Concord will be shutting down on September 6, only 11 days after it’s release date. Players on the PS5 and PC will be offered full refunds for the purchase of the game, as the team responsible and Sony is going back to the drawing board to figure out what’s next.
This news broke courtesy of a PlayStation blog post posted just a few minutes ago, in which Ryan Ellis (game director at Firewalk Studios) wrote up what the future holds for the ill-fated team-based shooter.
“Concord fans — we’ve been listening closely to your feedback since the launch of Concord on PlayStation 5 and PC and want to thank everyone who has joined the journey aboard the Northstar. Your support and the passionate community that has grown around the game has meant the world to us.”
“However, 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. Therefore, at this time, 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.”
Concord’s launch did not go down well, releasing to an incredibly small number of day one players. That figure, peaking at 697 players on Steam on its release day, only continued to dwindle. As of writing its on 30, well below other games of similar budget out in the wild right now.
Whether the game goes free-to-play, is heavily reworked for a few years, or thrown away forever remains to be seen. But it’s safe to say that after 8 years of development time and millions sunk in costs, this isn’t the outcome anyone at Firewalk, Sony, or otherwise expected.
