Sony Concord (multiplayer hero FPS | PC/PS5) - update (09/20): game director departs Firewalk Studios, development costs reportedly $400 million

[Keyser_Soze]

3 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

Just for the developer’s sake, I was hoping that it could even have half the audience of Helldivers II.

 

Heck 1/10th of the current peak of Helldivers 2 would look nice. That would put it at half of Battlefield 1's current numbers.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

I cannot help but feel terribly for the developers

[SaysWho?]

20 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

I cannot help but feel terribly for the developers

They are under Sony’s wing as of last year and released a bomb out of the gate. I hope they’ll be okay.

 

I’ve softened up a lot when it comes to judging games because even when a game fails to deliver it simply doesn’t catch fire, I know that the developers tried all they could for years to make something people would enjoy. I know devs of Redfall, Battleborn, etc., worked their asses off. 
 

Hoping for a redemption story.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

9 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

I cannot help but feel terribly for the developers

Yeah, a bit. But at the same time I am a bit happy. I don’t want to see publishers emboldened by successes like Helldivers 2. I know this failure isn’t an indictment of Live Service games and their monetization models, otherwise HD2 would have also been soundly rejected.
 

this is just another in a line of mid hero shooters with an aesthetic that looks like every other hero shooter. 
 

I don’t know. I do wonder if Sony and the devs knew. Like Naughty Dog canceled their game likely because just pushing it out would damage the TLOU brand. But with sunk cost fallacy and nothing to lose they rolled the dice on releasing this game to make back some of the development cost.   

[Keyser_Soze]

16 minutes ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

Yeah, a bit. But at the same time I am a bit happy. I don’t want to see publishers emboldened by successes like Helldivers 2. I know this failure isn’t an indictment of Live Service games and their monetization models, otherwise HD2 would have also been soundly rejected.
 

this is just another in a line of mid hero shooters with an aesthetic that looks like every other hero shooter. 
 

I don’t know. I do wonder if Sony and the devs knew. Like Naughty Dog canceled their game likely because just pushing it out would damage the TLOU brand. But with sunk cost fallacy and nothing to lose they rolled the dice on releasing this game to make back some of the development cost.   

 

It's really hard to say the publishers were emboldened by the success of Helldivers 2. Before Helldivers 2 came out Sony already had a plan in place to release like 12 live service games, but as things moved along they cut that number down. The thing is I don't know if they considered Helldivers 2 to be in that live service initiative because I always felt it was it's own thing that blew up in a big way. I think the thing that they got cocky about was that it was a $40 game and figured that the same success could carry over. Helldivers 2 is it's own unique thing while Concord is a less good version of games that are already out that are free

 

As for the TLOU factions, I think that would have done better than this. There were actual fans of the first game's multiplayer. It's an established name it could have found an audience. The least they could have done is just done a smaller version and put it in, just like they did the roguelite mode.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

32 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

It's really hard to say the publishers were emboldened by the success of Helldivers 2. Before Helldivers 2 came out Sony already had a plan in place to release like 12 live service games, but as things moved along they cut that number down. The thing is I don't know if they considered Helldivers 2 to be in that live service initiative because I always felt it was it's own thing that blew up in a big way. I think the thing that they got cocky about was that it was a $40 game and figured that the same success could carry over. Helldivers 2 is it's own unique thing while Concord is a less good version of games that are already out that are free

 

As for the TLOU factions, I think that would have done better than this. There were actual fans of the first game's multiplayer. It's an established name it could have found an audience. The least they could have done is just done a smaller version and put it in, just like they did the roguelite mode.

I don’t mean this game came to be because of Helldivers 2’s success. But when a game like HD2 is successful publisher take note and believe they can have that too. It emboldens them to still think live service games can make them lots of money. So they’ll keep trying. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

36 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Helldivers 2 is it's own unique thing while Concord is a less good version of games that are already out that are free.

 

You've absolutely hit the nail on the head on the substantive market perception difference between charging 40 bucks for HD2 and charging 40 bucks for Concord.

[Keyser_Soze]

Concord Review | Patreon

WWW.PATREON.COM

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Get more from Jeff Gerstmann on Patreon

 

[Keyser_Soze]

Concord Is Estimated to Have Sold Only 25,000 Units. Here’s Why Analysts Think It’s Failing - IGN

WWW.IGN.COM

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What happened to Concord? Why did a big Sony first-party game get sent out to die immediately? Is it actually selling badly, or are we just reading the numbers wrong? As usual when questions of this nature crop up, I asked a bunch of professional industry analysts to explain it to me.

