Concord servers going offline two weeks after launch

Well…that was quick. Firewalk Studios Game Director Ryan Ellis published a post on the official PlayStation Blog revealing that team-based FPS Concord will be going offline on Friday. If this seems pretty soon to you, well, that’s because it is. Friday marks exactly two weeks since the Overwatch-inspired shooter was released. I don’t think a game has ever been pulled this fast, especially a first-party-published one like Concord. The closure will happen on both the PS5 and PC servers on September 6, 2024.

Maybe not goodbye, maybe see you later?

According to the post, the team has been following feedback since the launch way back on August 23, 2024 and in the 1.5 weeks since have gathered enough feedback to make the decision to take Concord offline. At that time, the fate of Concord will be determined as the team explores options, “including those that will better reach our players.”

Even though it sounds like it may not be the permanent end for Concord, it’s hard to imagine it’s not. Official numbers for development costs on Concord haven’t been released but even with a conservative estimate, there’s no way the game is anywhere close to profitable. We’re likely talking tens of millions in losses, if not more. So it’s unlikely Sony will want to throw more money at the game to get it in a state where without some sort of miracle it’s not likely that it will reach the player numbers required to make it worthwhile.

The good news, however, is that fans who took a chance and purchased Concord will be refunded. Players who purchased on the PS5 via the PlayStation Store of PlayStation Direct will automatically be refunded to their original payment method, while those on Steam or Epic will be refunded over the coming days. Once the refund is completed, the player will no longer have access to playing Concord.

A rough start

Is it really that difficult to understand why Concord is receiving the fate that it is, though? As a PlayStation 5-first title, the console probably has more players than the PC version. However, taking a look at the Steam player count Charts can still give us somewhat of a picture of player numbers, and, well, it’s not good. After launching at peak of 660 players, Concord has essentially yo-yo’d between about 50-150 players concurrently on Steam each day.

If we’re being realistic, there’s no way that 100 players can justify the server costs with a game that is always online. In fact, even the peak of 660 probably wasn’t enough. I never even got the chance to play Concord. I honestly wanted to, but I thought I had longer than two weeks to give it a shot. But outside of a few loyal players that really seemed to enjoy its gameplay and character design, most early feedback indicated that it wasn’t necessarily bad, it just wasn’t anything special, either.

Maybe we just all need to stop playing live service games. They clearly aren’t working out, for the player or for the developer. And it’s not for a lack of trying. We’ve tried, tried, tried, tried, and tried again. What’s the definition of insanity? It’s not a great time when choosing which game you want to try out is akin to choosing a new Netflix show to watch. It just might be canceled before you even finish it.