Sony has announced that it will be taking offline its latest multiplayer PVP first-person shooter, Concord. Concord came out on August 23rd, and it will be “shut down” on September 6th. This basically means that Sony is taking the game off the digital stores two weeks after release.
Concord has been in development for 8 whole years. According to reports, Sony spent $150 million on its development. And, from what we can see, this is one of the biggest flops in gaming history.
To be honest, the writing was on the wall. Sony launched an Open Beta for Concord earlier this year which did not attract a lot of gamers. Not only that but contrary to other titles, this was a $40 game.
Sony claims that they will “explore options, including those that will better reach our players.” The company is also refunding everyone who has purchased it. So, my guess is that Concord will be re-launched as a F2P title. At least that’s the message I get from this PR statement.
And that is that. Since I’m not a big fan of online hero shooters like Overwatch, I didn’t play Concord. From what I saw, Concord did not bring anything new to the table. And that was its biggest issue in my opinion. Why would someone spend $40 for a game that plays like Overwatch, when Overwatch is free?
I also don’t know whether Sony will be able to salvage it. The game’s reputation has been hit hard. So, it may not succeed even if they re-launch it as a F2P title.
Since the game has already cost Sony A LOT of money, I don’t see them putting a lot of effort into it. I mean, it would be nice to see a complete overhaul. However, my gut tells me that the publisher will simply reshape it for a F2P audience, and then re-launch it. At least that’s the safest move (business-wise).
We’ve seen numerous games getting “canned” in a span of months. However, this is the first Sony first-party game that has failed to spark the interest of gamers all over the world. Moreover, it’s yet another GaaS game that has failed commercially, following Dustborn and, to a lesser extent, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
Stay tuned for more!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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