Concord Is The Latest Tragedy In Gaming’s Saddest Trend
PlayStation's latest service game is a miss. But can they turn it around?
Concord was always up against terrible odds. The game’s May reveal didn’t garner the positive reception typical of a big-budget, first-party release from a PlayStation-owned studio. It’s also coming along at a time when the general tolerance for live-service games is lower than ever.
Unfortunately, those terrible odds have come to fruition. Since its release on August 23, Concord has earned middling review scores and even more abysmal player engagement. Its struggles, which almost guarantee certain doom regarding the game’s future, should be a telling sign to both PlayStation and other developers and publishers looking to board a trendy train that has long left the station.
Concord hit a peak concurrent of just 697 players within its first 24 hours, according to SteamDB, and it’s been hemorrhaging players ever since. As of the time of this writing, a peak of less than 200 players have logged on for a match in the last 24 hours.
While these figures only show a fraction of possible copies sold, they provide a solid snapshot of how unpopular this game is. By comparison, Concord’s open beta peaked at 2,388 players in July, three times what the full release has seen, and was completely free to play. Players who are eager to try the competitive science-fiction shooter across all platforms have complained that finding a game has been increasingly difficult.
What’s happening with Concord is harrowing. This is the debut game from Firewalk Studios, a developer PlayStation acquired in 2021. The development team is made up of industry veterans who worked on games like Destiny and Battlefield, and, for the most part, that talent shines through. By all accounts, Firewalk Studio’s first effort is far from terrible. It’s fairly well-balanced with decent maps and some interesting twists on what a hero shooter should be (no traditional ultimate attacks, unorthodox class types). Concord also channels its massive triple-A budget to deliver an episodic story that could go to interesting places.
However, the reality betrays what Sony should have seen coming. Dozens of live-service games have shut down in the last two years for failing to find players willing to dedicate the time needed to keep them alive. If you’re not one of the big guns like GTA Online or Fortnite — or you’ve managed to etch out a dedicated fanbase like Warframe or Destiny — making a live-service game has become the ultimate gamble.
Concord’s abysmal first week spells certain doom for the game’s future.
Concord was in development for the entirety of the live-service trend’s rise and fall. It began production in 2016, shortly after Overwatch showed the potential popularity of the hero shooter genre. The following year, Fortnite began its meteoric rise to the top of the industry. In 2022, PlayStation announced plans to go all in on a genre that seemed full of risk.
To witness the calamity surrounding the genre and do nothing to prepare the studio under its watch seems like a bad call by whoever’s in charge at PlayStation. Perhaps a last-minute pivot to free-to-play or port to the PlayStation 4 could have given more people the opportunity to jump in, possibly even saving it from flopping this hard. A delay to address pre-release criticisms could have also gone a long way. Unfortunately, Concord wasn’t afforded that luxury. Factor in a $40 asking price, and Concord feels like it was released with little respect to the moment it exists in.
Even if Concord manages to pull off the impossible and gets new players interested with a pivot to free-to-play (without pissing off players who paid full price at launch) it’s up against stiff competition. It’ll have to hold its own with juggernauts like Overwatch 2 which is seeing a resurgence; the upcoming Marvel Rivals which has brand recognition; and Valve’s Deadlock, which is already off to a promising start.
Concord has some interesting ideas that separate it from the pack, like axing hero ultimate attacks. Unfortunately, these choices weren’t enough to get people playing.
With such a big stumble out of the gate and publishers more willing than ever to reduce financial losses by shuttering studios, players can only hope Firewalk gets to keep its doors open. It would be a shame to see a developer of this caliber not get another shot at something less doomed to fail. Concord’s failures are a tragic, cautionary tale. It should be a clear sign to PlayStation that its quest to publish the next mega-hit in this impenetrable, shifting genre is not worth the investment it's pouring in. Hopefully, the company can steer the ship away from this course before we’re forced to witness another crash and burn as disastrous as this one.
