Sony Takes Concord Offline, Suspends Sales and Offers Refunds After Just Two Weeks
– 2 min read
After a slow start, Sony Interactive Entertainment is pulling the plug. Concord, a 5v5 hero shooter designed as a Game as a Service, will no longer be sold. All buyers will receive refunds. The game will not be re-released until it can "reach more people".
The hero shooter Concord, released by Firewalk Studios and Sony Interactive Entertainment on 23 August 2024, is no longer sold, either on PC or on PlayStation 5. The game's servers will also be taken offline on 6 September. Refunds are being offered to all purchasers. "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," says Ryan Ellis, Game Director at Firewalk Studios.
Concord peaked at a CCU of 697 on Steam and was in the triple digits on the US PSN daily active player charts. Simon Carless (GameDiscover.co) estimated sales of around 25,000 units, of which 15,000 were on PlayStation. Sony itself has not released any sales figures. This brings back memories of Amazon Games' Crucible, which was sent back to beta after a poor launch and then cancelled in October 2020.
In 2021, Sony struck a deal with Firewalk Studios to launch a AAA multiplayer game, also as part of Sony Interactive Entertainment's planned wave of live service games, which included the acquisition of Bungie. Last year, Firewalk Studios was taken over completely. Rumour has it that Concord was in development for around eight years. This makes Helldivers 2 SIE's only GaaS hit so far, although player numbers there have fallen and the sentiment of user reviews has changed.
The reasons for Concord's failure have not been disclosed, but Concord was not well positioned in a difficult market environment. While the hero shooters Overwatch 2, Paladins and Valorant are based on a free-to-play model, Concord was launched for around 40 Euros with In-Game Purchases, but with the announcement that there would be no Battle Pass. It is therefore likely that the game will move to a free-to-play model and then get a second chance.
Upcoming releases from Sony Interactive Entertainment include Astro Bot on PS5 (6 September 2024), God of War Ragnarök on PC (19 September 2024), Until Dawn Remake on PC and PS5 (4 October 2024) and LEGO Horizon Adventures later in the year.
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