The scale of Concord’s failure is greater than we thought: it cost $400 million and Sony hoped it would be “the future of PlayStation.”
The magnitude of the failure of Concordthe PlayStation 5 online shooter that was pulled from sale just two weeks after its launch due to total indifference from gamers (it is estimated that it only sold 25,000 copies) may be bigger than we thought.
Yesterday we learned that Ryan Ellisdirector of Concord, resigned from his position (although he remains at the studio, Firewalk, which he founded after leaving Bungie), leaving him deeply emotionally affected.
Sony, which had to refund the money of the few people who bought it, has not made anything from this game. But how much money have they lost? According to an anonymous source who was involved in its development, the game cost 400 million dollars.
If the figure is true, it would be one of the most expensive in history (and more expensive than any Hollywood movie, for example).
It’s also Sony’s most expensive investment in a game ever (more than The Last of Us Part 2 or Spider-Man 2). That money, of course, doesn’t include the studio’s purchase price…
But the nightmare doesn’t end there for Sony, as internally, they referred to him as “The future of PlayStation“.
This is how the streamer tells it Colin Moriartywho claims to know all this after speaking at length with a person who worked on the development of Concord.
Apparently the game (which started life with another investor, before Sony bought the studio in mid-2023) was in a very poor state, so Sony pumped money and money into it, hoping it would become one of its flagship franchises.
Some described the game as “el Star Wars” from Sony: a multimedia franchise that could last for years and decades, with updates, sequels, spin-offs, series, movies…
PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst was a big fan of the game, and according to this source, it created an atmosphere of “toxic positivity” where no one could say anything bad about the game, which may have played a role in its tragic fate.
Concord’s future is up in the air, but it’s not cancelled (yet)
In the statement Firewalk released when the game was shut down, they promised that they would find a way to relaunch the game, but right now few have faith that this will happen.
A total cancellation would mean the total loss of those 400 million, but the alternative could be to inject more money into a lost cause…
Some hope that Concord come back as free-to-play, or as a free PS Plus game. But internally, some fear there will be layoffs, or even the complete closure of Firewalk, which employs 150-170 people…
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