Sony pulls Harmony from sale, will refund prospects

Firewalk Studios’ hero shooter Harmony, which launched on PlayStation 5 and Home windows PC on Aug. 23, will probably be pulled from sale on Tuesday and brought offline later this week within the wake of its disastrous launch, Sony introduced on its PlayStation weblog. Gamers who bought Harmony will probably be refunded, the studio mentioned, because it “discover[s] choices” for the sport, and “decide[s] the perfect path forward.”

Ryan Ellis, recreation director at Firewalk Studios, introduced Harmony’s destiny in a message to gamers, writing that “facets of the sport and our preliminary launch didn’t land the best way we’d meant.”

“Harmony followers — we’ve been listening intently to your suggestions because the launch of Harmony on PlayStation 5 and PC and wish to thank everybody who has joined the journey aboard the Northstar,” Ellis wrote. “Your assist and the passionate neighborhood that has grown across the recreation has meant the world to us.

“Nonetheless, whereas many qualities of the expertise resonated with gamers, we additionally acknowledge that different facets of the sport and our preliminary launch didn’t land the best way we’d meant. Due to this fact, at the moment, now we have determined to take the sport offline starting September 6, 2024, and discover choices, together with these that may higher attain our gamers.”

Refunds will probably be issued to the unique fee strategies for gamers on PS5, whether or not the sport was bought within the PlayStation Retailer or through PlayStation Direct, in addition to gamers who purchased the sport on PC.

Sony and Firewalk launched Harmony to tepid response final month; the sport drew unfavorable protection for its shockingly low concurrent participant numbers on Steam, the place lower than 700 folks have been enjoying the sport throughout launch weekend. These numbers fell additional within the weeks after launch, based on SteamDB. On Tuesday, about 30 folks have been enjoying Harmony concurrently, a dire indicator of the sport’s well being. A current report from IGN mentioned that an estimate of 25,000 copies of the sport have been offered since launch.

The sport’s poor reception was signaled properly earlier than launch, nevertheless. Harmony’s twin multiplayer beta exams have been additionally sparsely populated, and there was a downturn in gamers from one beta weekend to the subsequent.

Harmony obtained combined evaluations from critics who lamented the sport’s lack of standout options, its $40 price ticket in a sea of free-to-play opponents, and its bland forged of characters. Harmony let gamers take management of 16 Freegunners — a various group of aliens, robots, and house mercenaries — every with their very own particular talents, in 5v5 multiplayer matches. The sport was the debut title from Firewalk, which was acquired by Sony Interactive Leisure in 2023.

Sony and Firewalk’s choice to drag Harmony is stunning and weird, however not unprecedented. Sony pulled CD Projekt Crimson’s Cyberpunk 2077 from the PlayStation Retailer in 2020 over high quality points with the sport, which returned to sale about six months later. Multiversus developer Participant First Video games additionally pulled its platform fighter from sale for a couple of 12 months because it retooled the sport.

One possibility for Harmony is for Sony and Firewalk to retool the sport to be free to play, or as an ongoing PlayStation Plus catalog title. Harmony was not constructed with free-to-play mechanics in thoughts, although. The sport didn’t function a battle cross or different microtransactions at launch, and as a substitute promised free updates to those that bought the sport.