Thursday, September 5th 2024

Concord Suffers Disastrous Launch, Gets Pulled off the Market by Sony and Refunded

Corcord, Firewalk Studios' hero shooter, released on August 23 for PS5 and Windows, was pulled from sale on Tuesday and will be taken offline later this week, all thanks to its disastrous launch. Sony announced on its Playstation blog Players who purchased Concord would be refunded as it "explores options" for the game, and "determines the best path ahead."

Game director at Firewalk Studios, Ryan Ellis, announced Concord's fate in a message to players, saying, "Aspects of the game and our initial launch didn't land the way we intended." He continues, "Concord fans—we've been listening closely to your feedback since the launch of Concord on PlayStation 5 and PC and want to thank everyone who has joined the journey aboard the Northstar." Ellis added,"Your support and the passionate community that has grown around the game has meant the world to us."
"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."

Sony is issuing refunds to the original payment methods for players on PS5, whether the game was bought from the PS store via Playstation Direct, or players who purchased the game on PC.

Concord was received last month to an unfavorable response. The game's concurrent players on Steam were surprisingly low, less than 700 players during launch weekend and even lower in the coming weeks. And reaching 30 players on Tuesday, even though the game has sold 25,000 copies since launch (as reported by IGN), indicating poor health.

Reviews of Concord from critics, lamented the game's lack of features that would make it standout, the game's $40 price tag in a sea of free-to-play competitors, and its bland cast of characters. Concord allows the players to take control of 16 Freegunners, a diverse group of aliens, robots, and space mercenaries, each with special abilities, in 5v5 multiplayer matches. Concord was the debut title of Firewalk, although later acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2023.

An option for Sony and Firewalk to bring Concord back to life would be to remove the games price tag, making it a free-to-play title. If monetization is what they're after, they'll have to rework Concord, because it wasn't built as a free-to-play title, as Concord doesn't feature a battle pass or other microtransactions, but instead, Concord promised free updates to those who purchased it.
Source: Playstation blog
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38 Comments on Concord Suffers Disastrous Launch, Gets Pulled off the Market by Sony and Refunded

#2
R0H1T
For a second, I thought it was this :laugh:
Posted on Reply
#3
64K
"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 our game was a turd."

Note to Developers: There are already enough mediocre and poor games out there. No need to throw one more on the pile.
Posted on Reply
#5
Ferrum Master
Baltics are blacklisted by Sony either way, so choke on it Sony...
Posted on Reply
#6
joemama
Chidubemas Concord doesn't feature a battle pass or other microtransactions
Didn't they sell skins for the characters?
Posted on Reply
#7
randomTPUreader
It seemed fairly obvious that Sony had zero faith in the game. They did next to nothing to promote it close to launch.

I'm doubtful that most of its intended audience knew anything about it until after news of the disastrous launch went around.
Posted on Reply
#8
Gigaherz
Please let the hero shooter die. It was rarely ever a good genre.
Posted on Reply
#9
TheDeeGee
Meanwhile fans are making Bloodborne work on PC.

Sony is tone deaf.
Posted on Reply
#10
the54thvoid
Super Intoxicated Moderator
Folks - keep the political/social ideolgies out of the thread.

Games fail for many reasons. And there are many games with the same level of petty-triggers this game has that do well.
Posted on Reply
#12
AusWolf
the54thvoidFolks - keep the political/social ideolgies out of the thread.

Games fail for many reasons. And there are many games with the same level of petty-triggers this game has that do well.
I agree. I'm just glad that Sony managed to do what so many film and game studios are too cowardly to do, and admitted failure without going full-blast political with the fan base to incite guilt (which never works).
Posted on Reply
#13
the54thvoid
Super Intoxicated Moderator
AusWolfI agree. I'm just glad that Sony managed to do what so many film and game studios are too cowardly to do, and admitted failure without going full-blast political with the fan base to incite guilt (which never works).
Sony know they fucked up by releasing a generic MP mash-up, marketed to nobody, and put a price on it when many of its peers are free-to-play. There's no need to do anything political. That's the grating part of the comments I deleted. People look for triggers to start OT bullshit.

