Sony recently reflected on the troubled launch of Concord, a live-service hero shooter by Firewalk Studios, admitting it is still going through the challenges of live-service games. Concord is widely regarded as one of PlayStation’s most significant missteps.
With dismal player engagement, Sony took the game offline just two weeks after launch, subsequently closing Firewalk Studios and confirming that Concord would not make a return.
The financial toll of Concord’s failure has been substantial. Reports indicate that the initial development contract was approximately $200 million, according to sources familiar with the project, though this sum didn’t cover the complete development nor the acquisition of Concord’s IP rights or Firewalk Studios.
This aligns with previous reports indicating that Firewalk’s former parent company, ProbablyMonsters, raised $200 million in 2021.
Sony had high expectations for Concord, hoping to capture a wide player base. However, lukewarm reviews and low player numbers led Sony to discontinue the title shortly after launch. One estimate suggests it only sold around 25,000 copies.
Rhys Elliott, an analyst at Midia Research, commented just before Concord’s shutdown, noting, “Pivoting to live services is a high-risk, high-reward venture, and the risk is becoming too steep for many AAA console/PC publishers not already established in this space.”
In a recent financial call, Sony’s president, COO, and CFO, Hiroki Totoki, mentioned the company is drawing lessons from both the highly successful launch of Helldivers 2 earlier in the year and the disappointing Concord rollout.
Specifically regarding Concord, Totoki noted that Sony should have engaged in earlier development checkpoints, such as user testing and internal reviews.
“Currently, we are still in the process of learning,” he said. “For new IPs, you don’t know the outcome until it’s released, but we probably needed more gates—user testing and internal evaluations—much earlier in the development process.”
Totoki also pointed to structural and strategic challenges that may have exacerbated Concord’s poor performance.
Sony’s “siloed organization” and the game’s release timing, shortly after the PS5 and PC success of Black Myth: Wukong, may have created additional hurdles.
“We have a siloed organization, so working beyond departmental boundaries in both development and sales could have been much smoother,” Totoki added.
“Looking forward, we plan to carefully select optimal release windows to maximize each game’s success on our platform and avoid cannibalization.”
The launch timing was especially challenging as Concord entered the competitive live-service hero shooter market in the wake of another high-profile failure, Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which reportedly contributed to a $200 million revenue hit for Warner Bros.
During the same call, Sony’s senior vice president for finance and IR, Sadahiko Hayakawa, compared Helldivers 2’s success to Concord’s failure, emphasizing that the company plans to apply insights from both.
“We launched two live-service games this year,” he said. “Helldivers 2 was a huge hit, while Concord ended up being shut down. We gained a lot of experience and learned a lot from both.”
Hayakawa noted that Sony will share these lessons across its studios to improve development management and the ability to expand content post-launch, strengthening Sony’s strategy.
He further added that Sony plans to maintain a balanced portfolio, combining single-player titles with new live-service games, each carrying its own level of risk and reward.
Sony’s venture into live-service gaming has seen mixed results. Helldivers 2 broke records as the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game, with 12 million copies sold within just 12 weeks. However, other live-service projects have faced setbacks.
Last December, Naughty Dog canceled a live-service multiplayer adaptation of The Last of Us to refocus on single-player experiences, and Sony-owned Bungie has faced layoffs amid challenges with Destiny 2.
Now, with the closure of Firewalk and the downfall of Concord, questions linger over PlayStation’s future in live-service gaming.
Despite these hurdles, Sony continues to develop live-service titles, with upcoming projects including Bungie’s Marathon, Guerrilla’s Horizon Online, and Haven Studio’s Fairgame$.
