Of all the wild stories that crossed our desk in 2024, Concord's chaotic launch and subsequent removal from history after just two weeks stand out. We may never know how much money Firewalk Studios and Sony ultimately sunk into the project (certainly far too much). Still, the days of a first-party multiplayer release expecting an in-built audience from the jump should be firmly behind us. Despite it all, Sony remains committed to what does, admittedly, look like the future of gaming but promises not to forget its more traditional single-player fans along the way.
In an interview with Famitsu, co-CEO Herman Hulst addressed the room, if not the elephant conspicuously in it (Concord's implosion): "The game business is constantly changing due to various factors, including technological advances, new genres and ways of playing. However, one thing that remains constant is people’s desire for great entertainment experiences, and attention to games continues to grow." No firm is immune to the whims of the industry, and Hulst continues, admitting that the service space is unforgiving:
"However, this has also created competition, and like many companies in the industry, we have had to make changes to our business to solidify a more sustainable operating base. Going forward, we will continue to focus on developing live service titles along with the story-driven single-player titles that our players want. We are learning a lot as we establish the ability to develop high-quality live service titles within SIE. Helldivers 2 attracted many players through continuous content provision and achieved results that support the potential of live service titles."