Summary
- Nearly two months after Concord's shutdown, Sony has shuttered developer Firewalk Studios.
- Concord will permanently remain offline, vanquishing any hopes for a potential comeback.
- Sony says that it will take the lessons learned from Concord's failure and apply them to future live-service PlayStation games.
Sony has confirmed the closure of Concord developer Firewalk Studios. After Concord was taken offline nearly two months ago, many expressed doubt over the future of Firewalk Studios, and as it turns out, the skepticism was unfortunately correct.
Firewalk Studios was acquired by Sony in 2023, two years after both companies announced their partnership for a AAA live-service multiplayer project, later revealed to be Concord. The Firewalk acquisition indicated to fans that Sony was quite confident with Concord, as the gaming giant rarely ever purchases studios that have yet to release their debut project. However, Concord's launch in August 2024 turned out to be one of the most disastrous in PlayStation's 30-year history, reportedly selling less than 30,000 copies across PS5 and PC.
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Concord was pulled offline and refunds were sent out to every player just two weeks after launch, a situation never seen before with any PlayStation release. At the time, Sony stated that it would "explore options" for Concord. Now, a very recent internal email from Hermen Hulst, CEO of PlayStation's Studio Business Group, confirms that Sony has elected to permanently shutter Concord and close down Firewalk Studios, quashing any and all hopes for a potential Concord revival down the line.
Sony Permanently Closes the Book on Concord and Firewalk Studios
While Sony's decision is the most unfortunate possible outcome for Concord and Firewalk Studios, many industry experts predicted that the game would be written off, especially after the reports of Concord costing an astonishing $400 million to develop over the course of eight years. It was even rumored that Concord was internally considered the "future of PlayStation" with "Star Wars-like potential," so one can only imagine Sony's shock when the live-service shooter peaked at an extremely underwhelming 697 concurrent players on Steam at launch.
This news is undoubtedly sad for Concord's small but fervent player base. Recent updates to the game's Steam backend had fans hopeful for a potential Concord comeback, potentially in a free-to-play form. Sadly, Concord can officially be considered lost media now, as the multiplayer game will remain entirely inaccessible and unplayable for the foreseeable future.
There's also the matter of Concord's dedicated episode in Secret Level, Amazon Prime's upcoming video game-focused anthology series. After Concord's permanent shutdown and Firewalk's closure, the Secret Level episode will likely feel rather out-of-place and awkward. However, it seems Firewalk's live-service hero shooter isn't dying in vain, as Hulst implied in the internal email that Sony has learned lessons from Concord that it will apply to the other live-service games in development at PlayStation Studios. As Concord's chapter comes to a close, one can only hope that Sony's future live-service titles resonate better with players.
Concord
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 64 /100 Critics Rec: 23%
- Released
- August 23, 2024
- ESRB
- t
- Developer(s)
- Firewalk Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op, Online Multiplayer
WHERE TO PLAY
Assemble your crew of Freegunner space outlaws and team up online with friends for thrilling 5v5 PVP modes across the galaxy in Concord.
Concord is a new team-based first-person shooter for PS5® and PC*. Handpick your personal roster of Freegunners from the crew of the Northstar – a group of outlaws and adventurers working as guns-for-hire.
ASSEMBLE YOUR CREW
From powerful mystics to skilled gunslingers and helpful healers, each Freegunner brings their own unique skills, personality, and abilities that cater to a wide-range of playstyles.
Create your own custom squads of Freegunners with Crew Builder to bring an arsenal of different role types to the match or focus on your favourite characters to master their gameplay and unlock unique modifiers, cosmetics, background lore, and more – you decide when to play your characters and how you impact the match.
PLAY. PROGRESS. PERSONALIZE.
Earn and unlock a wide range of character customization items and learn more about the characters, worlds, and factions in the Concord Galaxy with the Galactic Guide.
You’ll also be able to progress toward and unlock Freegunner Variants—versions of each of the 16 Freegunners with added Combat Trait modifiers to their base abilities. As you learn and master the characters, Combat Traits empower you to tailor each character to your playstyle.
