Summary
Earlier this week, the games industry was rocked, asConcorddeveloper Firewalk Studios announced thatit would be taking the game offline and refunding all salesjust two weeks after launch. It’s an unprecedented move for a live service title, and an indicator as tojust how woeful the game’s sales were on both PC and PlayStation.
At the time, it was announced that Concord would be shut down on September 6, and that day has finally arrived.In one last post on the official Concord Twitter account, fans were made aware that Concord’s servers have now been taken offline and the game is now unplayable for existing owners.
Firewalk has also used the opportunity to thank “all the Freegunners who have joined us in the Concord galaxy.” No further information was shared about the game, such as whether it will be back at any point or how it will look when it does return, but Firewalk will probably still need to think long and hard about what’s best for the studio going forward.
Is Concord Coming Back Online?
Concord’s potential return is a bit of a mystery at the moment, as Firewalk has explained that it will now “determine the best path ahead.” It feels like the game is being shut down for a considerable amount of time,to then be brought back as a free to play experienceonce the embarrassment subsides a little, though I don’t think anyone would be that shocked if Sony decides to just scrap the entire thing and call it a bad experiment.
We also don’t know what kind of impact this will have on Firewalk Studios itself. We know how large video game budgets have grown these days, and shutting down a game that took close to a decade to make after just two weeks on the market will be financially devastating. You have to assume that layoffs are cominggiven the state of the industry, so all we can do right now is cross our fingers and hope they’re not too severe.
Concord
WHERE TO PLAY
Concord is an upcoming FPS from Firewalk Studios, part of the PlayStation Studios family. A PvP multiplayer title, it is slated for launch on both PS5 and PC in 2024.