 

[Spork3245]

I wonder if Rocksteady is celebrating that they no longer are the makers of the biggest gaming flop of 2024?

[Bacon]

4 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Concord Is Estimated to Have Sold Only 25,000 Units. Here’s Why Analysts Think It’s Failing - IGN

Well, the awful looking characters didn't help. Not saying you need porn-quality models, but shit, TF2 and Monday Night Combat have more appealing character designs. And make a game that no one asked for will result in no one playing your game.

[crispy4000]

I really hope Concord puts a nail in the coffin to new IPs getting their big introduction with a CG trailer.

 

Waste of money.  It signals to me the game isn’t exciting enough to lead on its own.  There’s quite a history of it.

[Keyser_Soze]

1 hour ago, crispy4000 said:

I really hope Concord puts a nail in the coffin to new IPs getting their big introduction with a CG trailer.

 

Waste of money.  It signals to me the game isn’t exciting enough to lead on its own.  There’s quite a history of it.

 

Eh, but that's a selling point of the game. Every week they're making a new CG story vignette. In fact it plays every time you start up the game.

[crispy4000]

3 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Eh, but that's a selling point of the game. Every week they're making a new CG story vignette. In fact it plays every time you start up the game.

 

And it was clearly an awful selling point.

[Keyser_Soze]

Just now, crispy4000 said:

And it was clearly an awful selling point.

 

Well I'm just saying it's the exception to "CG trailers" because that is part of the game.

 

As for being an awful selling point, that's basically every part of the game.

[DarkStar189]

Looking at this thread it seems like I missed an open beta for ps+ subscribers. I use my PS5 just about every day so I’m surprised I missed it. That probably goes along with how awful Sony can be about promoting things on the console itself. Had a big banner or screen popped up saying “Look free game demo over here!” I would have been clicking the download button right away.

This is a game I need to try before I buy. They have a lot of competition in this space and a lot are free to play.  Seeing these low launch numbers is pretty sad. If the player base was there I might take the risk but at this point I’ll wait to see if it goes free with PS+.

[Bacon]

I now want this game to somehow make a comeback just to spite all the people who shat on it. It'd be hysterical lol

[crispy4000]

23 minutes ago, Bacon said:

I now want this game to somehow make a comeback just to spite all the people who shat on it. It'd be hysterical lol

 

That would be truly incredible.  It's all time high player count is <700.  For comparison, Battleborn got to 12k.

[Keyser_Soze]

22 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

 

That would be truly incredible.  It's all time high player count is <700.  For comparison, Battleborn got to 12k.

 

Like I said even Babylon's Fall got to 1k players.

[SuperSpreader]

59 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

 

That would be truly incredible.  It's all time high player count is <700.  For comparison, Battleborn got to 12k.

 

Yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikkkkkkeeesssssssss

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Oh wow.

 

An important update on Concord

BLOG.PLAYSTATION.COM

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Concord fans -- we’ve been listening closely to your feedback since the launch of Concord on PlayStation 5 and PC and want to thank everyone who has joined the journey aboard the Northstar. Your support and the passionate community that has grown around the game has meant the world to us. However, while many qualities [...]

 

Quote

 

Concord fans — we've been listening closely to your feedback since the launch of Concord on PlayStation 5 and PC and want to thank everyone who has joined the journey aboard the Northstar. Your support and the passionate community that has grown around the game has meant the world to us.

 

However, 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.

 

Therefore, at this time, we have decided to take the game offline beginning September 6, 2024, and explore options, including those that will better reach our players.

 

While we determine the best path ahead, Concord sales will cease immediately and we will begin to offer a full refund for all gamers who have purchased the game for PS5 or PC. If you purchased the game for PlayStation 5 from the PlayStation Store or PlayStation Direct, a refund will be issued back to your original payment method.

 

Customers who purchased from other digital storefronts will also be refunded. More information about refunds from Steam and Epic can be found below:

 

Steam Store – Steam Store will refund players who bought the game over the coming days. Steam will send confirmation of the refund once it has been processed.

 

Epic Games Store – Epic Games Store will refund players who bought the game over the coming days and will contact each customer directly to confirm that the refund has been processed.

 

Other retailer refunds – For customers who have purchased a physical copy at a retailer location outside of PlayStation directly, please refer to the refund process of the retailer you purchased it from to obtain your refund.

