Concord, the PS5 and PC shooter from PlayStation's own Firewalk Studios, will follow the Helldivers 2 blueprint of monetisation. That is to say, it'll cost you $40 / £35 upfront, and then it'll try and persuade players to cough up more cash for cosmetics. Just about everyone was expecting this to be the case, but we've now got confirmation from the developer itself.
"There are purely cosmetic pieces that you can choose to further customize the look of your character, that you can choose to purchase. Those do not affect gameplay. We believe so strongly that the full experience should be available to all of our players," director of IP Kim Kreines told VGC.
In turn, the model should allow Firewalk Studios to support Concord long-term. Kreines reveals that "new maps, new modes, and new characters" will be added over time, along with additions to the game's "unfolding story".
Now, obviously, this kind of monetisation has worked tremendously well for the aforementioned Helldivers 2 — but that's also an incredibly popular release. Neither game is free-to-play — so the companies involved are making money right off the bat — but we all know what happens when a live service title struggles to maintain a healthy number of players.