Sony Interactive Entertainment is discontinuing its new multiplayer shooter Concord just two weeks after launch due to negative player feedback and low popularity.
Concord was eight years in the making and was expected to be the next big PlayStation hit after the successful reception of Helldivers 2. The game was released on August 23, 2024 on PlayStation 5 and PC after beta testing in July. However, Concord quickly turned into a to one of the company’s worst-received projects.
Ryan Ellis, game director at Firewalk Studios, reported on the PlayStation blog that some aspects of the game and its launch «did not meet»’s expectations. Because of this, Sony decided to stop supporting Concord.
According to the official statement, Concord servers will be shut down on September 6, 2024. The game was discontinued immediately. Players who purchased Concord from digital stores for PlayStation 5 or PC will receive a full refund. Owners of physical copies are advised to apply for a refund directly to retailers.
While exact player numbers have not been disclosed, it is known that Concord’s performance on Steam was extremely low, with only up to 700 concurrent players at the time of release. The decision to close the game and refund all purchasers indicates that the project was not successful on any platform.
Critics noted that the game has «a solid foundation, an interesting class switching feature, and impressive graphics», but at the same time «makes a terrible first impression» and «is hard to sell» in its current state. Such a drastic step to close the game and refund is unprecedented in the modern service game industry.
Source: Tech4gamers, Gamesradar
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