot of gold.....until seemingly reigned in by a nervous upper Sony Group executive like 2IC Totoki in his reign as acting CEO.
After the previous layoffs & cancellations across Worldwide Studios, one can only speculate that Hulst protected Concorde on the basis he expected it to sell big & been left cleaning up his mess & possibly a bit less clout now than he might’ve had prior to his promotion.
I don’t get what people don’t get, so has bought two studios and closed them both without releasing a title (concord) of course they are suggesting it’s been done to reduce competition. Maybe they thought ms were sniffing around them. I’m not saying it was the intention but it could be seen that way.
@Robinsad They did release a game, but it flopped hard. They also invested 100s of millions into it. Great strategy if you only planned to shutter down the studio! /s
Its not hard to get, it just seems like a reach. You're suggesting Sony was afraid Firewalk might be bought by MS?
Interesting they didn't say anything when MS closed a bunch of studios earlier this year.
@Robinsad Concord did release but it flopped hard and Sony spent a stupid amount of money on it and has lost over $200M on it. Are you suggesting Sony spent $200M on a game and studio just to close it?
It's official, CWA are as thick as s**t.
How can they turn a blind eye to a corporation that's actually monopolizing the market yet complain about Sony reducing what they have. These Studios Sony shut down had no note worthy IP's and haven't made Sony a profit at all. Concord was a new IP and was literally Firewalks first game so how taking that away from the market is causing harm to competition is beyond me. Or are they saying Sony are spending hundreds of millions for the sole reason to close these studios down? Yes because Sony have that much money to waste.
@GamingFan4Lyf Or maybe they closed Firewalk because they spent considerable time and money on a product that bombed harder than the Manhattan Project...
@wildcat_kickz I am sure Naughty Dog spent a considerable amount of time and money on Factions 2 only to turn around and cancel it because the studio didn't want to turn the studio into a GaaS studio and, yet, their doors are still open.
@GamingFan4Lyf So you're the guy from CWA who thinks this is a form of monopoly lol.
Hey, lay off the crack bro.
@GamingFan4Lyf Yeah, because Naughty Dog has a long history of successful products. Firewalk has... let me do the math... none.
@PuppetMaster Yup, you caught me.
I am leading the whole effort. I'll be a millionaire when this settles out of court!
@wildcat_kickz Maybe they could have if Sony didn't just can the whole studio for something the executives of Sony decided was a great idea.
American unions worried about Sony monopoly while Microsoft buy up every publisher it can. 👌🏼
@GamingFan4Lyf Why would Sony buy and then close them, just to prevent MS from buying them?
They can still be bought by MS now. So it doesn't makes sense. Sorry but that reasoning seems way off. Would be the dumbest strategy by Sony ever, if true
@LogicStrikesAgain Who said anything about Microsoft buying them? I said nothing about Microsoft buying them.
@GamingFan4Lyf Let me be clear - I don't like that Sony closed the studio. They had already sunk a lot of resources into acquiring them. That said, Concord is one of if not the biggest commercial gaming bombs in history. The brand of that studio is now tainted in a way that I don't think can be recovered. If they hadn't closed the studio, the next game they put out would be from the makers of the biggest fail in the industry. Equating that failure to cancelled projects doesn't compute. This title was released and no one cared.
However, buying the studio from another publisher (who, by the way, has cancelled virtually every other game in their pipeline) and then closing the studio because the studio did not hold up their end of the deal by making a marketable and profitable game is in no way an example of monopolization. It just doesn't make any sense.
Your argument that this suit is valid just because people need to be critical of Sony also doesn't make any sense. By making bogus claims and criticism, you devalue valid ones. It's the man who cried wolf.
@GamingFan4Lyf I may have gotten a few posts confused and mixed up right there. My bad 😝
@GamingFan4Lyf nixxes and guerilla games make stellar products that sell by the bucket loads though. The 2 studios shut down by Sony were not making money so I can see why they closed them. Its a business decision and nothing nefarious.
@wildcat_kickz @Northern_munkey It's not me making these claims.
I am simply interpreting the possible grounds for why the CWA is making this claim.
There is plenty of evidence to support the contrary. Evidence that will more than likely shut this whole thing down.
However, if the CWA has strong evidence to support their claim that its more nefarious than what the PR lets on, then I think it should absolutely be brought to the forefront.
That is some serious mental gymnastics!
I guess the check from MS cleared. In all seriousness, are they really that stupid?! The only one trying to play Monopoly is Microsoft.
@GamingFan4Lyf I never claimed you were. I'm trying to get my head around what you are saying whilst at the same time trying to work out exactly what it is you are saying. Would you agree that if you bought a couple of devs and put a tonne of cash into them but got nothing back except a humongous loss that you would decide to close them? Or would you continue to pump cash into them hoping for some miraculous turn around? What would you do?
@naruball It is both sense, and the opposite of sense. A dual-sense, if you will.
(How am I the first one to do this joke here?)
@Northern_munkey I don't know, actually.
I mean...any game is a gamble. It's not that the game was a technical mess or completely unpolished. I mean, even PushSquare gave it a good score. It just failed to attract players.
It seems like the developer had the talent to create a technically competent product.
I feel the onus is on Sony for certain business decisions made that lead to the failure.