As @64K said above:
There are already enough mediocre and poor games out there. No need to throw one more on the pile.
Posted on Reply
#14
AusWolf
the54thvoidSony know they fucked up by releasing a generic MP mash-up, marketed to nobody, and put a price on it when many of its peers are free-to-play. There's no need to do anything political.
Exactly. A blend-in-the-crowd, uninteresting, unimaginative online shooter with mechanics like any other. Also, ugly characters. I don't know how Sony ever said, "yeah, it's defo worth 40 quid, go for it, mates".

When some of us complain that modern games aren't fun... Well, news about them certainly are. :D
Posted on Reply
#15
kondamin
GigaherzPlease let the hero shooter die. It was rarely ever a good genre.
I loved and still love playing serious sam/doom/quake making wave after wave of monster go splat is great fun.
Posted on Reply
#16
L'Eliminateur
the54thvoidFolks - keep the political/social ideolgies out of the thread.

Games fail for many reasons. And there are many games with the same level of petty-triggers this game has that do well.
Not one game that has those "triggers" has done well or not faced considerable backlash.

Also, in concords case it was integrated and promoted pretty heavily in the core of the game, far beyond other examples(that used it as simply flavour text) so that makes it pretty hard to not talk about as it's a major reason of its failure.

You can't simply ignore that when talking about this game utter failure, BUT you must not talk ONLY about that but include all the failings mentioned as it would be a disservice: like devs insulting users, live-service mtx hell WITH a buying cost to add insult(when almost every other in the genre is F2P), extremely prolonged development for a genre that does not need much developing, genre being beaten to the ground and ruined by even the games/studios that spawned them(overwatch 2 is a prime example, which has crashed and burned and that it also integrates those ideologies albeit in a more "flavour text" than the core game), singleplayer games being uber strong, etc
Posted on Reply
#17
Gigaherz
kondaminI loved and still love playing serious sam/doom/quake making wave after wave of monster go splat is great fun.
Those arent hero-shooters mate.
Posted on Reply
#18
nomdeplume
ChidubemCorcord, Firewalk Studios' hero shooter, released on August 23 for PS5 and Windows, was pulled from sale on Tuesday and will be taken offline later this week, all thanks to its disastrous launch.
Will delete comment after correction. :)
Posted on Reply
#19
chstamos
TheDeeGeeMeanwhile fans are making Bloodborne work on PC.

Sony is tone deaf.
At this rate of rapid progress we seem poised to get a fully working emulated version by xmas... It will remain a mystery for the ages why sony never ported this - and gran turismo.
Posted on Reply
#20
Darc Requiem
Sony has numerous dormant single player IPs that fans have been demanding and they drop 200 million on Concord. What's worse is, if they were hellbent on an online focused game, they could have done another SOCOM. Fans have actually wanted a new SOCOM game. It's like Sony is afraid of money. They aren't the only ones. After dropping a single player game, Hogwarts Legacy, the actually outsold COD to become the best selling game of 2023. WB has gone all in on the live service bandwagon. Rocksteady had a Batman Beyond Arkham game with Damian Wayne as Batman in planning and they ditched that for Suicide Squad. Why do these companies hate money? :confused:
Posted on Reply
#21
ymbaja
kondaminI loved and still love playing serious sam/doom/quake making wave after wave of monster go splat is great fun.
Agreed! Don’t forget Duke Nukem3D. Unfortunately for the most part those seem to have been the apex.
Posted on Reply
#22
TheDeeGee
chstamosAt this rate of rapid progress we seem poised to get a fully working emulated version by xmas... It will remain a mystery for the ages why sony never ported this - and gran turismo.
It's not my type of game at all, but i'm still checking the progress because it's super interesting :)
Posted on Reply
#23
kondamin
GigaherzThose arent hero-shooters mate.
Oh Sam and doom guy are my hero's so it's an honest mistake
Posted on Reply
#24
skizzo
64K"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 our game was a turd."

Note to Developers: There are already enough mediocre and poor games out there. No need to throw one more on the pile.
that could be their justification. if the pile is that big, what's another 'lil turd tossed on top gonna do?



sort of like the "drop in the ocean" idiom, but with turds :laugh:
Posted on Reply
#25
phints
Most dull, generic, and overpriced "me too" product of the year so not surprised.

I'd imagine anyone that wants to play a hero shooter would just play Overwatch which is now free. I'd give it another go if they went back to 6v6 and corrected some other issues.
Posted on Reply
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