"Concord's Brief Existence: Not the Shortest"

The launch of Concord was met with a disappointing silence, resulting in the swift shutdown of its servers. Dive deeper to understand the reasons behind the game's closure.

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 set to close its doors just two weeks after its launch. Game Director Ryan Ellis made the announcement on the PlayStation Blog on Tuesday, September 3rd, explaining that the game did not meet the anticipated player engagement.

"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 stated. "Therefore, at this time, we have decided to take the game offline beginning September 6, 2024."

The announcement also detailed automatic refunds for all digital purchases made on Steam, Epic Games Store, and the PlayStation Store. Those with physical copies were advised to adhere to their retailer’s return policy.

It was evident from the outset that both Firewalk and Sony had high hopes for Concord. The acquisition of Firewalk Studios by Sony was a testament to their faith in the studio’s potential, bolstered by positive feedback from both Ellis and Firewalk’s studio head, Tony Hsu. The game was set to feature in an episode of the upcoming Prime Video anthology series, Secret Level, and Ellis had outlined an ambitious post-launch roadmap, which included a first-season launch in October and weekly cutscenes.

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

What Doomed Concord?

From the very start, Concord struggled to gain traction. Despite an eight-year development cycle, the game failed to attract a substantial player base, peaking at just 697 concurrent players. At the time of writing, only 45 players were online. Although these figures do not include PlayStation 5 users, they still pale in comparison to the beta's peak of 2,388 players, falling short of expectations for a Sony-published triple-A title.

Several factors contributed to Concord's downfall. Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad highlighted that while the game's mechanics were solid and it was "content complete," it lacked innovation and failed to differentiate itself from other hero shooters.

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

Moreover, the game's $40 price tag was a significant barrier, especially when competing against free-to-play giants like Marvel Rivals, Apex Legends, and Valorant. Coupled with a lack of effective marketing, as Ahmad pointed out, "it’s no wonder no one purchased it."

In his statement, Ryan Ellis hinted at future possibilities for Firewalk Studios, stating they would "explore options, including those that will better reach" players. A potential revival of Concord remains on the table, inspired by the successful return of the MOBA hero shooter Gigantic, which transitioned from a live-service to a buy-to-play model six years after its initial shutdown.

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

Game8 rated Concord at 56 out of 100, lamenting that "it’s almost tragic to see eight years of work culminate in such a visually appealing, yet lifeless, game." For a more in-depth analysis, you can check out our full review below.