The sudden cancellation of newly released hero shooter Concord sparked a not entirely surprising wave of unhappy death-dance from people who denounced the game as being too “woke” or diverse, rather than a game “for gamers,” whatever that means. But amidst all this predictable noise and excitement, there are also messages of support for the developers at Firewalk Studios and expressions of hope from fans that Concord will return.
Concord was fully released on August 23, meaning it lasted just 11 days before Firewalk and Sony had enough. It’s hard to overstate what a high-speed train wreck this represents: Amazon’s Crucible lasted more than a month before being canceled in 2020, while Valve’s CCG Artifact lasted nearly three years—admittedly with minimal player counts—before the axe finally fell. Even the infamous Anthem struggled along for a few years before Electronic Arts threw in the towel.
The only one that springs to mind is the faster closure of The Day Before, which went bust in just four days, taking an entire development studio (or perhaps I should say alleged development studio) with it. The fact that it only took a week longer than The Day Before is really not great.
It also contrasts sharply with the confidence Sony apparently had in pre-releasing the game: Sony actually acquired Firewalk in 2023 based solely on Concord’s perceived strength, and Amazon based an episode of its upcoming video game series Secret Level on it.
Concord is set to appear in an episode of the new Amazon show Secret Level https://t.co/37NsnLVUrf pic.twitter.com/rNdBt1DbxW3 September 2024
The near-total lack of interest in the game and the subsequent decision to abandon it after less than two weeks is difficult to see from the outside, and it is undoubtedly even harder for the developers to experience it first-hand – a fact that other game publishers have also confirmed on social media.
“There will be a lot of Takes (TM) today, but I wanted to say this: bringing a game to market is so damn hard, and a lot of incredible talent worked to bring us this game,” tweeted Bungie and Blizzard veteran Daryl Nelson. “Firewalk did not deserve this, and I hope the team can recover from this and regroup.”
“I don’t want to retweet clickbait or attract trolls, so I’ll just say my condolences to everyone at Firewalk Studios on today’s news. Fuck,” said Josh Scherr, writer of The Last of Us and Uncharted.
“My deepest condolences go out to the Firewalk team. This decision cannot have been easy,” tweeted Evan Berman, Tencent’s global senior community manager.
God, I feel sorry for the obviously talented folks at @FirewalkStudios. It’s a classy looking game, but the high price tag launching it into a saturated market was difficult from the start. This is such a weird situation to have to decipher. https://t.co/YMzmBsvNnU3 September 2024
The question currently hanging over Concord is: what’s next? Firewalk said it’s “exploring options,” and it’s possible Concord will return at some point in the future, revamped and potentially free-to-play. This isn’t unprecedented: Gigantic, for example, returned as a free-to-play game earlier this year, six years after it was canceled, and Ubisoft’s For Honor stumbled badly before the release of a free “Starter Edition” turned things around. And let’s not forget that Cyberpunk 2077, which everyone now loves, was banned from the PlayStation Store for six months because it was such a disaster at launch.
Some Concord fans are hoping for a similar outcome here, or at least that Firewalk won’t face layoffs or a complete closure due to the game’s failure:
#Concord is closing, refunds are being paid out. I really hope they plan on rebooting, maybe with some changes in the future. The wording on the blog definitely doesn’t sound like it’s ready yet. Hope you stay optimistic, @FirewalkStudios!! https://t.co/gDzzHfU13c pic.twitter.com/parvk5f67H3 September 2024
@FirewalkStudios, you all don’t deserve this. What you all deliver is quality and I want you all to know that I VERY enjoyed my time with #Concord. The scams, the unnecessary hate, the attacks your studio has faced are unjustified, the gaming community has failed you all.3 September 2024
Please don’t punish Firewalk Studios, let them regroup and try their hand at something that isn’t a live service game. Give this team another chance https://t.co/opQENu7AZU3 September 2024
Firewalk Studios has not commented on the closure or future of Concord beyond today’s announcement, but design director Josh Hamrick expressed his gratitude for the support the developers have received. “To everyone who helps us with love. You are the reason we make games,” Hamrick tweeted. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Now I’m going to win this area control match.”