Concord, Sony’s attempt at a first-person hero shooter, has had its shut down date announced a little over a week after it launched on PC and PlayStation 5. The game struggled to find an audience, only managing to sell an estimated 25,000 copies and hitting a peak of 697 players on Steam. It’s a big blow for Sony as it the company has invested heavily in multiplayer games to accompany its catalog of award winning singleplayer games.
Ryan Ellis, Game Director of Firewalk Studios, shared the news on the PlayStation Blog. Ellis says that “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.”
The language in this statement does appear to leave room for the game’s return in the future. One avenue worth exploring is placing the game on Sony’s PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium game services, which might bring in a new group of players into the fold. It would eliminate the hesitation some gamers might have felt about coughing up $40 for Concord, when other similar options are available as free to play titles. This potential path would also allow Firewalk Studios to retain its plan to not nickel and dime players with microtransactions.
While Sony figures out what to do with Concord, players who invested in the game won’t be left hanging high and dry. The company says that it “will begin to offer a full refund for all gamers who have purchased the game for PS5 or PC.” In the meantime, Concord will also no longer be available for sale.
It’s a bit shocking to see a game that spent eight years in development get pulled so quickly but, sadly, this seems to be the new reality in the games industry.