Concord

About

Concord is a 2024 first-person hero shooter game developed by Firewalk Studios and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The game was released for PlayStation 5 and Windows in late August 2024, receiving mixed reviews from critics and audiences, who criticized the oversaturation of the genre and the lack of player base upon launch. The game became the subject of viral discussions and numerous memes, typically mocking in nature, with comparisons being made to Lord of the Rings: Gollum in terms of the active player base and ratings upon release.

History

Concord was the first game developed by the up-and-coming Firewalk Studios.^[1] The game's production started in early 2018 and was first announced on May 24th at a 2023 PlayStation Showcase. It was initially being co-developed with its parent company ProbablyMonsters before Sony bought them in April 2023. The trailer^[2] (seen below) amassed more than 299,000 views and 3,500 likes in a year.

The game was released on August 23rd, 2024, with a launch trailer being uploaded to the official PlayStation YouTube channel that same day, receiving over 152,000 views 2,300 comments and 1,700 likes vs. 19,000 dislikes (according to an estimate by the Return YouTube Dislike extension) in four days (seen below).

Reception

The game received mixed reviews from critics and overwhelmingly negative reviews by players upon launch in late August 2024, receiving an average critic score of 66 based on 15 reviewers on Metacritc^[3] as of August 26th, 2024.

Concord failed to amass a significant player base in the days following its release, peaking at 697 concurrent players on Steam on launch day according to Forbes.^[4]

Many players criticized its unappealing character designs and lack of originality to set it apart from other hero shooters before. For example, on August 26th, 2024, X^[5] user @TheUpbringer tweeted, "This is a huge game that spent a decade in the oven and the end result is characters that look like this." The post (seen below) amassed over 1,100 likes and 130 reposts in one day.

Online Presence

Concord's poor launch results led to viral discourse online, with many users comparing it to Lord of the Rings: Gollum in terms of active player base on Steam, among other similarities.

For example, on August 24th, 2024, X^[6] user and Forbes contributor Paul Tassi (@PaulTassi) commented on the game's poor initial sales, writing, "The surprise is the degree, where it’s underperforming the Gollum game. These are unprecedented numbers for a game with this much investment." The post (seen below) received roughly 2,900 likes and 100 reposts in three days.

Some rumors were spread on X that Sony Studios developers were being forced to play Concord to promote the game. For example, on August 23rd, 2024, X^[7] user @TheeMockingjqy posted a reaction video paired with the caption "Sony studios devs when Sony forces them to play #Concord to make it seem like there's a player base for it." The post (seen below) amassed more than 2,600 likes and 250 reposts in four days.

Speculation as to why Concord had such a poor launch was widely discussed online in late August 2024, with many factors suggested by users including the oversaturation of the genre^[12] and its live service model,^[13] the alleged eight-year development cycle due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and studio problems outside their control, the price tag of $40 when most hero shooters are free-to-play, and the fact that it (alongside another flopped game released in August, Dustborn) was purportedly marketed poorly but also both overshadowed by Black Myth: Wukong, a highly successful game around the same timeframe.

On July 23rd, 2024, a month before the game's release, someone claiming to be an anonymous whistleblower did an interview with video game reviewer and critic Smash JT (who commonly critiques what he perceives as wokeness in the gaming industry), purportedly revealing what they said was a toxic work environment at Firewalk Studios, which they claimed contributed to Concord's unsuccessful launch.^[10]

In it, the supposed whistleblower said the lead developer of Concord wanted to force developers at the studio to refer to them as "the professor" after recently coming out as non-binary, as well as making contentious decisions, such as firing unvaccinated staff, pushing controversial politics and making cheesy phrasings during meetings, which was seen by staff members as unprofessional.^[11] It is unconfirmed, however, if the claims made by the purported whistleblower are accurate.

Developer Tweets Controversy

In the days following the game's release, a purported Concord developer who goes by the X handle of @anim_xander made a series of now-deleted tweets criticizing players for mocking the game by calling them "talentless freaks." On August 26th, 2024, X^[8] user @FujishiroOtoneR posted a screenshot of one of @anim_xander's deleted tweets (seen below), which amassed roughly 10 likes in a day.

The supposed developer received backlash and criticism for their tweets in the following days, as X^[9] user @Spike26983224 tweeted on August 25th, writing, "I'd rather be talentless than to rather have a talent such as yours wasted on 8 years of development for absolutely nothing." The post amassed roughly 60 likes in two days (seen below).

Concord Shutdown

On September 3rd, 2024, 11 days after it launched, Sony^[14] announced that Concord would be removed from sale and shut off the game's servers on September 6th after failing to generate many players among other criticisms, as well as offering players refunds for purchasing the physical copy of the game.

Concord Suicide Meta

After Concord's shutdown was announced on September 3rd, 2024, the few players remaining started a "team suicide" meta in which teammates compete on how fast a squad can commit suicide after a match starts. X^[15] user @GenePark posted a video (seen below) showing the meta, amassing more than 137,000 views and 3,300 likes in a day.

External References