Concord Is Grounded, Less Than A Fortnight After Launch

After all the online buzz regarding the game, Sony and Firewalk’s big multiplayer shooter Concord, which allegedly costs US$100 million and was at 697 peak concurrent users during its active time, is taken offline.

Concord will be taken offline on 6th September, which is this coming Friday. If you try to head to PlayStation Store to buy Concord, you’ll be greeted with a 404 page with Astro Bot looking at your soul.

Is the dream completely dead though? Not quite, as Sony and Firewalk said that it plans to “determine the best path ahead” following a rocky launch on 23rd August. Here’s the official press release regarding the decision:

“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 PlayStation 5 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.”

An important update on Concord from Firewalk Studios: https://t.co/MxZ1Sxpayu pic.twitter.com/3OcPFDqmDX

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) September 3, 2024

For the record, nobody can reply to the X post above, which goes to show that people would be vocal about the loss of Concord.

A full refund will be given to players who thought spending US$40 on a dripless multiplayer hero shooter without Ultimates or anything to set it apart from other similar titles was a good investment. Here’s how you can get your money back if you somehow got tricked by your friends and shills to buy Concord:

Steam Store: Steam Store will refund players who bought the game over the coming days. Steam will send confirmation of the refund once it has been processed.
Epic Games Store: Epic Games Store will refund players who bought the game over the coming days and will contact each customer directly to confirm that the refund has been processed.
Other Retailer Refunds: For customers who have purchased a physical copy at a retailer location outside of PlayStation directly, please refer to the refund process of the retailer you purchased it from to obtain your refund.

Perhaps the developers will be working on reviving the game, probably with a better art style or even making it work as a free-to-play title. Perhaps this could be a lesson for big studios to maybe not go all in on the live service or trends that were beaten like dead horses 8 years ago. In any case, Concord is pretty much unplayable and considered KIA by its makers. Oh, and that Secret Level TV show on Amazon should have one open slot.

In the meantime, you can play games like Helldivers 2 for your PlayStation-branded online shooter fix. Or you can find out why Concord is underwhelming via our review. Or scroll through social media on the game post-cancellation.

all of that time, talent, money and manpower for nothing. the industry needs to actually learn from these types of games. people want fun, we want unique, not bland and boring rip offs of other things that are also stale and tired

— Suzi Hunter (@TheSphereHunter) September 3, 2024

…the concord paradox… pic.twitter.com/ndbcqe9wWv

— KHAN ?? ? Roundhouse FGC 2025 (@YungKhan) September 3, 2024

https://www.twitter.com/RedLReviews/status/1831007954096558241

Astro Bot dropping the same day Concord gets pulled could be the biggest middle finger by single player games to live services pic.twitter.com/Q2YsEsQ2hH

— TheNCSmaster (@TheNCSmaster) September 3, 2024

Concord is shutting down just two weeks after launch. May very well be the most disastrous high profile AAA live service launch in gaming history and certainly Sony's worst launch ever. Writing was on the one the moment the free to play beta failed to attract a significant crowd. https://t.co/vUdEQblYrd

— Yong Yea (@YongYea) September 3, 2024

Concord is flat-out being taken offline for the time being/maybe forever. Refunds issued. Wow.

I thought a rush to F2P but this is nuts. They may still do that but yeah https://t.co/c6tuQ455ce pic.twitter.com/lRDBWeJ2w5

— Paul Tassi (@PaulTassi) September 3, 2024

Was nice to get out the house and leave the internet behind for a bit, did a bit of shopping and finally bought Concord!

Can’t play until Saturday but looking forward to trying it out! pic.twitter.com/fyzMzd20dw

— Ross Tweets Games (@RossTweetsGames) September 3, 2024

i can confirm that Rivalry, the main unique mode of Concord, is now filled with players killing themselves for experience points. https://t.co/Pb0F9LzsJo pic.twitter.com/kSclr4As02

— Gene Park (@GenePark) September 3, 2024