After an estimated eight years in development, Sony’s latest big PlayStation 5 and PC game, Concord, launches on August 23rd. However, despite the game being generally well-received by fans and critics, it didn’t appear to be a huge hit upon release.
On Steam, Concord peaked at 697 concurrent users on launch day, August 23, and has been declining ever since. The number of PlayStation 5 players is not disclosed, but Tweaktown found that Concord is currently ranked 50th on the PlayStation Store’s PS5 best-selling list.
Concord’s special edition DualSense 5 controller is still available for purchase, while some of Sony’s previously released controllers themed to new games have sold out quickly. However, there could be any number of reasons why one controller is sold out and another isn’t, and the fact that Concord’s controller isn’t sold out doesn’t necessarily speak to the game’s popularity.
On launch day, some of Sony’s other in-house PlayStation studios gathered around Concord and released statements praising the game and creating custom art for Concord. Sony’s Insomniac (Spider-Man) and Bend (Days Gone) studios are live-streaming the game on Twitch to drum up interest in the game.
Some expected Concord to be a free-to-play game, but it has a paid version that costs $40. It’s a live-service game with multiple seasons planned, but it won’t offer a battle pass or microtransactions when it launches in 2024, an unusual move for 2024
The hero shooter hasn’t had a long release cycle, with Concord launching at the end of May and launching roughly three months later.
“Concord” is developed by Sony’s Firewalk Studios and is the developer’s first game. According to lead designer Joe Weisnewski, the product took more than 8 years to develop. “Concord is full of humanity and depth. I really hope people give it a try. We’re very proud of the game and we’re ready to roll it out over the next few years,” the developer said.
Sony had planned to release 10 live games by 2026, but later cut that number in half as the company developed a plan to focus on quality over quantity. Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Online, once described as the developer’s most ambitious game ever, has been canceled
According to reports, one of the last big decisions made by former PlayStation boss Jim Ryan was to ask the PlayStation team to make more games-as-a-service games. Many PlayStation developers are said to be upset about this, and the blame apparently falls on industry veteran Connie Booth. A 30-year veteran, Booth left PlayStation in October 2023 without revealing the reason for her departure. Some believe she was fired. Booth is now a senior executive at Electronic Arts.
Looking ahead, Concord Season 1: Tempest will launch in October – adding new characters, new maps, new variants, and additional cosmetics and rewards. It also introduces a new season of weekly movie vignettes that will further flesh out the storyline. Season 2 is expected to air in January, and season 3 is expected to air in April.