Following poor sales and a drastically low player count, live-service PS5 multiplayer hero shooter Concord is being taken offline just two weeks after its full launch.
The news was confirmed by Concord game director Ryan Ellis via an official PlayStation Blog post. Ellis confirms that the game will be taken offline on September 6, 2024. That gives you just three days, at the time of writing, to squeeze in some play time if you happen to own the game.
In the post, Ellis writes: “We have decided to take the game offline beginning September 6, 2024, and explore options, including those that will better reach our players.
“While we determine the best path ahead, Concord sales will cease immediately and we will begin to offer a full refund for all gamers who have purchased the game for PS5 or PC. If you purchased the game for PlayStation 5 from the PlayStation Store or PlayStation Direct, a refund will be issued back to your original payment method.”
The post goes on to detail how players who purchased Concord on PC via Steam or the Epic Games Store can obtain their own refunds, as well as those who bought the game through various other retailers.
It’s nothing short of disastrous news for Sony Interactive Entertainment, the game’s publisher, and its plans to produce more live-service games, as well as Concord developer Firewalk Studios, naturally. The game, which the developer confirmed took a frankly absurd eight years to make. The team had also stated it was “strapped in and ready to push [the game] for years to come.”
While Concord’s budget and sales numbers remain unconfirmed, a report by Forbes’ Paul Tassi suggests the game had made approximately $1 million, selling an abysmal 25,000 copies. With Tassi also stating that budget estimates are “around the $100 million mark,” that’s a pretty tragic return on investment.
It remains to be seen as to whether or not Concord will make a comeback; the wording of the PlayStation Blog post, particularly the desire to “explore options,” implies there may be a future for the game yet. However, given its Steam all-time peak concurrent player count of 697 (according to SteamDB), it seems like Concord and its players don’t have much of a future to look forward to.
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