Firewalk Studios
Concord is being shut down 2 weeks after launch after it “didn’t land the way we’d intended”
After an extremely flimsy release, Firewalk Studios and Sony are pulling Concord offline and issuing refunds to every player who bought the game.
Sony and Firewalk Studios have just announced that Concord, their newly released 5v5 hero shooter that was set to become a long-lived narrative-backed live service game, is being pulled offline only two weeks after its release on PS5 and PC.
The announcement was made through the official PlayStation Blog, where the Game Director of Firewalk Studios, Ryan Ellis, shared a message detailing the situation. While no details are being given in full, the gist of the matter is that the launch of the title “didn’t land the way we’d intended.” You can find the message in full below.
“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.”
You can find more details about how refunds will happen in the full post, but basically, everyone who purchased the game is entitled to get all of their money back, even if they did so through a physical retailer. But the point still stands in that the game will no longer be available to play for anyone.
Will the studio try to rework it into a free-to-play version of itself? Perhaps salvage their work and transform it into another kind of game, like a single-player or co-op campaign based title? There is currently no way of knowing just what will happen to Concord in the future, but we hope that the people who worked on it are able to do something with the huge potential they have in their hands. It may not have been a successful hero shooter, but it’s clear that there was passion behind the game, and what was there was of high quality.
Follow MeriStation USA on X (formerly known as Twitter). Your video game and entertainment website for all the news, updates, and breaking news from the world of video games, movies, series, manga, and anime. Previews, reviews, interviews, trailers, gameplay, podcasts and more. Follow us now!