Concord, the new live service game from developer Firewalk Studios has come under fire recently for its reported “wokeness”. Only a week after its reveal at Sony’s State of Play, the game which follows in the modern marketing strategies of Helldivers 2, received criticism for its diverse cast of characters and the developer’s willingness to ignore feedback on this fact.
God of War Director David Jaffe has criticized this in return. In a reply tweet, Jaffe ranted about his frustrations with the kinds of people willing to criticize and wish for the failure of a game on its wokeness alone: “Good lord, some of these people need to get a life”
God of War Director Refused to Hesitate
The team-based character-driven shooter has drawn heavy inspiration from its predecessor Overwatch 2 and the up-and-coming Marvel Rivals. In a bid to differentiate themselves from the competition, Firewalk Studios appears to have taken on much of the criticism Overwatch 2 faced for its character design in its early years.
Of the officially revealed characters, none are identifiably white men.
Infamous Twitter user Mark Kern, a man with a long history of anti-woke ‘influencing’, spoke about Concord’s wokeness and its potential failure as a game with the same breath. To him, these ideas are not just alike, they are the same idea. To be ‘woke’ is to be a commercial failure.
In a reply tweet, David Jaffe comes down on Kern for this disingenuous criticism. He pointed out that while there are meaningful critiques to be made of the game, nothing described by Kern fits that description. As Jaffe outlines, this undermines any meaningful conversation around the nature of the game. While Concord is deserving of praise and criticism, its wokeness has never been worthy of either.
Fans rushed to Jaffe’s defense, and in the comments of his tweet expressed their frustration towards this criticism. Another user pointed out that while no one was strictly ‘white’, the similarity of one character to Guardians of the Galaxy’s Yondu makes him feel like he’s ‘white enough.’ Others pushed back, describing Kern’s conversation as a grift.
But Will Concord Deliver Helldivers 2’s Experience?
The trouble with criticisms such as Kerns is that they often carry some nugget of truth. While diversity may not be a sincere basis for criticism, the game still boils with controversy. This was felt all through Jaffe’s comment section.
Following in the footsteps of Arrowhead Game Studios’s Helldivers 2, Concord will retail for $40, a novel idea in the age of $60-$70 blockbuster titles. This has caused fans to draw heavy comparisons between the two titles.
However, with the good comes the bad. While Helldivers 2 fans laid siege to prevent PC players from signing into a Playstation account to play, Concord will require it from day one. This would restrict access to the game from over 100 countries.
Moreover, the unoriginality of Concord is something Jaffe specifically addresses in his tweet. He describes it as “pretty generic and a wasted opportunity”, citing the explicit similarities between it and Marvel Rivals, a game itself criticized for its similarities to Overwatch 2.
While Concord has been driven into the spotlight by those who are accusing it of “bashing white people”, it may struggle to garner a foothold in a much subtler way. While Helldiver’s 2 fans pushed for months to stop the game from requiring a Playstation Account, Concord seems hellbent on driving directly into that wall. All of this plus the unoriginal premise may lead Concord to simply vanish as quickly as it appeared.
What do you make of these accusations? Let us know in the comments!