 

Once refunded, players will no longer have access to the game.

 

 

[Bacon]

4 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

Therefore, at this time, we have decided to take the game offline beginning September 6, 2024, and explore options, including those that will better reach our players.

I'm sorry

 

4 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

Concord sales will cease immediately and we will begin to offer a full refund for all gamers who have purchased the game for PS5 or PC.

Very cool.

[CitizenVectron]

Wow, that's crazy.

[Bacon]

Will this go down as an even bigger blunder than ET? If not, this feels like the next big one.

[TheShader]

I enjoyed the open beta. Sad to see it flop. Although not surprising. The polish, at least from the open beta, very much felt like a free to play game you'd trip across on a random Saturday and find it with a niche playerbase. I'm not surprised the open beta didn't result in people tripping over their wallets to buy it. I certainly didn't. I was waiting to see if it actually got better. Still hope it does, I think there's potential in the game, just not with where it's currently at.

 

 

It also had terrible balance issues. The very last thing you want with a hero shooter like this. I think it would be a great service while they're going back to the drawing board to pull it back to TF2 levels and just have a handful of really well balanced classes instead of going the Overwatch route of having 10 million classes to choose from.

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

10 minutes ago, TheShader said:

I enjoyed the open beta. Sad to see it flop. Although not surprising. The polish, at least from the open beta, very much felt like a free to play game you'd trip across on a random Saturday and find it with a niche playerbase. I'm not surprised the open beta didn't result in people tripping over their wallets to buy it. I certainly didn't. I was waiting to see if it actually got better. Still hope it does, I think there's potential in the game, just not with where it's currently at.

 

 

It also had terrible balance issues. The very last thing you want with a hero shooter like this. I think it would be a great service while they're going back to the drawing board to pull it back to TF2 levels and just have a handful of really well balanced classes instead of going the Overwatch route of having 10 million classes to choose from.

 

Judging from the blog post, I'm fairly certain that the "notional" plan will be to relaunch as an F2P title.

[Bacon]

8 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

Judging from the blog post, I'm fairly certain that the "notional" plan will be to relaunch as an F2P title.

I legit think that will just end up costing them even more money than it will earn them.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

2 minutes ago, Bacon said:

I legit think that will just end up costing them even more money than it will earn them.

 

Oh sure - it definitely could, so I imagine that's what the number crunchers will be working through.

[Paperclyp]

It makes sense - I think going free to play as is just ensures its slow (maybe not that slow) death. 
 

Now they will have one more shot to relaunch the game. It’s a long shot but it’s pry all they have. I hope they can pull it off! I’ll give the game a shot when they do relaunch it. 

[SaysWho?]

3 minutes ago, Paperclyp said:

It makes sense - I think going free to play as is just ensures its slow (maybe not that slow) death. 
 

Now they will have one more shot to relaunch the game. It’s a long shot but it’s pry all they have. I hope they can pull it off! I’ll give the game a shot when they do relaunch it. 

 

I've had no interest in the game but I hope they do get that shot and it works, even if it's a modest success. When you work in an industry where you do not get instant gratification on a work you help create, getting no delayed gratification either must sting hard, and I'm sure they put their heart into this.

[Brian]

To take a game that isn’t designed for F2P and make it one that generates enough money for a ROI on a 8 year project, talk about an impossible task. Can’t imagine the morale at that studio. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

11 minutes ago, Brian said:

To take a game that isn’t designed for F2P and make it one that generates enough money for a ROI on a 8 year project, talk about an impossible task. Can’t imagine the morale at that studio. 

 

It absolutely is an impossible undertaking.

 

Practically every single aspect of the game will have be re-conceptualized from the nature and timing of its revenue streams to the content delivery pipeline to the operating tempo of updates and on and on and on...

 

And the unfortunate reality is that will be the Firewalk developers who will suffer.

[Dodger]

Sucks for the studio. By all accounts it seems like it's not even a terrible game. It's just a hard space to be successful in. 

[Keyser_Soze]

It needs more than just being F2P.

 

F2P is a good way to get people through the door but the character designs are working against them. The gameplay while solid has no direction to it. I think they discussed on one of the podcasts since there are no ults you really have nothing to work towards. It's just like shoot people and pop your skills and that's it.

[Moa]

I always thought this game looked pretty good and the previews seemed positive. $40 was too big an ask for me, especially with the writing on the wall with the general rejection of the game, but I’ve never quite understood the hatred this game seemed to inspire.