PlayStation’s new 5v5 hero shooter Concord was released just one week ago today. It has quickly become one of the worst high-profile flops in recent memory. Even distant memory, when you look at these numbers just seven days after launch.
On Steam, Concord debuted with under 700 players, and it has not even retained those, now peaking at under 200 players a night. That may pick up over the weekend, but these are fractional figures of where a game like this needs to be. It is currently slipping below the concurrent playercount of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League on occasion.
There is a constant refrain that the game is doing better on PlayStation, and while that is likely true, there is no indication it is doing well there either, overall. Again, after a single week of release, the $40 Concord is 56th in sales according to PlayStation’s own charts. I’m not sure I saw it get above the mid 30s at launch.
Low sales and players are a problem, but again, retention is poor and word of mouth is non-existent. What happened at release is what happened in the public beta where interest in the game dropped consistently after launch. Now, it’s dropped for seven days straight.
We have no firm answers on what happens to Concord from here. It seems unlikely it can or will simply stop development, given that a good amount of seasonal content is already in production. No doubt there will be patches with attempted improvements made, but it’s hard to imagine what might move the needle. The obvious theory is that the $40 game will go free-to-play, but it seems impossible that will make a meaningful difference at this level of players.
This is not meant to be a “pile-on” as some claim every time Concord’s status is reported, but it does raise significant questions about Sony’s live service strategy going forward. Helldivers 2 was an unexpected hit, Concord is one of the biggest flops we’ve ever seen. How was this sheparded through production and greenlit for release when other games like The Last of Us Factions were cancelled? How will other games avoid this same fate? No doubt there are many such discussions going on at Sony right now.
This not a Cyberpunk 2077/No Man’s Sky redemption situation. It’s just not possible with this level of players. The best it can hope to be now is a cautionary tale.
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