There have been plenty of times in the last few years when we’ve seen video games have absolutely disastrous launches.
No Man’s Sky was pretty terrible. Star Wars Battlefront 2? Phew. Awful. Remember Anthem? Yikes, y’all.
Bad launches happen. It’s part of the fabric of the gaming world at this point. Games get released and sometimes they just flop. It’s not great, but it is what it is.
Rarely, however, do we see a launch so bad that a game is pulled from virtual shelves. That happened with Cyberpunk 2077 because it was just incredibly buggy, of course. But, usually, the studio just takes the initial L on the chin and patches the game up over the next few years until it’s better. Sometimes, it comes out awesome like No Man’s Sky. Other times, there’s nothing you can do like with Battlefront 2.
But we don’t typically see a game pulled because nobody wants it. That’s exactly what happened to Sony’s Concord.
The company announced the game was being removed from the PlayStation store on Tuesday, just a little under two weeks after its initial launch. Players who purchased the $40 game were granted full refunds for it.
Let’s talk about what this is and why it happened.
Wait, what is Concord?
Here’s the simple version: Concord is (or was?) a 5v5 first-person shooter game developed over the last eight years by Sony. You jump online, squad up with your friends and play the game the same way you would, say, Overwatch.
It cost $40, which is below the market for typical PlayStation games these days but way over the market against the other live service games it was meant to compete against.
That’s where this gets tricky.
What on Earth is a live service game?
Live service games are developed for the sole purpose of keeping the consumer playing for as long as possible.
They’re typically online-based and multiplayer games that are constantly in evolution. Games like Fortnite and Apex Legends fall into this category. They go through different “seasons” where they’ll add new characters, weapons, skins and new story beats for players to tap into.
Sometimes, those evolutions are presented to players through microtransactions. You’ll have to make a purchase to access some of the game’s new content. In Fortnite, for example, players can spend money to gain access to skins. However, they’re not needed to play the game. Other times, though, some games will require you to spend money to participate in new content.
It can all get pretty expensive once it adds up.
What does this have to do with Concord’s shutdown?
Quite a bit. Concord was a live service game. More content was going to be presented in the game down the line as it evolved and grew with its players.
That was the plan, anyway. But people just weren’t that into it.
On PlayStation’s blog announcing the move, Director Ryan Ellis said, “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.”
People just didn’t seem to like it. The game reportedly sold as few as 25,000 units, according to IGN, which is extremely low. It debuted to 697 concurrent players on Steam, putting it on par with 2023’s disastrous Gollum game.
even the worst game of 2023 had more Steam players on its release day than Concord 😬 pic.twitter.com/g1OHP9ydfd
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) August 24, 2024
Wow. Did people hate this game that much?
I don’t really think it’s that people hated this game. I think the reality is honestly worse: People just didn’t seem to care that much about it.
In an era where live service games are popping up everywhere, you’ve really got to stand out to make a dent and capture people’s attention. Concord was never able to do that.
It didn’t have a unique spin like Sony’s Helldivers 2 did. In the end, people weren’t putting down what they were already playing to play this game.
I see people talking about the "death" of live service re Concord, but it's not so simple. Live service isn't dying. It's just tough for new live service games to break through because everyone is playing old live service games.
Here are the 10 most popular PC games (@NewzooHQ): pic.twitter.com/Jww2nsfQv6
— Cecilia D'Anastasio (@cecianasta) September 3, 2024
Concord never broke through.
Is this really the end for Concord?
We’ll have to see. Sony says it’s time to “explore options” is starting now with the company pulling this game.
It’s possible that Concord may return and it could become a free-to-play game with optional microtransactions. That may help it garner a bit more of an audience in the future.
It wouldn’t be the first time a game was pulled and brought back, either. Cyberpunk 2077’s success proves that it’s possible things can still work.
There’s a tough and uncertain road ahead for this game and its developers at Firewalk Studios.
