PlayStation's decision to kill Concord prompts industry sympathy

After PlayStation and Firewalk made the decision to pull Concord from sale two weeks after the hero-shooter made its debut, industry members have started to share their sympathies with the team involved.

Gears of War's Cliff "CliffyB" Bleszinski shared a short post on social media, reading: "Concord, I feel your pain."

Bleszinski previously set up Boss Key Productions, a now defunct studio, which released its own hero shooter, LawBreakers. Despite a big pre-release push by publisher Nexon, LawBreakers flopped, with its Steam concurrent player count peaking at 7482 in June 2017 when it launched via open beta.

In a follow up reply, Bleszinski noted his team had worked on LawBreakers for three years prior to its release. Concord had reportedly been in development for eight.

Former Destiny 2 community manager Liana Ruppert said Concord has her "support" following yesterday's shutdown announcement.

"No Man's Sky, Elder Scrolls Online, Rainbow Six Siege: there are so many games that have proven that this doesn’t mean the end," Ruppert wrote. "With the right moves/the right support, we could see Concord come back in a massive way that’s a win for players and the devs."

Tango Gameworks creative director John Johanas shared a similar sentiment.

"I feel terrible for everyone who worked hard to put this out," Johanas posted on X. "Also it was the first PvP game in a long time that resonated with me and I was having a huge amount of fun with so this stings even more.

"I hope it finds a way to come back."

Thomas Puha from Alan Wake 2 studio Remedy also posted following Concord's news. "Everybody working on Concord, hang in there," Puha wrote.

In a second post, Puha said he was often asked about sales (it has been estimated Concord only sold around 25,000 copies across PS5 and PC). "I sometimes get asked about selling games and I always say it’s really difficult these days. Something like 60 million PS5’s sold and Concord struggles to sell (I don’t know the numbers) as many others have," he wrote.

"Even selling half a million units these days is a challenge. Then you get megahits like Elden Ring and no one is quite sure how it did as well as it did. That game deserved it and it’s encouraging that hardcore games like that and [Baldur's Gate 3] do so well."

"Don't want to retweet any clickbait or attract trolls, so I'll just say my heart goes out to everyone at Firewalk Studios regarding today's news," former Naughty Dog writer Josh Scherr wrote last night.

"Fuck."

Lastly, Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad has shared his thoughts.

"The comments around Concord from right-wing gamers shows the power of collective self-deception," Ahmad wrote, following claims from some that Concord's muted launch was impacted by so-called 'wokeness'. "If you say delusional stuff about DEI enough times and build a conspiracy focused narrative, they start seeing that false narrative everywhere

"I guess we have to live with this now."

Concord is set to go offline indefinitely this Friday.

Writing about the "kind and earnest" Concord last month, Eurogamer's Chris Tapsell said: "Out of the trenches of development and into no man's land it goes, clutching its weapon and its special ability, hoping for the best and bracing for what is, probably, the inevitable, while the forever war for our attention rumbles on."