Concord 'Didn't Bring Unique Value' to Players, Says Marvel Rivals Director

And Concord also had the audacity to put a price tag on their product when Rivals know that it needs to be free in these days and age.

People comparing a free to play game with one of the largest media properties ever to a paid new IP to any extent beyond those actions are crazy. The value of Marvel Rivals comes from the brand and the fact it’s free. Those are like really the only two conclusions you could come from, maybe also artstyle considering how unappealing Concord’s style was. To act like Marvel’s Rivals success is such a big achievement is a bit of a stretch.

@Deoxyr1bose Because Marvel's Avengers was such a big success right?

@Deoxyr1bose The marvel name brought in the punters, Now will they stay once they realise it just a reskin Overwatch, just like Concord, that the billion dollar question.

@Deoxyr1bose exactly! Marvel already has a strong brand power backing it. Add the $0 price tag that effectively eliminate the biggest barrier to entry for most people, of course it's going to explode.

10 million players, but I am not one of them, nor will I ever be.

Yeah I wouldn't say Marvel Rivals is the most unique product out there either but whatever.

@QiaraIris free to play isn’t all sweet . there’s downsides to it , especially if the high player count is only temporary like a lot of F2P live services once had

It's true. But to be fair this game has MARVEL characters. So NetEase already have a solid template (as well tons of fanbase) to make characters that can attract people to play Marvel Rivals. Plus, they copied Overwatch too. So, If the game ended up as a flop like Concord then they're dumb.

On the other hand, Firewalk has more challenges because Concord is a new IP with original characters. Unfortunately the director and characters designer failed with their job and they also made a big blunder with PR.

@Korgon yeah, this dudes on his high horse . people are always quick to celebrate & brag . it’s only been like, what , 4 days? 😂

This is 100% the reason Concord failed so spectacularly. It offered nothing new that brought unique value to the game. There were only two things Concord do that other hero shooters have not done. The first is that they were going to release a weekly vignette showing the characters interacting with each other. Over the course of the betas and the two weeks the game was live they released 3 and they were just 2 minute videos of a couple characters talking to each other. Not only were these frankly boring but did not encourage people to play the game since anyone interested could just look them up to watch online. The second thing was the crew system that forced players to use characters they don’t want to play or you would be at a disadvantage compared to other players who would get buffs from the system. This went against how people play hero shooters. Players find a few characters they like and practice with them so they continually get better. Forcing people to always be changing up who they play may introduce people to a character they might not have realized they would like but it really just made it so most matches had teams playing characters they had no idea how to play resulting in games not being fun.

Marvel Rivals actually has a lot going for it so it isn’t just “Marvel Overwatch”. The dynamically changing maps with destructible environments really makes it stand out from other hero shooters. The team up bonuses are fun and encourage team cohesion. Then there are the fact that there are a lot of melee only characters who are actually some of the most useful in the game, which is a rarity in the genre. Lastly the narrative hook is so far really intriguing. Definitely read the in game lore as it is extremely in depth. Concord’s narrative was just “you are a bounty hunter and want to make money”. I know hero shooter narratives are typically bare bones (like can anyone tell me what the hell the story for Overwatch is??) but this was on a whole other level.

He's not wrong. But it's a little silly hearing this coming from a studio that had the luxury of using one of the biggest IPs in entertainment. 'Marvel Concord' would've gotten plenty far. 'Non-Denominational Rivals' would not be the smashing success Marvel Rivals has become.

And before anyone responds, "bUt MarVeL AveNGers!" Yes, you can screw up a game even with a big IP behind it. But it's much, much, much, much easier to get attention. That should go without saying; no one should have to prove such an obvious thing to you. If Marvel Avengers didn't have Marvel attached to it, do you still think THAT game would be brought up for any reason?

Sasser is right. Most gamers who are Marvel or DC fans tend to envision playing with their favourite hero. In my case it's Hulk and Cyclops so 1 out of 2 isn't bad. Unfortunately for Concord they didn't even try to make visually appealing or likable characters (plus charging to play). The Blizzard Ceo was also just butt hurt cause they messed up Overwatch 2 and now there's this contender.
I hope they get the balancing right and this game is widely accepted as I would like to see more heroes get their time in the light within this medium. i mean who really cared about Cloak and Dagger or Mantis? This game makes them pretty damn cool.

Thaddeus Sasser sounds like one of the super villains we'll be playing as in future seasons.

Thaddeus “Sassy” Sasser out here flexing his ‘unique’ Marvel character designs.

