In a staggering move, Sony and Firewalk Studios are admitting defeat and shutting down the Concord just two weeks after it launched on PS5 and PC. The game has been pulled from sale, and will officially go offline on September 6.
If you’ve been keeping up with the news then you’ll already know why: nobody is actually playing the game. On PC, the live-service shooter failed to draw in even a thousand concurrent players on launch day. That number has only declined. Over the last few days, Concord has struggled to get over 100 concurrent players. Some hope was held that the numbers were doing better on PlayStation 5, but that’s clearly not the case.
“Concord fans — we’ve been listening closely to your feedback since the launch of Concord on PlayStation 5 and PC and want to thank everyone who has joined the journey aboard the Northstar,” game director Ryan Ellis wrote on a PlayStation Blog post. “Your support and the passionate community that has grown around the game has meant the world to us.”
“However, while many qualities of the experience resonated with players, we also recognize that other aspects of the game and our initial launch didn’t land the way we’d intended. Therefore, at this time, we have decided to take the game offline beginning September 6, 2024, and explore options, including those that will better reach our players.”
The language used is important to keep in mind because while the game is being taken offline and removed from sale, Sony and Firewalk clearly want to find some way to bring Concord back. The obvious answer is, of course, to resurrect the title as free-to-play where the low barrier of entry might allow it a chance to draw in some curious players. Mind you, one of the biggest reasons for not liking the game players have mentioned is the art-style which drew dislikes the moment it was shown.
However, while Sony and Firewalk do seem inclined to bring Concord back in some form, Sony have also talked about toning down their push for live-service. Could Concord be scrapped entirely? It would be a bitter pill for Sony to swallow, but without drastically changing the art and redesigning the game for a free-to-play model, is it worth sinking millions more into the game?
The blog post goes on to say that everyone who has bought the game – which was estimated at around 25,000 a few days ago – will be getting automatically refunded.
It’s a harsh blow to Firewalk Studios who have allegedly been working on the game for anywhere from 5-8 years, which makes sense because Overwatch was immensely popular around that time. Sony bought Firewalk last year, presumably because they saw something they liked in both the team and Concord, so the financial blow isn’t quite as devastating for them, although it is still a pretty spectacular failure. In fact, I’d go so far as to say this is probably the biggest flop in Sony’s history.
The main concern now will be for everyone at Firewalk – hopefully, this doesn’t lead to massive layoffs.
Is this another sign that the live-service bubble has burst? Despite everything, a lot of people who played Concord said it was good. But being good isn’t good enough in a market where the reigning free-to-play titles cost nothing and play great. On top of that, live-service shooters have to compete for the most valuable commodity people have: time. Most people will commit money and time to just one or two live-service games, and trying to tempt them away requires something truly special, which Concord just wasn’t.
Will Concord return, or is this the end?
