Concord Will Shut Down September 6th, All Copies Sold Will Be Refunded

Concord, the hero shooter launched by Sony on PC and PS5 just a week and half ago will shut down this week, with all copies sold being refunded, according to a new PlayStation blog post.

Concord, which was developed by Firewalk Studios over the course of the last eight years, struggled to attract fans when it launched on PC and PS5 back on August 23rd. Yet, even during its early access launch that previous weekend, the game, at least on PC, really did not have the traction that the studio was likely hoping for. 

Despite reportedly solid mechanics, the world, characters, and style just didn't gel with players. Couple this with the fact that it was being sold at a premium in a genre where all of its main rivals, such as Overwatch 2 and Valorant, were free-to-play, it made it hard to justify the price tag for many. This was compounded even more as Valve's super-not-so-secret MOBA-Hero Shooter hybrid, Deadlock, officially announced itself and held a test weekend that saw almost 90K concurrent players. Contrast that with Concord's paltry peak of just under 700 players on PC over that same weekend, and the writing was on the wall. It's unclear how many players jumped in on PlayStation, but you can make the inference that it just wasn't enough to ride the wave if Sony is pulling the game this soon after its launch.

After thanking those who did jump into the action for joining them on the journey, Firewalk Studios' Ryan Ellis went on to explain that the game will be pulled from digital shelves and pulled offline at the end of the week.

"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."

Crucially the wording of the statement leaves open the chance for Concord to return in some fashion. However, while the team figures out whether they can salvage the nearly decade spent in development, PlayStation and other retailers will be refunding the title to anyone who bought it - even if you nabbed a physical copy from your local game store.

It'll be interesting to see where things go from here for Concord. If the team decides to keep at it and incorporate the legitimate feedback offered, there might be something to salvage. However, it would also be unsurprising if Sony decides to cut its losses and move on from here.