You most likely have not heard of the video game Concord, and if you have, you have probably heard about its failure. Only two weeks after launching cross-platform, the first-person shooter (FPS) game was shut down and pulled from shelves. Why did the game fail, and what does the shut down mean for the future of the video game industry?
Sam Snyder, a freshman studying business undecided, is on the Varsity Valorant team for the Esports Club at Ohio University. Snyder had not heard of Concord, or its shutdown, until the interview.
“To be honest, I don't really know much about the game,” Snyder said. “I heard it was taken off the PlayStation App Store and I'm not really sure why.”
Concord was a 5v5 FPS game developed by Sony over eight years. As an online game, players could hop on whenever to play with friends or connect with other players worldwide.
The game was released on August 23 to an unremarkable audience. Less than 25,000 units of the game were estimated to have been sold, and the number of concurrent players on Steam stayed under 1,000. Only two weeks later, on Sept. 6, Sony shut down the game’s servers and refunded all of the copies sold.
When it was announced Concord’s servers were shutting down, there was initial confusion from the gaming community. Like Snyder, many had not heard of the FPS game until its shutdown. Those that had, sought out answers as to why the game had failed.
“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,” said Ryan Ellis, game director for Firewalk Studios, in a letter to players. “At this time, we have decided to take the game offline beginning Sept. 6, 2024, and explore options, including those that will better reach our players.”
On first glance, it is shocking Concord did not resonate with the gaming community. Many of its most notable traits are familiar to fans of popular FPS games such as “Fortnite” and “Valorant,” including its live service aspect.
Live service means games are constantly updated with new content. Sometimes these updates are free, while other times players can spend money to access the content. Microtransactions like these are heavily debated in the gaming community, but Snyder sees the benefits.
“I am kind of a big spender when it comes to the little perks in microtransactions and games because it just adds to the entertainment aspect,” Snyder said. “It is pretty cool, and I'm all for it.”
Despite having more content planned down the road, Concord failed to hit the same mark as other live service games. According to an IGN review, part of the problem was the lack of “both innovation and content at launch.”
“The video game industry right now is kind of in the weird spot,” Snyder said. “We're just waiting. We’re in a lull where not many great games are coming out.”
For years, charts have been topped by popular FPS games. The genre’s reign over the gaming industry makes it difficult for new games to break through.
“It’s very competitive and it's hard when there are games that have existed for several years,” Snyder said. “The advertising of those games is crazy. The fact that I did not hear anything about ‘Concord’ until a couple days ago, it must not have been well advertised. Advertising is everything.”
Concord’s retail promotion and marketing were incredibly limited. According to an IGN interview with Circana analyst Mat Piscatella, the game was unable to build momentum in the market.
Though the game leaned heavily into its outer space theme, there was a lack of unique features to differentiate the game from others and make it stand out, a possible reason marketing fell short with consumers.
“Anthem was another game that was too similar to other shooters, and lost its voice,” Snyder said. “You’ve got to add something unique.”
Concord’s unprecedented launch and subsequent shutdown is a bombshell for the video game industry. The lack of content and poor marketing drew in only a small audience, but the game’s generic premise and failure to differentiate itself led to its shutdown.
Players were looking for something unique. However, “Concord” was unable to quench that thirst.
