Failing UP: Failed Concord Dev "Prof Brown" Lands Major Gig at EA

Professor Brown Fails Upward: Concord’s Controversial Developer Lands at EA

DISCLAIMER: This article is for informational and commentary purposes only. Please do not harass, contact, or threaten any individual mentioned. Criticism is directed at industry trends and public behavior ONLY, never personal attacks.

Welp, here we go... In the never-ending-spinning revolving door of AAA game development, another familiar name has re-emerged once again—Lisa Brown, or... more infamously known as “Professor Brown”, the former lead developer at Firewalk Studios on the ill-fated live-service shooter Concord. Someone who I've spoken about in depth previously, thanks to an insider reaching out with some scathing claims.

According to her now updated LinkedIn profile, Brown has now landed a new gig—this time at Electronic Arts (shocker lol), where she just started working there this month (April 2025) as a Principal World Designer.

That’s right. After Concord’s INSANE flop and the expected Firewalk Studios subsequent shutdown... on top of a rumored/reported $400,000,000 (That's a LOT of zeros) Brown has now officially “failed upward,” earning a high-ranking position at another massive publisher. Ironically, it's EA, the very same company that owns BioWare, which many may recall recently went through a painful restructuring and layoffs—moves suspiciously timed right after several senior devs jumped ship. Like....

Among those early escapees? Corinne Busche, the former game director for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, who somehow promptly landed at Skeleton Key Studios, a Wizards of the Coast owned-studio. And now, we see this exact same cycle unfolding here with Brown. The industry can be boiled down to a merry-go-round of ideologically aligned developers, cycling to-and-fro, between collapsing projects. Accomplishing nothing but leaving a destruction of studios in their wake, only to then somehow land cushy new roles via their established industry connections. At some point we need to ask, who is hiring these people?

A Quick Recap: What Happened at Firewalk?

Lisa Brown, known as @Wertle on Twitter (now in protected mode after public backlash and looks to have deleted all followers and info), made waves during her time at Firewalk.

After declaring herself non-binary to the world for some reason, Brown reportedly then insisted on being referred to as “The Professor” in the workplace—despite having no academic credentials to back having that title. According to my sources, company meetings were forced to adapt TO HER, using phrases like “teaching/learning with the Professor”, which reportedly... created quite the discomfort among team members who felt unable to object in Firewalk’s highly progressive environment.

Things escalated beyond these mere semantics. A whistleblower previously revealed to us that Brown openly expressed anti-gun views—while at the same time ironically developing a hero shooter, no less. It’s the same kind of cognitive dissonance we saw with a developer on Halo Infinite. These are individuals who seemingly despise the very mechanics central to the games they’re making.

Worse yet, according to my source, Brown allegedly pushed for the firing of any unvaccinated employees at the studio back during the peak of Covid, contributing to what was described as a divisive, fear-based workplace culture where political beliefs trumped merit and cohesion.

So when Concord failed—and quite spectacularly, I might add—it wasn’t just the game mechanics or market competition to blame. It was a direct symptom of a broken internal structure, driven by misplaced priorities and ideological rigidity. But don't worry, because of course, she'll land on her feet in the game industry again...

EA: A Perfect Fit?

Now Brown has taken up residence at EA, an environment notorious for its own bureaucratic pitfalls, anti-consumer practices, and shifting DEI initiatives. Will history repeat itself? Possibly. In fact, I'd almost bet on it.

Let’s be real: it’s hard to feel bad for EA ever. It’s a corporation that has, time and again, proven themselves unable to learn from failure. In that sense, maybe Brown is THE perfect match. As with many others, her trajectory showcases how the AAA gaming industry continues to reward ideology and connections over competence and results.

The video game industry's in desperate need of a reset. This is exhibit A of that fact. Talented devs are being overshadowed by these activists in game dev clothing—individuals more interested in pushing their personal politics than making compelling games. Lisa Brown’s swift fall from Firewalk, followed almost immediately by her soft landing a few months later at EA, is just another chapter in a long book of self-sabotage the industry refuses to stop writing...

Until accountability, merit, and actual results matter again, expect the cycle to continue.

~Smash