Summary
- Concord's failure led to the cancelation of a God of War game and other live-service projects at Sony.
- Sony is reportedly reevaluating live service games due to Concord flop.
- Live-service projects from Bluepoint Games and Bend Studio have been canceled.
It seems defunct hero shooter Concord may be to blame for two recent Sony cancelations, including a God of War game that was in development. Concord was a hero shooter by Firewalk Studios that will go down as one of the biggest flops in industry history. While the hero shooter could deliver some fun multiplayer matches, it completely failed to find an audience. Despite ambitious live-service plans for the game, Concord was shut down mere weeks after launch.
Concord's demise was followed by the closure of Firewalk Studios. While it's believed Sony will continue pursuing live-service games in the wake of Concord's cancelation, it was recently reported that two of the company's other live-service titles were canceled. Bend Studio, known for Days Gone and Syphon Filter, was reportedly working on a live-service military shooter that will no longer see the light of day, while Demon's Souls remake studio Bluepoint Games apparently had a God of War live-service project in the works.
Marvel Rivals Director Explains Why Concord Failed
Marvel Rivals game director Thaddeus Sasser believes he understands why Concord failed to attract and maintain a stable audience.
Sony has canceled both projects, and now there may be additional insight as to why it made this decision. Jeff Grubb, speaking on Jeff Grubb's Game Mess, said that these decisions were made because of Concord. "Sony is shellshocked from Concord, and now they're going around to every studio, and they are reassessing every single project," Grubb said. Grubb added that these projects were the main games that the developers were working on at the time that they were canceled.
Concord to Blame for Recent Live Service Cancelations
A live-service God of War game would have likely been met with a great deal of criticism from the community, though a live-service military shooter may have fared better. Regardless, it seems the extreme failure experienced by Concord has seen Sony rethink its plans for live-service games. That doesn't mean that the company won't have any new live-service projects - it does own Destiny studio Bungie after all - but it does seem to indicate that we will see fewer of them moving forward.
The live-service God of War game and Bend Studio's new IP are not the only casualties of Sony's live-service ventures. The Last of Us Online was canceled in 2023, and reports have indicated that Insomniac was working on a live-service Spider-Man game that has also been canned. Time will tell what kind of impact this will have on Sony's pipeline of first-party exclusive games, but it will definitely be interesting to see what the company has in store for the PS5 in the months ahead.
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.
