Concord
From Invertopedia, the encyclopedia of how things fail
Concord was a hero shooter from Sony's Firewalk Studios, sold for $39.99 on PS5 and PC from August 23, 2024[3]. Its player count on Steam peaked at 697[5][6], and analysts estimated it sold about 25,000 copies[1][6]. Sony stopped sales, refunded every buyer and took it offline on September 6, two weeks after launch[4], then closed the studio on October 29[1][3].
Contents
The bet
Sony was pushing into live-service games, and it bought Firewalk in 2023 to help grow that business[1][3]. The bet was that a polished, premium hero shooter with its own cast and world could win players in a genre led by free games such as Overwatch 2 and Apex Legends[8], and that people would pay $40 up front to get in[8].
What happened
| 2018 | Firewalk Studios is founded.[1] |
|---|---|
| 2023 | Sony buys Firewalk to help grow its live-service games.[1][3] |
| Aug 23, 2024 | Concord goes on sale for PS5 and PC at $39.99.[3][6] |
| Launch week | Concurrent players on Steam peak at 697. Analysts estimate about 25,000 copies sold in the first week.[5][6][8] |
| Sep 3, 2024 | Game director Ryan Ellis says sales stop immediately, every PS5 and PC buyer gets a full refund, and the game goes offline in three days. Fewer than 100 people are playing on Steam when the news breaks.[4][5] |
| Sep 6, 2024 | Concord goes offline.[3][4] |
| Oct 29, 2024 | PlayStation's Hermen Hulst says Concord will not return and closes Firewalk. About 172 people lose their jobs, and mobile studio Neon Koi is closed the same day.[1][3] |
| Dec 2024 | Amazon keeps a Concord episode in its animated anthology Secret Level, which premieres on Prime Video on December 10.[2][7] |
The kill shot
It was a $40 hero shooter in a genre owned by free games, and almost nobody showed up. A live-service game with no crowd has nothing left to sell.
The free rivals were already there[8]. A paid newcomer has to give people a reason to leave those games, and Concord did not. Its Steam peak of 697[5][6] was small enough that Sony pulled it within two weeks rather than try to grow it[4].
Sony's own explanation was polite but plain. Ellis wrote that parts of the game and its launch "didn't land the way we'd intended"[4], and Hulst later said some aspects were exceptional "but others did not land with enough players"[1].
Red flags ignored
- Priced against free. Overwatch 2 and Apex Legends cost nothing to try.[8]
- A crowd game with no crowd. Hero shooters need full matches, and the launch peak on Steam was under 700.[5][6]
- A long build for a crowded genre. Development reportedly ran around eight years, by one developer's account, while the genre's leaders kept shipping.[1][2]
- Mixed reviews. Metacritic scores of 62 on PS5 and 65 on PC gave no word-of-mouth lift.[1]
The cost
Every buyer got their money back, on PlayStation, Steam and Epic[4][8]. Sony has not published what Concord cost to make or how many copies it sold; the figure of about 25,000 is an outside estimate[1][6].
The human cost was the studio. Firewalk closed on October 29, 2024, with about 172 jobs lost, according to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier as reported by Push Square[3], and Sony closed Neon Koi the same day[1].
The inversion
Before you build for years, check what the free version of your idea is. If the leaders in your genre are free, either be free too or be so clearly better that people will pay to switch, and test that early with real players.
What survived
The buyers' money, refunded in full[4]. The world lived on briefly on TV: Amazon kept Concord's episode in Secret Level after the game was gone[2][7].
References
- ^ “PlayStation has closed Concord developer Firewalk”. Video Games Chronicle, October 29, 2024. The studio closure, Hulst's quotes, Neon Koi, the reported eight years in development, the 25,000 sales reports, Metacritic scores, Firewalk founded 2018 and bought in 2023.
- ^ “Concord (video game)”. Wikipedia. Cross-check on the founding year, the eight-year development claim (attributed to designer Jon Weisnewski) and the Secret Level episode, released December 17, 2024.
- ^ “PS5, PC flop Concord never returning, studio closed down”. Push Square, October 29, 2024. The August 23 launch at $39.99, the September 6 shutdown, the 2023 acquisition, the closure and about 172 job losses (citing Bloomberg).
- ^ “An important update on Concord”. PlayStation Blog (Ryan Ellis, Firewalk Studios), September 3, 2024. Sales stopped, full refunds, offline from September 6, and the "didn't land" quote.
- ^ “Concord is shutting down and all purchases will be refunded”. Shacknews, September 3, 2024. The 697 all-time Steam peak and fewer than 100 players when the news broke.
- ^ “PlayStation is shutting down Concord”. GadgetMatch, September 4, 2024. The 697 Steam peak, IGN's estimate of about 25,000 copies, and the launch date.
- ^ “Secret Level creator says Concord episode shows potential of this world”. GosuGamers, 2024. The Concord episode staying in Secret Level and the December 10, 2024 premiere.
- ^ “Sony shuts down Concord”. Lowyat.NET, September 4, 2024. The $40 price, the free rivals Overwatch 2 and Apex Legends, and refunds across stores.