Firewalk Studios’ hero shooter Concord, which launched on PlayStation 5 and Home windows PC on Aug. 23, will be pulled from sale on Tuesday and brought offline later this week within the wake of its disastrous launch, Sony introduced on its PlayStation blog. Gamers who bought Concord will be refunded, the studio stated, because it “explore[s] options” for the sport, and “determine[s] the best path ahead.”
Ryan Ellis, sport director at Firewalk Studios, introduced Concord’s destiny in a message to gamers, writing that “aspects of the game and our initial launch didn’t land the way we’d intended.”
“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,” Ellis wrote. “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.”
Refunds will be issued to the unique cost strategies for gamers on PS5, whether or not the sport was bought within the PlayStation Retailer or through PlayStation Direct, in addition to gamers who purchased the sport on PC.
Sony and Firewalk launched Concord to tepid response final month; the sport drew unfavorable protection for its shockingly low concurrent participant numbers on Steam, the place lower than 700 individuals have been taking part in the sport throughout launch weekend. Those numbers fell further within the weeks after launch, in keeping with SteamDB. On Tuesday, about 30 individuals have been taking part in Concord concurrently, a dire indicator of the sport’s well being. A latest report from IGN stated that an estimate of 25,000 copies of the sport have been offered since launch.
The sport’s poor reception was signaled properly earlier than launch, nevertheless. Concord’s twin multiplayer beta checks have been additionally sparsely populated, and there was a downturn in players from one beta weekend to the subsequent.
Concord acquired mixed reviews from critics who lamented the sport’s lack of standout options, its $40 price ticket in a sea of free-to-play rivals, and its bland forged of characters. Concord let gamers take management of 16 Freegunners — a various group of aliens, robots, and area mercenaries — every with their very own particular skills, in 5v5 multiplayer matches. The sport was the debut title from Firewalk, which was acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2023.
Sony and Firewalk’s choice to drag Concord is shocking and weird, however not unprecedented. Sony pulled CD Projekt Purple’s Cyberpunk 2077 from the PlayStation Retailer in 2020 over high quality points with the sport, which returned to sale about six months later. Multiversus developer Participant First Video games additionally pulled its platform fighter from sale for a few yr because it retooled the sport.
One possibility for Concord is for Sony and Firewalk to retool the sport to be free to play, or as an ongoing PlayStation Plus catalog title. Concord was not constructed with free-to-play mechanics in thoughts, although. The sport didn’t function a battle cross or different microtransactions at launch, and as an alternative promised free updates to those that bought the sport.
