Firewall Ultra, the tactical team shooter from 2023, got somewhat neglected when its developer, First Contact Entertainment, shut down later that year. Just months after debuting on PSVR 2, the game ceased receiving updates. But in a surprising turn, Sony has recently issued a patch, seemingly out of the blue, aimed at attracting new players—though their exact motivation remains a bit of a mystery.
A keen-eyed Reddit user, ‘ROBYER1,’ caught wind of this update over the weekend. It essentially quadruples the XP and in-game ‘Crypto’ currency rewards, making it significantly easier for fresh players to get their hands on cosmetics and other in-game goodies typically obtained through grinding.
This sudden change begs the question: why now? We turn to ‘Gamertag VR’ for insight. In his latest video, he dives into the game’s background, ongoing issues, and speculates on Sony’s possible reasons for this move.
“An update like this primarily benefits newcomers,” Gamertag explains. “Perhaps Sony plans to include Firewall Ultra in the February PlayStation Plus lineup, or maybe there’s a renewed interest in the game, or even a major sale on the horizon.”
While those ideas are plausible, there’s another, less optimistic possibility. This update could be Firewall Ultra’s swan song. With poor sales and dwindling player engagement in 2024, there’s talk of it possibly being removed from stores. Whatever the case, it still holds a price tag of $40—quite hefty for something not promised further significant content updates.
Launched in August 2023 with hopes of rekindling the popularity of Firewall Zero Hour from 2018 on the original PSVR, Firewall Ultra struggled despite being a flagship title for PSVR 2. Critics at launch pointed out problems with its control system, lack of gameplay variety, and progression, which earned it a lukewarm Metacritic score of 61/100.
In the following months, the developers did their best to patch up the game. They introduced improvements to the aiming mechanics, added new maps, made balancing tweaks, and rolled out an Assignments system for leveling and unlocking gear. Unfortunately, these efforts didn’t quite muster the critical mass of players First Contact was banking on. By December 2023, the studio announced its closure, citing the “lack of support for VR within the industry” as a significant factor.
