Home » Concord Shutdown: What Went Wrong with PlayStation’s Shooter

Concord Shutdown: What Went Wrong with PlayStation’s Shooter

image of Concord Banner
Last Updated on December 11, 2024 by Seven Laurent

After seeing the game’s poor reception, PlayStation and Firewalk Studios acted swiftly to shut down Concord.

PlayStation’s live-service game Concord met an unexpected and swift end after just 12 days post-launch. Released on August 23, 2024, for PlayStation 5 and PC, Concord struggled to capture a strong player base from the start. This might be the reason why it’s not a part of the PlayStation State of Play 2024.

By September 3, 2024, PlayStation announced that the game would officially shut down on September 6, 2024. The situation leaves many wondering what led to such a quick closure and what it means for PlayStation’s live-service strategy.

Concord Struggles Out of the Gate

From its initial reveal in May 2023, Concord aimed to compete in the crowded live-service shooter space, drawing comparisons to popular sci-fi settings like Guardians of the Galaxy. Despite its high production value and intriguing premise, the game failed to generate buzz during its beta phase, which hinted at potential issues before launch. When the game officially went live, it quickly became apparent that Concord wasn’t resonating with players as intended.

On launch day, Concord peaked at just under 700 players on Steam, a shockingly low number for a PlayStation exclusive of its scale. For comparison, even games that underperformed this year, like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, attracted significantly more attention. By failing to attract players early on, Concord had little time to build momentum and quickly became a candidate for closure.

image of Concord Character Select Screen
Bulky and unpretty | GameEels

PlayStation and Firewalk Studios React

In a blog post, the game’s director, Ryan Ellis, admitted that certain aspects of the game failed to connect with players the way the studio had hoped. He emphasized that while some parts of the game worked well, the initial launch simply “didn’t land” as intended.

The sudden closure left many fans disappointed, but PlayStation acted responsibly by offering full refunds to anyone who purchased the game. Refunds will be processed through digital storefronts like the PlayStation Store, Steam, and Epic Games Store. Players can expect to receive their money back within a few days of the announcement.

image of Concord Cutscene
Concord characters eating together | GameEels

What’s Next for Concord?

Although Concord is closing for now, the blog post hinted that the game might return in the future. Firewalk Studios intends to spend this downtime evaluating what went wrong and how they can improve the experience for players. Whether Concord will make a comeback or quietly fade away remains uncertain, but it’s clear the studio is committed to finding a solution.

As the game industry continues to evolve, even major players like PlayStation face challenges in the live service space. Similar struggles with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League earlier this year show that even high-budget games can miss the mark. For now, players will have to wait and see if Concord can make a successful return or if it will join the list of games that couldn’t find their audience.

What Are Some Other Reasons Why Concord Failed?

The release of PlayStation’s Concord, which was unable to reach 700 simultaneous players on Steam, is only one example of flopping. In PlayStation, it probably only reached about a couple of thousand players. Some even consider it as one of the biggest flops in the past generation.

Numerous factors contributed to Concord‘s failure. Let’s take a look at them.

• Very Bad Hero Aesthetics and Design

One of the main issues with this game is that it’s just not very appealing. Even if the game aims to evoke the sci-fi of the 1970s, which was 30–40 years before the target generation was born, it still looks awful.

As some have stated, the primary problem here is not the character “diversity,” but rather how awful they look. You can witness how the design alone makes a difference by visiting Overwatch and seeing, for example, characters that aren’t often considered attractive, like Junkrat, Roadhog, and a gorilla.

• Gameplay Lacks a Lot of Luster

Yes, we’ve reached number nine before we’ve even discussed how the game works. The most peculiar aspect of all of this is the fact that Concord is a decent game.

It’s even a mechanically sound shooter that’s frequently entertaining. The issue, though, is that you have to make yourself out when you enter the gaming industry like this at $40.

Game developers would have to use gameplay if they’re not making their games visually appealing, which Concord devs obviously aren’t aiming for. Simply put, the game just fails at doing that. At any rate, what it offers is not enough.

• A Lack of Marketing

Once more, the game’s first official trailer was released just two months before its release. After that, there was a pitiful lack of marketing, as if Sony knew what was going to happen and didn’t want to waste any more money on it.

Nevertheless, it obviously cost them a great deal of attention because a lot of people I speak to had never heard of the game. Almost all of them were even unaware that it was coming out this weekend. Unlike what PlayStation did when the PlayStation’s 30th anniversary news.

image of Concord gameplay character selection
Concord character selection menu | Photo from IGN

May Concord's Failure Be a Lesson for Future Game Developers

Concord‘s failure should be treated as a lesson. A lesson that future game developers can use. And as for gamers, we should absolutely keep voicing our thoughts about games.

Be sure to read our other news articles to keep up with what’s hot and what’s not in the gaming world. Stay tuned and catch the gaming current with GameEels!