In a completely new round of speculations, it’s rumored that Concord is still continuing to be updated on Steam, with Sony updating Concord’s game files via Steam’s back-end, leading to rumors swirling that Concord will be making a return. Concord will go down in PlayStation’s history, but not in a positive light like they were hoping. Instead, the game completely flopped and was removed from the store within weeks, and refunds were given to all who purchased the title. The rumor comes from Reddit, which shows the exact files that have been changed in the SteamDB for Concord, with the files being updated on October 8. Multiple industry professionals have commented on the Concord debacle, with many saying that going F2P is the only thing that could possibly save this game. However, there are also professionals who say that Concord is just completely dead in the water, with no chance of redemption.
Considering that Concord was a huge project for Sony, reportedly sinking millions of dollars into Concord, it makes sense that they would try their hardest to redeem this game, even if it seems that the general gaming audience also doesn’t care much about whether it ends up saved or not. To be able to salvage a game as big as Concord, Sony would have to invest more money into the project, which, after how the game performed, is just not an option at this point.
In a genre that is already heavily saturated, it makes sense that a premium hero shooter didn’t quite hit the mark. When games like Overwatch, Apex Legends, and Valorant exist, there are already plenty of options on the market for players, which begs the question of why would anyone pay for a premium hero shooter when there are free ones that could perform better and are more accessible for a larger audience?
It remains to be seen if Concord will resurface as a free-to-play hero shooter in an attempt to scrape together some of the money that they funneled into the project, but it’s uncertain territory right now, especially for Firewalk Studios, who were the developers of the game. It’s said that they are bracing for mass layoffs, as Firewalk is one of the more expensive studios owned by Sony. Already, the Game Director of Concord has stepped down, so it’s possible that more are to follow. With how badly the launch of Concord went, some of the team are even expecting Firewalk to be closed down entirely.
If it goes free to play on Steam and PlayStation, it may just save the game by the skin of its teeth, but no one knows for sure.
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