Concord, the upcoming hero shooter from Firewalker Studios and Sony, "has some juice," executive editor Tyler Wilde declared in a recent preview. Even better, it also has a couple of beta weekends coming very soon, so while I personally would trust Tyler's assessment implicitly, you'll be able to make up your own mind if that's how you prefer to do things—as long as you have a PC up to the task, that is.
The PC system requirements revealed today are a little on the heavy side. My own rig could probably sneak in under the "recommended" wire, but it'd be closer than I'd like—which, alas, is becoming more and more common with each passing year. Getting up to the "performance" level at 2K/60 fps, you'll need a pretty capable rig, including a Core i7-10700K CPU and RTX 3080 GPU.
The details:
Minimum (1080p, 60 fps, low graphics preset)
- OS: Windows 10 64 bit (Creators Update)
- CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K or AMD Ryzen 7 2700X
- RAM: 8GB DDR4
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 6GB or AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT
- Storage: 30GB SSD
Recommended (1080p, 60 fps, medium graphics preset)
- OS: Windows 10 64 bit (Creators Update)
- CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K or AMD Ryzen 7 2700X
- RAM: 16GB DDR4
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
- Storage: 30GB SSD
Performance (1440p, 60 fps, high graphics preset)
- OS: Windows 10 64 bit (Creators Update)
- CPU: Intel Core i7-10700K or AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
- RAM: 16GB DDR4
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
- Storage: 30GB SSD
Ultra (4K, 60 fps, ultra graphics preset)
- OS: Windows 10 64 bit (Creators Update)
- CPU: Intel Core i7-10700K or AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
- RAM: 16GB DDR4
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT
- Storage: 30GB SSD
You'll also require a broadband internet connection across the board, because (of course) this is an online shooter.
Those are pretty heavy specs, especially if you want to roll at 4K. Another concern here, noted by PC Gamer shooterman Morgan Park, is the absence of specs for frame rates above 60. That's not entirely surprising, given that Concord is essentially a PlayStation 5 game that's also coming to PC—60 fps is the standard console target—but generally speaking, high frame rates are preferrable to glorious eye candy in competitive PC shooters, and hardcore players may find 60 fps a little less than ideal.
These requirements are strictly for the upcoming beta tests—Sony said final specs will be released closer to Concord's launch—and it's possible the game will offer unlocked frame rates on PC, although hitting 144 fps will naturally require better hardware. Hopefully the graphics settings are heavily tweakable for those who prioritize fps over particle effects.
Concord's early access weekend beta, for those who pre-order the game, runs July 12-14, and will be followed by an open beta running July 18-21. The full game is set for launch a month later, on August 23.
