Concord just finished its open beta this past weekend. Across PC and PlayStation 5, players tried out Sony’s entry into the hero shooter genre.
Parris Lilley, known gaming personality from Kinda Funny Games and Gamertag Radio, talked about his experience with the beta weekends and what Sony should do to improve it.
Even though Lilley enjoyed what he played, he thinks a delay and price restructuring should happen. In an ecosystem of so many free-to-play shooters and Overwatch 2 still dominating the hero shooter space, there’s a ton of obstacles ahead for Firewalk Studios’ project.
Parris Lilley’s Reaction to the Concord Beta
The PlayStation hero shooter left a sour taste in everyone’s mouth during the State of Play on May 30. Initial impressions were poor, but players were still waiting to try the game themselves.
Lilley has been discussing video games online since 2005 and continues to do so at the Kinda Funny Gamescast and Gamertag Radio. When the chance for pre-order players to play the early access beta, he spoke about the game on both shows on July 15.
I enjoy Concord but also think it should be delayed and it’s pricing structure overhauled
— Parris (@vicious696) July 20, 2024
Numbers do not lie and even in this open beta it’s not seeing enough engagement that signals success
My 2 cents push this to early 2025 and use this time to polish and better communicate…
He had fun playing the game. However, he said the $40 price point is going to be the biggest hurdle Sony has to overcome.
Now after the open-beta is closed, Lilley posted his thoughts on the game once more on Twitter/X. He further explained what PlayStation could do to save it such as delaying the game to early 2025, price model restructuring, and communicating better to the community as to why they should play the game.
Although these are all great solutions for the project, there might be no saving this one.
Is There Anyway To “Fix” Concord?
First impressions are everything and what Sony did by putting Concord at the front of May 30th’s State of Play was a disaster. The game also taking up 10 minutes of the presentation was not good either.
Fans think there isn’t anything incredibly appealing about the art style, and the overall world being presented. Players did have fun which makes them excited for the upcoming launch on August 23. However, “fun” isn’t enough to keep a game alive. There have to be other factors to keep players in the servers.
Lilley’s suggestions are reasonable considering the reputation Concord has online currently. A price of $40 is not that bad when Firewalk Studios is offering a complete package. But when the competition is all free-to-play, is that price barrier worth it?
Compared to countless other free-to-play shooters on the market like Fortnite and Valorant, this game has a lot of catching up to do.
Overwatch 2 and the upcoming Marvel Rivals will be free-to-play hero shooters with distinguishable characters players can get behind. Concord may not have the same firepower as them but let’s hope PlayStation allows Firewalk Studios to keep working on it if expectations are not met at launch.
What do you think of Sony’s new hero shooter? Did you try out the beta? Let us know in the comments what you think!