The whole thing feels like "development via boardroom" and the developer got thrown under the bus for decisions outside the developer's control.
Not making free-to-play out of the gate feels like a Sony decision to get cash up front as well as a way to try to boost PS+ numbers (since it would be required to play it by not being free to play).
PC gamers sure as heck didn't get onboard and online play is free for them.
It all feels like firing the deckhands for running aground despite the fact the captain was steering the ship.
Heck, people even said before the game released why they had no interest in the title and Sony refused to try to change course.
Now, in Sony's defense, it may have been beyond the point of no return by then, but there was still warning that the game might not hit the target prior to release.
Perhaps I would keep the doors open and turn it into a support studio or something to help reduce inflating development times.
I just feel like the developer wasn't given a fair shake.
Sony bloody hell is sure acting like they're running some sort of monopoly these days. Even if the union might be slightly off, Sony deserves any sort of heat coming their way.
All I wanna say is that they don't really care about us.
@NEStalgia I'm shocked you're the first.
What do you expect? Americans always look out for Americans
@Americansamurai1 well you can, you buy every studio in the world and shut them all leaving just you. I mean you would need an INSANE amount of wealth for this lol
@Stale-Bread if you own something it doesn't make you a monopoly by closing it down, it hurts you. Sony would have love concord to be a success not for it to be a failure.
Removed - inappropriate
@PuppetMaster must be some good 💩 🤣🤣
Surely closing the studios does the exact opposite of what they saying lmao🤣
Doesn't make sense to me. But if they can prevent future studio closures, I'll side with them.
The closure of two studios in a single day is indeed an assault on employees, they should definitely look into Sony a lot further.
@Major_Player absolutely. It remains a mystery why Sony shut down the studio that made the biggest financial disaster in entertainment since... forever? Someone needs to be paid to look into it.
@The_Wailing_Doom you should look up OPSEU, one of the dumbest and most worthless unions I’ve ever witnessed. This one is just as stupid, but unions have been relatively unchecked as of late and their purpose to protect workers is being overlooked in order to throw tantrums. The confusing thing about the CWA here is they’re talking about mobile gaming when neither of the studios were mobile save for neon koi, and they never even released anything.
@ThomasHL You ok there? The first game was such a bomb it lost them a ton of money and the mobile game if it does not work why keep pumping money in a dead project. They are up there with Peta just as useless.
@CutchuSlow Or a whole company goes down with a ton more people losing their jobs. Concord the biggest and one the most expensive bombs ever. The mobile game that we saw nothing from several years? How much money will you need to waste to keep a studio open
@The_Wailing_Doom because ... self-serving much? (edit - I'm replying about the unions... just in case the context is lost in the comment stream)
@GamingFan4Lyf I think to be fair (if we're all being fair); people can't have it both ways... they can't say studios should be allowed to make the game they want (without corporate parental control); but at the same time complain that the company didn't step in to make the studio change direction. I think all the evidence is that Firewalk literally made the game they wanted... Sony expecting $40 was a definite poor (and arrogant) corporate decision... that and the marketing.
I don't think the price was the problem... it bombed even during the free beta phase; and I don't think it was possible to have marketted the game well (though I agree the whole CGI-weekly drops was a bad mistake - especially leading the game reveal by a 10 minute short film that really didn't have anything to do with the game they were revealing).
@Flaming_Kaiser it's sarcasm
It is amazing how little people understand about businesses and finance. Yes, of course Sony is buying studios to limit competition, and then they close them to limit the cost of paying the people who work there.
Just remember, Sony could have just SOLD these studios, rather than just shutting them down. They didn't do this because they wanted to pull the talented employees into other Sony studios while the less talented ones are out on the street. Typical anti-competitive behavior that is very illegal in America.
@Decimateh-xblz Buying out a studio and then shuttering it limits competition. How is this not clear? Sony could have sold these studios, but they closed them and fired a bunch of workers.
Firewalk has a great engine, and they could have made a great game if Sony executives didn't want a cash cow instead of a video game. It would be so simple for them to have hired a new character designer and then made Concord into another shooter game that could have taken money away from Sony and their partners.
@Americansamurai1 Buying out a competitor and then shutting them down is very typical behavior, and is very illegal. We have laws against this sort of anti-competitive (monopoly) business behavior.
(I don't know that Sony's actions here rise to the level of illegal behavior, but I can see why the union is demanding an investigation into it.)
@TerranIV they wasn't a competitor. They were working for Sony already before they were acquired.
@Flaming_Kaiser so if 1 game flops, does that also mean the next game would flop also?
I think that was their first game and they could have learnt from this. Maybe their next game could have been a hit.
That's why I think devs should get 2 chances instead of one. And could shut em down if they flop on 2 games.
Right, but if they sold them (instead of just shuttering them) then they would be a competitor.
@CutchuSlow I'm going to be blunt here if something fails as much as this you are cooked. That will be the same with tons of other jobs. This game has cost tons and it bombed so big nobody is gonna touch that again.
@Flaming_Kaiser I think that was Sony's own fault tho. I don't think the blame should go to the devs.
@CutchuSlow You get freedom to develop your own vision and with that freedom comes repercussions if it fails. I never seen a game bomb this hard and time and money wasn't the issue here. If you can't make it work why keep the studio open.
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