"Concord: Brief But Not the Briefest"

Concord's launch was met with silence, leading to a swift decision to shut down its servers. Dive into the details of the game's closure and what led to this unexpected end.

Firewalk Studios' Freegunners Fail to Fly, Servers to go Offline Two Weeks After Launch

No Hype Leads to Hibernation

Firewalk Studios’ 5v5 hero shooter, Concord, is shutting down just two weeks after its launch. Game Director Ryan Ellis announced the decision on Tuesday, September 3rd, via the PlayStation Blog, citing the game's inability to meet expectations.

"While many qualities of the experience resonated with players, we also recognize other aspects of the game and our launch didn’t land the way we’d intended," Ellis wrote. "Therefore, at this time, we have decided to take the game offline beginning September 6, 2024."

The announcement included details on automatic refunds for all digital purchases on Steam, Epic Games Store, and the PlayStation Store. Those with physical copies were advised to follow their retailer's return policy.

It's evident that Firewalk and Sony had high hopes for Concord. The acquisition of Firewalk Studios by Sony was driven by confidence in the studio's potential, bolstered by positive feedback from both Ellis and Firewalk’s studio head, Tony Hsu. Plans were ambitious, with the game slated to feature in the upcoming Prime Video anthology series, Secret Level, and a post-launch roadmap that promised a first-season launch in October and weekly cutscenes.

Sadly, the game's poor performance necessitated a drastic change in plans. Only three cutscenes were released—two from the beta and one just before the shutdown announcement—leaving the future of the characters' stories uncertain.

What Doomed Concord?

From the outset, Concord's trajectory was downward. Despite an eight-year development cycle, the game failed to capture significant player interest. It struggled to reach even a thousand concurrent players, peaking at just 697, with only 45 players online at the time of writing. These numbers exclude PlayStation 5 users, but even with them included, the current performance falls far short of expectations for a Sony-published triple-A title.

Several factors contributed to Concord's downfall. Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad noted on Twitter that while the game's gameplay mechanics were strong and "content complete," it failed to differentiate itself from other hero shooters, offering little incentive for players to switch.

"The game itself wasn’t necessarily innovative and the character designs were uninspired," Ahmad wrote. "It didn’t stand out and felt stuck in the OW1 era."

Additionally, its $40 price tag put it at a disadvantage against free-to-play competitors like Marvel Rivals, Apex Legends, and Valorant. Coupled with minimal marketing efforts, as Ahmad noted, "it’s no wonder no one purchased it."

Ryan Ellis hinted at exploring options to better reach players, suggesting a potential return for Concord. The revival of the MOBA hero shooter Gigantic, which transitioned from a live-service to a buy-to-play model six years after its initial shutdown, shows that games can indeed make a comeback.

Some suggest making Concord free-to-play, akin to Square Enix’s Foamstars. However, this alone won't address the core issues of bland character designs and sluggish gameplay. A comprehensive overhaul, similar to the successful redesign of Final Fantasy XIV, might be necessary to breathe new life into the game.

Game8 rated Concord a 56 out of 100, describing it as "almost tragic to see eight years of work culminate in such a visually appealing, yet lifeless, game." For a deeper dive into our thoughts on Concord, check out our review below!