Sony’s
latest
first-party
title
Concord
is
facing
a
very
rough
start,
at
least
on
PC,
failing
to
draw
in
even
a
thousand
concurrent
players
on
launch
day.

Usually
the
day
of
release
for
a
game
is
typically
it’s
biggest
day
in
terms
of
players,
so
for
developer
Firewalk
and
publisher
Sony
it
must
be
at
least
a
tad
concerning
that
Concord
is
posting
very
low
numbers.

According
to
SteamDB,
Concord
managed
to
hit
a
peak
concurrent
player
count
of
just
697
players.

That’s
considerably
lower
than
the

game’s
own
betas
managed
just
weeks
ago.
In
fact,
to
provide
some
perspective,
even
Redfall,
which
was
considered
a
huge
flop,
drew
in
over
6,000
players
on
its
release
last
year.
And
that’s
while
it
was
available
on
Game
Pass,
giving
people
even
less
reason
to
pay
full
price
on
Steam.
Redfall
was
also
much
cheaper
than
Concord
which
is
selling
for
£34.99.

It’s
also
a
far
cry
from
the
huge
success
that
Sony’s
other
live-service
game
from
earlier
this
year
managed.

Helldivers
2
became
a
huge
success
for
the
company,
and
is
still
drawing
in
20-30k
concurrent
players
every
day.

Of
course,
these
numbers
don’t
take
into
account
how
many
people
are
playing
on
PS5.
There
could
be
many
thousands
enjoying
it
on
Sony’s
machine,
but
generally
speaking
I
think
the
Steam
numbers
are
a
decent
indicator
that
Concord
isn’t
doing
well.

That’s
a
major
problem
because
it
seems
like
Concord
has
been
in
development
for
a
very
long
time.

A
few
days
ago
lead
character
designer
Jon
Weisnewski
revealed
that
Concord
has
actually
been
in
development
for
a
whopping
8
years.
Of
those
8
year,
Weisnewski
has
been
working
on
the
game
for
5.

Now,
to
be
fair,
that
could
mean
a
few
things.
The
game
could
have
been
in
the
conceptual
stage
for
quite
a
few
years
before
it
ever
entered
full-blown
development.
Or
his
statement
can
be
taken
at
face-value
and
Concord
really
has
been
worked
on
for
8
years.

It
makes
sense
when
you
think
about
it.
The
game
has
drawn
comparisons
to
the
likes
of
Overwatch
and
Marvel’s
Guardians
of
the
Galaxy,
both
of
which
were
very
successful
at
the
time
of
Concord’s
inception.

Critically,
though,
it’s
performing
okay.
Keeping
in
mind
only
a
few
reviews
have
filtered
out,
mostly
due
to
code
going
out
late
and
outlets
wanting
to
test
real-world
performance,

the
Metacritic
score
is
sitting
at
68.

The
game’s
Steam
reviews
are
also
currently
“Mostly
positive”
based
on
a
few
hundred
people
rating
it.

Criticism
brings
us
to
@anim_xander,
a
former
animator
at
Firewalk
who
handled
first-person
animation
for
several
of
the
game’s
Freegunners,
specifically
Daw,
Duchess
and
Kyps.
Talking
to
another
user
on
X
who
stated
that
they
were
sorry
Concord
was
@anim_xander’s
first
game
due
to
the
low
player
count,
@anim_zander
replied,
“eh,
i
don’t
really
care.
it
was
a
huge
labour
from
a
lot
of
insanely
talented
people
making
an
awesome
game.
why
would
i
care
about
a
bunch
of
talentless
freaks
hating
on
it?”

Needless
to
say,
the
reply,
which
has
now
been
deleted,
did
not
go
down
very
well,
as
people
rightfully
pointed
out
that
referring
to
people
disliking
the
game
as
“talentless
freaks”
was
an
immature
way
to
handle
criticism.

It’s
unclear
as
to
exactly
who
the
former
developer
is
aiming
the
comments
at.
I’m
assuming
it
was
intended
against
criticism
that
Discord
was
heavily
influenced
by
DEI
ideals.
However,
it
could
also
be
levelled
at
the
other
major
criticism
I’ve
seen
online
which
is
that
the
character
designs
are
ugly.
Even
many
of
the
positive
Steam
reviews
mention
this.

Whatever
group
the
former
dev
was
targeting,
the
result
is
the
same:
it’s
not
a
very
good
look
for
a
game
that
needs
all
the
good
publicity
it
can
get
right
now.
Concord
could
snatch
a
win
from
the
jaws
of
defeat
here,
as
other
games
have
managed
to
do
with
positive
word
of
mouth
and
a
gradual
building
of
trust.

Sony
and
Firewalk
have
already
committed
to
at
least
a
few
seasons
of
content,
after
all.

Right
now
though,
the
reality
is
Concord
is
a
massive
flop,
especially
for
Sony
who
acquired
Firewalk
Studios
in
2023,
presumably
because
they
thought
Concord
was
going
to
be
a
hit
and
a
perfect
next
step
into
the
live-service
market.
Will
these
low
player
numbers
cause
the
game
to
go
free-to-play
or
perhaps
even
be
offered
to
PS
Plus
Extra
members?
Or
will
Sony
try
to
ride
it
out?