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We haven't heard much from the Concord front in recent days, likely because it functionally no longer exists. Still, there is plenty of interest amongst the PlayStation faithful as to what developer Firewalk's ultimate fate will be, and the always-watching SteamDB has detected some small movement.
Now, we don't speak PC and thus don't understand what it all means, but irregularly, since being pulled offline and as recently as yesterday, changes have been made to Concord's game files on Steam (thanks, PSLS). Inevitably, this leads to community speculation (if not interest) that there's life in the game yet, that Concord could be gearing up to go free-to-play. However, it's doubtful that anything could scrub the stink off the allegedly hugely costly flop at this late stage. Regardless, we'll continue to monitor the situation.
Would you check out Concord if it was free-to-play? Would you spend money on cosmetic skins for all your favourite characters? Is the Sony that believed Concord was the "future of PlayStation" game enough to try again? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source playstationlifestyle.net]
Comments 46
I’ll check it out if it’s free to play. Can’t promise I’ll stay long. Definitely won’t spend money on it.
If true I had a feeling it would happen. No way they would waste all that time just to move onto another project. This is their first game right?
Concordians, we are so back
@Nepp67 @Doctor_BK I'll have a look if it goes free to play. This is how it should have launched anyway. I have no problem if a game is free to play and is full of mtx's as the game has to have a means of supporting itself etc but full price games that are chock full of mtx's and season passes are a big no from me. I love diablo 4 but that season pass is just so wrong as you just can't earn enough in game credits to pay for the next pass. Warzone did it right and that grind for the tokens sucked me right in and I loved the game too. I think concord could become a hit if they implement a similar battle pass system akin to warzone but I doubt they will. Hopefully concord will become a success story for Sony.
@Northern_munkey Even if I do sometimes support those types of greedy games(I bought MW 2019 and MW2022) I agree entirely. I'm still not gonna play it if it goes free because I do not like the character designs at all and I have no care for hero shooters.
The move to free-to-play alone will not salvage the IP. It needs to be completely reworked. It needs better character designs, with likeable personalities and backstories. It needs more unique gameplay options. It needs so much tweaking of the core identity that it makes more sense to just have a new IP launch without the pre-existing baggage.
We'll see. Tax write off still seems to me like the most profitable way to salvage this situation - unless they can't of course.
I have my doubts that f2p will save this game anyway. It was such a complete rejection across the board that I cannot see the game building up anything more than a small cult following long term.
You couldn’t even PAY me to play that game 😂
It makes alot more sense for it to be free to play
I would play if I could play online. Maybe a nice and juicy black friday discount is in order
S/O to all those people who stayed up all night to secure the platinum only for the game to be brought back.
Genuinely feel bad for the people involved on how bad this was received. All the marketing and plans for extra content. Can't even give it away 😅
Considering how poorly the free beta did, I'm not sure going free to play will change anything.
Just throwing more money down the drain with added dev cost and servers
It's not only the ho hum gameplay but the characters themselves that people have a problem with. Sure they can just tweak some settings with a bit of work, speed people up, rebalance things etc...but going back and overhauling the characters themselves?
I really hope Sony still isn't listening to them and hoping it was just a fluke the first go around or Concord will have the distinct PlayStation honor of getting shut down twice.
They're insane if they bring it back now. Do you really want to take the 99.9% risk that this flops AGAIN? Your tentpole first party title, flopping twice, that's what you want?
It's like re-releasing Morbius an-.... oh.
I value my time more than I value 40 bucks.
People didn't play this game because of the price, but because it encapsulates everything that is wrong with modern gaming.
Go and fail again Sony, I for one can't get enough of it
@Czar_Khastik you do make me chuckle, keep up the good work!
Maybe if they can rejig the art direction a bit to look like those animated shorts, alter the designs a bit too so character roles are more apparent (the healer looks nothing like a healer, etc.)
@AhabSpampurse Appreciate it mate, wish you a nice gaming weekend
I say let Sony try again with this slop if they think it can be save or deserves a second chance.
But if the F2P still end up as a failure, that way Sony higher up / shareholder has the ultimate reason to kick Hermen out from SIE.
I already tried it when it was free to play. That was the betas, of which I jumped into the second. Fewer people joined the second beta than the first, and even fewer then jumped in at launch. (At least on Steam.)
