PlayStation’s brand-new shooter, Concord, got off to an abysmal start, with less than 700 players jumping onto the game on its launch day. Expectations for the title were already quite low following its beta period back in July, but they fell further with the official release.
While there’s no way to know how the game ended up performing on PlayStation, one thing was sure: it cost Sony millions in losses. So, the company has finally decided to shelve the game which once again proves that it put together a hero shooter title.
Concord Going Offline on September 6th
Sony has announced that it’s brand-new hero shooter Concord will be going offline on September 6th, 2024, and gamers will receive a full refund on the game.
In a brand-new post on the official PlayStation Blog, Game Director Ryan Ellis talked about the horrendous state of the game, revealing that some elements of the shooter and the launch didn’t exactly play out the way Sony and Firewalk Studios had hoped for.
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.
Sure, the decision to cease Concord‘s sale immediately and take the game offline may sound a little extreme, but with the way the title was performing, it was clear from the release it wouldn’t last that long.
Sony has had a bad history when it comes to maintaining its shooter games. Despite the popularity of Helldivers 2, the company managed to fumble the entire thing by bringing its unnecessary PSN requirements. It has been constantly pressuring Arrowhead to deliver controversial updates, which has landed the title once again at the bottom of Steam charts.
It’s really high time for PlayStation to take notes from Phil Spencer and his team at Xbox. Despite its problems, the Microsoft-owned platform has proven with some of the most legendary franchises that it can give us genre-defining shooter titles.
Sony’s attempt to capitalize on the hero-shooter genre clearly fell apart as it was trying to catch on to attempts that gaming has already proved to pass. Even Ubisoft’s attempt to capture gamers in this segment is failing as XDefiant is on the brink of collapsing.
It’s really time for the industry to move past hero shooters and finally give us games and their sequels that gamers have been desperate for ages.
Concord is the Biggest Flop in The Gaming History
Concord‘s launch was nothing short of a tragedy. The game was reported to have sold as few as 25,000 units and peaked at 697 concurrent players on Steam, a number which made the 12,786 player count of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League look legendary.
‘CONCORD’ is going offline on Friday.
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 3, 2024
Sales will cease immediately and anyone who purchased the game will be offered a refund.
The game was in development for 8 years.
(Source: https://t.co/nTG7fC4oww) pic.twitter.com/pzPbUxNj51
All of this comes after the game spent eight years in development and tens of millions, if not hundreds, of dollars invested by Sony.
The community believes Concord should be remembered as the biggest flop in the history of gaming, as it was simply too bland to be enjoyed.
Biggest flop in gaming history
— Justin (@Justin__NC) September 3, 2024
What’s really surprising is the fact that Sony didn’t bother committing to the project. The company could’ve tried various things, such as making the game free-to-play, but they decided to outright axe it.
Cancelling it completely before making it f2p is wild
— Bobby Foster (@_bobbyfoster) September 3, 2024
It’s clear that games want only one thing from PlayStation, and that’s high-quality single-player games.
‘CONCORD’ is going offline on Friday.
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 3, 2024
Sales will cease immediately and anyone who purchased the game will be offered a refund.
The game was in development for 8 years.
(Source: https://t.co/nTG7fC4oww) pic.twitter.com/pzPbUxNj51
Even though the game was a complete failure, we can’t help but feel sad for the developers who put thousands of hours into making this title, only for it to be ruined by Sony’s pointless decisions.
Gotta feel bad for the devs. I'm sure some on the team tried to turn this game around against corporate bullshit
— auger96 (@TTVauger96) September 3, 2024
Let’s hope that Sony and Firewalk Studios have learned their lessons and bring back the hero-shooter in the future as a free-to-play title that is actually worth digging into.
With that said, how do you think Concord could’ve been improved? Let us know in the comments.
