Concord
was
a
disaster
for
PlayStation,
I
think
we
can
all
agree.
It’s
launched
was
greeted
with
apathy
and
a
remarkably
small
amount
of
players,
and

just
a
week
later
PlayStation
removed
it
from
sale
entirely
and
refunded
everyone
who
had
bought
it.

Now,

amidst
reports
that
the
game’s
director
is
stepping
down
and
the
studio
is
in
“limbo”,
some
new
information
has
surfaced
which
paints
Concord
in
an
even
worse
light.

The
news
comes
via
Colin
Moriarty
of
Sacred
Symbols
who
posted
a

9
minute
long
clip
from
the
latest
episode
of
Sacred
Symbols
on
his
X
account.
Moriarty
previously
worked
as
a
journalist
at
IGN
and
broke
numerous
stories
during
his
time
there,
but
these
days
typically
doesn’t
break
stories
unless
someone
actively
contacts
him
with
information,
which
is
the
case
here.

According
to
Colin,
someone
from
worked
on
Concord
contacted
him
to
share
inside
information.
Colin
claims
to
have
verified
who
he
was,
his
position
and
apparently
talked
to
him
extensively.
Toward
the
end
of
the
clip
he
describes
the
source
as
being
“totally
solid”
which
is
why
he
feels
confident
in
presenting
the
information
given
to
him.

Colin
says
that,
“the
reason
I
wanted
to
talk
about
it
is
because
some
of
the
assumptions
that
I
had
made
about
the
game
were
dead
wrong,
as
far
as
how
much
it
cost
and
how
much
Sony
really
lost
on
it.”

“So
the
big
thing
you
really
need
to
know
here
about
this
”
said
Colin
on
the
latest
episode
of
Sacred
Symbols,
“is
that
Concord
cost
about
$400
million
to
make.”

Toward
the
end
of
the
clip,
Colin
confirms
that
this
massive
figure
does
not
include
the
cost
to
actually
buy
the
studio.

“In
the
first
quarter
of
2023
Concord
had
basically
entered
into
Alpha
state.
This
was
before
Sony
had
even
purchased
the
team,
but
Sony
had
been
working
with
ProbablyMonsters-
the
original
owners
of
Firewalk
–
and
Firewalk
probably
since
late
2020,
early
2021
at
the
latest
on
Concord.”
Colin
explains,
before
saying
that
by
this
point
around
$200m
had
been
spent
on
the
game.

“It’s
unclear
how
much
of
that
money
is
from
ProbablyMonsters
and
the
original
investors,
and
how
much
of
that
money
is
from
Sony.”
said
Colin.

However,
from
Q1
to
launch,
Colin’s
source
claims
Sony
spent
another
$200m
on
the
game,
bringing
us
to
that
mind-boggling
$400m
figure.

“The
scuttlebutt
behind
the
scenes
about
Concord
is
that
the
game
was
in
a
laughable
shape
when
it
was
shown.”
said
Colin.

“It
was
in
such
horrible
shape
that
Sony
felt
like
they
needed
to
spend
that
much
money
again
–
so
$200
million
plus
$200
million
–
to
get
the
game
to
the
MVP
status,
not
to
the
status
of
it
being
a
great
game,
to
get
it
to
just
viability.”

The
MVP
status
to
which
Colin
refers
stands
for
Minimum
Viable
Product,
a
term
used
in
business
to
describe
the
point
at
which
a
product
reaches
the
minimum
at
which
the
developers
would
be
comfortable
selling
it.

Colin
goes
on
to
say
that
a
lot
of
the
extra
$200m
came
from
having
to
outsource
work
to
other
studios
to
finish
the
game.
This
includes
two
aspects
of
the
game
that
simply
weren’t
worked
on
prior
to
it
being
shown
in
its
Alpha
state:
Onboarding,
and
monetization.

Based
on
what
he
knows,
Colin
says
he
thinks
Concord
is
Sony’s
most
expensive
game
to
date.
Of
course,
that’s
based
purely
on
the
$400
development
budget,
of
which
Sony’s
portion
is
unknown.
Colin
points
out
that
we
know
The
Last
of
Us
Part
2
cost
around
$220
million
and
briefly
mentions
that
Spider-Man
3
is
speculated
to
be
a
very
expensive
game
at
about
$350
million.

For
context,
Marvel’s
Spider-Man
2
had
a
budget
of
about
$315
million.

Based
on
those
numbers,
Concord
would
indeed
technically
be
Sony’s
most
expensive
game
to
date.

“The
question
is
why,
why
did
this
happen?”
Colin
said
on
the
podcast.
“This
game
was
heavily
championed
behind
the
scenes.

Colin
continues
by
explaining
that
the
story
is
odd
because
the
game
was
presented
in
Q1
2023
as
being
nowhere
near
done
and
“in
a
horrible
position”
and
yet
that’s
when
Sony
decided
to
buy
the
studio.

“The
idea
behind
this,
and
the
term,
apparently
verbatim,
had
been
used
that
‘Concord
is
the
future
of
PlayStation.”
says
Colin.

“They
had
such
major
ambition
for
this
game
that
it
was
referred
to
internally
as
a
Star
Wars-like
project
for
Sony,
that
it
can
be
repeatedly
revisited
over
and
over
and
over
again,
not
only
in
cross-media
but
in
what
we
were
seeing.
We’ve
already
kinda
seen
little
bits
of
it,
so
the
weekly
story
vignettes
they
were
going
to
release.
And
then,
of
course,
the
inclusion
in
Amazon’s
Secret
Levels
anthology.
That’s
just,
like,
scratching
the
surface
of
it.”

“…there
was
a
toxic
positivity
vibe.
You
weren’t
allowed
to
say
anything,
apparently,
internally
about
this
game,
about
how,
like,
something
is
wrong
with
it,
character
designs
aren’t
right
and
so
on
and
so
forth.
This
was
Herman
Hulst’s
baby,
apparently,
and
he
himself
internally
was
a
massive
champion
of
the
game.”

Colin
closes
the
clip
by
commenting
that
Concord
is
Sony’s
most
expensive
game
to
date,
and
the
company’s
biggest
flop.

 “I
was
saying
it
cost
nine
figures
probably,
like
low
$100
million.
But
I
thought
there’s
no
way
it
cost
$200
million.
Actually,
it
cost
$400
million
–
and
that
doesn’t
even
include
the
price
of
acquiring
the
team!”
exclaimed
Colin.

As
with
any
anonymous
source
this
information
must
be
taken
with
a
pinch
of
salt,
although
I
will
say
Colin
Moriarty
is
usually
good
at
vetting
his
sources
and
ensuring
they
are,
at
least,
legit.
Of
course,
anything
they
say
can
still
be
complete
bollox.

But
the
information
Colin
has
garnered
has
been
backed
up
by
someone
else.

Kotaku’s Ethan
Gach
tweeted
out
that
“I
can
corroborate
the
part
about
toxic
positivity.
Some
sources
I’ve
spoken
with
blamed
a
head
in
the
sand
mentality
carried
over
from
the
studio’s
Bungie
roots.”

Gach
says
he’ll
have
more
information
next
week.