The truth of the matter is the game isn't good enough to compete with the big players. Its mechanic of having to play with a character from a particular class, then die, to unlock a perk for your next character, and so on, is completely borked. One, it rewards failure (dying); two, it means you're swapping character classes constantly, ruining any attempt at team composition; three, it is completely counter to the way real people interact with hero-shooters because it encourages you to play characters you don't prefer to build up the perks for the character you'd rather be playing as; and four, by the time you have done all that work of dying and unlocking perks, your team is probably miles behind on points and some other bugger on your team is probably playing as your main while they do all the above.
All that is to say nothing of how derivative and uninspired the game modes and characters are, etc, which is what I see most people complaining about. Yes, the guns felt good and the environments were pretty, but that's about all the game had going for it.
Sony should stop throwing good money after bad here and get Firewalk onto another project pronto.
Ironically, I think its historical failure gave it enough "publicity" that more people might check out an F2P re-launch out of curiosity, compared to the open beta.
That still only means a couple days of passable player numbers followed by another ghost town after said curiosity wears off, though. There's no salvaging this project, in my opinion.
hope it comes back tbh; it gave me something else to play
@Northern_munkey the beta was great gameplay wise i actually found some fun in it. everything else about the game was just so boring and fell flat like most of the maps, content & glaring character controversies but i’d like for it to make a comeback too . it gave me something else to play so that’s kind of all i care about
Everyone who believes making Concord free-to-play will turn this IP profitable is beyond hope. This is not any failure, it's one of the most spectacular failures in gaming history. The data is crystal-clear: No one wants this.
They made grey blob that is not standing out in anything and if they realize this, they can do some extreme changes to the core gameplay, put this as Free-to-play and make this a All-or-nothing bet.
This is it team, the phoenix rises. Concord the Fortnite-killer world domination can be traced back to this moment. Believe.
Calm down... these are so called ghost updates. It does absolutely nothing, they are automated and work as "attraction" to those who forgot that program.
I think it could be a wild success!
Just remake it into a Metroidvania with the original characters now turned into enemy bosses. Everyone hated them so they'd make the perfect antagonists.
Removed - inappropriate
If it comes back, I’ll be there day 1.
@PuppetMaster this was a Jim Ryan project has nothing to do with henman
Why would Sony put more money into this failed project. They need to cut their losses and move on
@nomither6 just play overwatch or something
I saw a video on YouTube which used AI to update all the characters in Concord and the results were awesome. Doing something like that may have done something for the game, but I highly doubt that anyone will be able to convince some of the devs that their character models were plain and simply a load of Crap. I think Sony would be absolutely insane to let Firewalk anywhere near another game and if this game indeed goes Free to Play, that in itself is going to make zero difference. It’s been tarnished now, no going back. Just pull the plug and move on.
This might work bc people are going to want to download it for free to see what all the fuss was over. If it is actually good, then they might win some people over in the process. It's definitely a gamble.
@C25CLOUD Focus on live service was Jimbo idea but Concord was one of Hermen baby. In some interview, Hermen praised Concord to the heaven by saying he was very impressed with the game.
And according to Concord staff, Sony higher ups possibly Hermen & Jimbo even planned Concord as the future of PS.
I dunno, I don't think going F2P will save it save it, sure there will be the initial spike of curiosity and people checking it out to see, but the issue for most people seemed to be the ugly character designs and not enough unique modes to play, if they could somehow fix them at the same time as going F2p, then it might find a niche audience it can expand from? Stranger things have happened!
If it does come back, then they have to do more than just making the game free to play. Whether it's improving the art style or diversifying player customization or adding PvE content or such. I don't think even the hardest PS fanboy would want to play the same matches over and over again just to see one uninteractable cutscene every week.
Free to play wouldn't change anything for it because overwatch is free and better in every way.
I'd give it a whirl if it went free-to-play.
I think the poor performance of the Betas was a direct reflection of the game not being free-to-play out of the gate: people weren't going to try a game knowing they wouldn't pay retail for it because there are free options available, already.
Maybe some bean counters figured out how much effort it would take to make it F2P and decided it was worth a shot to try the MTX route rather than the game being a total loss.
@StrickenBiged I think this was my biggest issue and not the characters themselves. I don't want to have to play a character I don't like just to get perks i need.
@KillerBoy no
Cool and all, but this doesn't fix the other problems this game has, such as a boring gameplay loop and lack of interesting character designs.
It NEEDS a total overhaul on top of being F2P.
Take the game engine, scrap everything that is concord and start again. And have a few new IP game in 2 years tops.
@pharos_haven it’d be easy enough to fix too, now I think about it - just have the perk apply once to the whole team based on team comp. There's 6 classes and 5 players, so there’d be tactical choices to make about which perk your team forgoes. It would also incentivise the team to fill up the team roles to maximise the perks applied team-wide.
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