Sony’s recent live-service game, Concord, faced a swift closure after just 11 days, highlighting the company’s struggles in this rapidly growing market. Sony is now taking steps to learn from this setback, including restructuring its development approach and emphasizing the importance of timing and market research. This analysis delves into the lessons Sony is learning from Concord’s failure and how it plans to navigate its future in live-service gaming.
Sony and Firewalk Studios have made the unprecedented decision to pull their live service shooter, ‘Concord,’ from sale and refund all purchases. The move comes after a disastrous launch with low sales figures and negative player reception.
During the May 2024 State of Play presentation, PlayStation unveiled a new cinematic trailer for its upcoming live-service sci-fi game, Concord. Developed by Firewalk Studios, the game showcased gameplay featuring five of its characters and announced a release date of August 23 for PS5 and PC, along with a closed beta in July. Concord is a 5v5 shooter set in the Concord galaxy, where players take on the role of mercenaries known as Freerunners and join the intergalactic spacefaring crew Northstar. The five characters revealed include Vale, a skilled sniper; Haymar, a pyromancer; Star Child, a robust alien; Lennox, a mohawk-sporting fighter; and 1-Off, a robotic entity. The game will feature 16 playable characters at launch, with post-launch updates adding more content. Unique to Concord are weekly vignettes that provide narrative arcs for characters outside of gameplay, expanding the story of the Concord galaxy.
