Concord, a multiplayer hero shooter from Firewalk Studios launched on 23 August 2024 on PlayStation 5 and Windows, is already shutting down after less than two weeks.
Sony announced on its PlayStation Blog that they will take the game offline on 6 September 2024 and they will stop selling the game immediately. Players who bought the game digitally or a physical copy will get a full refund.
Ryan Ellis, game director of Firewalk Studios said that:
While many qualities of the experience resonated with players, we also recognise 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 6 September 2024, and explore options, including those that will better reach our players.
Concord apparently took eight years of development and potentially costs hundreds of millions of dollars to make.
According to IGN, since its debut on 23 August, Concord has only reached a peak of 697 concurrent players on Steam, with no increase since then.
An analyst told IGN that he estimated that Concord’s total sales are sitting around 10,000 units on Steam, and around 15,000 on PlayStation.
At USD40 (RM169), Concord is a tough sale compared to other free-to-play hero shooters such as Overwatch, Marvel Rivals, and the upcoming Valve’s Deadlock.
Whether Sony will convert the game into a free-to-play title is uncertain. However, significant changes will be necessary if they wish to regain players’ interest in any future release.