Yeah so hard getting to work with one of the biggest entertainment brands in the world smh. I’ll be more impressed in Six months if you keep even half of those players or if you’re just another flash in the pan GAAS that started out super hot just to fade into obscurity in a year.

Not only did Concord not offer anything unique, it literally had one of the worst looking roster of playable character I've ever seen...and I've been gaming since the 90's lol

And no I'm not being hyperbolic, the cast was that bad.

@nomither6 Let's see if he is still on the same horse in 12 months time.

Not denying what he says but it's a bit rich coming from the guy in charge of something that's a blatant rip off of overwatch in a marvel skin. There's probably less uniqueness in marvel rivals than concord.

@Deoxyr1bose I disagree, we’ve seen countless free games fail and another Marvel game fail spectacularly with the biggest IP they have, Rivals is a genuinely good game, not perfect by any means but just by playing a few hours you can tell it tries to mix up the genre, not revolutionizing it by any means but feeling different enough, while Concord never got past being a slower Overwatch copycat with comically bad character designs (another strength of Rivals btw).

@Enigk yeah, let’s see. even though i enjoy the game personally , i can’t help but think that if you were to remove the marvel skin from it - then its just a shallow game with no longevity or legs to stand on

or i may just be a doomer, but i doubt that

"director Thaddeus Sasser, Concord's problem was that it "didn't bring any unique value""

Did anyone happen to ask Director Sasser what "unique value" he brought to the game to justify his presumably over inflated paycheck? 🤑

That's a nice way of saying it was a total ripoff.

What?! But all of Concord's characters were unique...

I'm just saying, I'm not interested in ftp or online shooters at all, but I can see that Marvel Rivals is making it's mark. It looks quality, to me.

I watched some of Concord’s videos before the game was released - it looked like a poor man’s Guardians of the Galaxy.

Established successful IPs have a stronger chance of success based on recognition when made decently—what a shock!

True what he said about Concord. The reality is that there aren’t many cool characters created this side of the second millennium AD. The most liked super hero’s were created last century when artists and authors had more free will/creativity. So it’s very easy to create anything using 20th century and before.

It's a lot easier to create a hero shooter when you don't have to create any of the heroes.

I guess the people that said "Oh my God I want to be a walking trash can in a game!" Or "I want to be discount Hulk!" were a tad bit less than the 10 million Marvel Rivals got.

Ok I'm all for the Concord bashing but come on dude your game isn't unique or different in the slightest it's an Overwatch knock-off with Marvel characters as a lot of people have said at least they took a risk and made their own universe and characters you took something that already exists and that's already universally popular not exactly rocking the boat. Your game is free and stars some of the most iconic and popular characters in pop culture like no S you got people to play it curb your ego a bit there

Yeah, and I bet if they made the same game without the Marvel IP, it would have performed just as well, bringing unique value to players /s

@RoomWithaMoose even Marvel Avengers sold more than most people realize. Just not as much as SE was hoping. As a single player game, it did quite well. It only failed as a GaaS.

@Nepp67 was Marvel's Avengers free to play?

@RoomWithaMoose Midnight Sons and Guardians of the Galaxy also say hi. The Spidey games are the only Marvel games of the past 10 years to be huge hits.

I dont think it's that Concord didn't offer unique value, it did. However it was an unknown IP with characters people know little about behind a €40 price wall. Had it been f2p it would've attracted more players who would get to know the characters, however that would of course then have meant they would need to add an in-game store / micro-transactions to make money.

The price point also meant players, particularly those who can't afford multiple games at once had a choice.. 'Do I by Concord or do I buy another game,' such as Black Myth which was released the same month.

It also bad character design which is mystery how nobody even noticed that

Marvel Rivals isn't necessarily anything new, but it's unique enough to be engaging. Plus, it's just fun. Concord's biggest setbacks were a PSN requirement and a $40 pricetag. Like, why would anyone pay $40 for a live service game at this point?

Concord characters never helped it either.

@Lup uniquely garbage and disgusting 🥰

I’m not playing this game, but my son has been playing it. He’s also an Overwatch player. He says Rivals is pretty decent.

My only take away is that the art style reminds me of the comics, which is a good thing. The game doesn’t appear to stray into the common cartoony / Pixar look that I have been noticing in a lot of games lately.

So what is his message don't make something original? yeah not everyone has a massive IP to use. I think he is totally wrong i think the real message should be test what you release. Iwuold have loved Concord as a Coop shooter with missions.

Free vs. not free. That's all that needs to be said about this.

Ah Concord, the 400M colossal flop.

@Turion

100% agreed. 😂