GamesBeat’s Rachel Kaser examines the timeline that led to the cancellation of poor Concord — where did things go wrong?
By now, I’m sure everyone’s heard the news about Concord. Firewalk’s poor multiplayer title launched into a most unfavorable market without really much going for it, and proceeded to do so poorly at sales that PlayStation and Firewalk have now pulled it from stores and essentially shut it down until further notice. They’ve also refunded all digital purchases of the game on console and PC (though I understand that physical copies of the game are still around, albeit not always in the hands of scrupulous people).
It’s a sad end to the story of Concord’s development and launch. Firewalk is a young studio and Concord was their debut title. PlayStation originally partnered with the studio to back the project in 2021 before acquiring Firewalk in 2023 — and at all points in this, showed nothing but enthusiasm for the project. Firewalk’s vision of a new multiplayer IP, which originally began as a bun in the oven over at ProbablyMonsters, seemed so wholesome. Tony Hsu said at the time of the PlayStation backing partnership: “These amazing and unpredictable moments in gaming are the sparks that occur when playing with others; future memories ready to be replayed and retold.
