In a stunning but not surprising move, PlayStation Studios and developer Firewalk Studios have announced that their recently released $40 hero shooter, Concord, will essentially be killed off and removed from storefronts this Friday, September 6th after launching exactly two weeks prior. Players who purchased the game will be issued refunds, marking the end of a project that no one asked for or even wanted, as it has become a financial disaster for Sony and become an utter laughing stock among the gaming community.
An important update on Concord from Firewalk Studios: https://t.co/MxZ1Sxpayu pic.twitter.com/3OcPFDqmDX
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) September 3, 2024
The news comes from an announcement made by both Firewalk and its parent company, PlayStation over on its official blog. The full post, which you can read here, has a lot of corpo speak about how Firewalk listened to feedback and how much they appreciate the support from the handful of players who bought the game. They go on to state that they are taking the game offline, issuing refunds, and will “explore options” of what to do with the game going forward.
After such low player numbers went public, many expected Concord to go free-to-play to try and compete with the competition in the multiplayer hero genre, like the dominating Overwatch or the upcoming Marvel Rivals. But there are just too many complications with just changing their entire roadmap and making everything free after selling the base game at $40 and next to no interest from gamers regarding anything Concord has to offer. The game’s foundation may have some decent bones to it but the foundation of what fans want in a game just isn’t there, making free-to-play a choice that would likely not even come remotely close to saving the game.
Concord, which was in development for eight years, has allegedly moved a mere 25,000 copies since its launch (note that moved does not mean sold). Despite this, the game struggled and apparently failed to generate even $1,000,000 in revenue against its staggering $100,000,000 budget. After its launch, Concord peaked at less than 700 concurrent players on Steam, a dismal number for a game of this scale and ambition. The game performed equally as badly over on PlayStation, per capita.
The failure of Concord has sparked widespread discussion on social media, with some users attributing the game’s downfall to perceived “woke” elements or “DEI” (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives. However, the truth behind the game’s failure is probably much simpler- Concord was massively unappealing in nearly every way it marketed itself and just lacked a clear target audience.
Its visual style, which was largely shaped by Lead Firewalk Studios Character Designer Jon Weisnewski, received heavy criticism, something that matters big time if you want to stand out against Marvel superheroes or the vibrant, flashy appeal of any and all characters from Overwatch. Weisnewski, a somewhat controversial veteran from Bungie, had seemingly no prior experience in character design (according to his LinkedIn, which he may want to update), having previously worked as a test lead and “game designer” on Destiny and Destiny 2. And boy, does it show.
Of course, one of the most confusing issues with Concord was its price point. At $40.00, the game was set to compete against popular free-to-play titles, a decision that many in the gaming community found baffling and assumed the game would just go free-to-play eventually, especially based on the low player numbers of the staggeringly low participants in its free open beta. instead, this pricing misstep only added to the game’s woes, costing PlayStation a fortune, and making Concord an even harder sell in an already crowded market.
As Concord is pulled from storefronts and refunds are issued, the gaming community is left to reflect on what went wrong. While some may continue to debate the causes, it is clear that the game’s downfall was due to a combination of poor design choices, a lack of appeal, and a misguided pricing strategy. For Sony and Firewalk Studios, Concord will serve as another cautionary tale of how even the most ambitious projects can fail spectacularly when the fundamentals are not in place.
