As the new hero shooter “Concord” prepares to go offline, PlayStation is reportedly optimistic about one of its next multiplayer projects.
PlayStation announced Fairgames (Fairgame$) last summer as an online shooter about robbing filthy rich companies while competing with other mercenary teams to see who can make the most money. Ironically, the game comes from Haven Studios and billion-dollar Sony. The game initially caused a stir because Haven Studios is run by Jade Raymond, an early Assassin’s Creed producer who was instrumental in the stealth series’ huge success.
However, faith in Sony’s latest live service offensive took a major hit last week, as PlayStation’s new hero shooter Concord completely crashed and burned. After eight years of development and one of the saddest PC debuts in years, Concord will be taken offline later this week, with everyone who bought the game on both PC and PS5 getting their money refunded.
Despite the massive bug, the publisher is reportedly pretty confident about its upcoming heist ’em up. GamesIndustry.biz’s Christopher Dring recently spoke on the magazine’s Microcast podcast about internal reactions to Fairgames, saying he’s “heard good things about Jade Raymond’s game.”
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“I know people are a little skeptical, but I’ve heard the internal conversations are very positive,” Dring continued, before speculating that Fairgames is one of the live service games that PlayStation is really “focused on” to “support and get up and running.”
Fairgames has a few advantages over Concord. For one, it’s not chasing the hero shooter train that left the station nearly a decade ago – Fairgames is more like an extraction heist shooter and its biggest competitor, Payday 3, is still recovering from a rocky launch. It can also learn from Concord’s mistakes by slowly building a community – and developing the game alongside that community – through playtesting, rather than expecting a huge pool of players to show up on day one due to expensive marketing promises. That day one boom works for games that suddenly go viral, but virality isn’t something you can really bet on.
Regardless, it’s worth noting that the internal rumors surrounding Concord were likely positive as well, as Sony actually acquired developer Firewalk Studios before it had even released a single game – just as Sony acquired Haven Studios to spearhead its push into the live service space.
Concord is now full of players jumping off maps in a desperate attempt to claim the shooter’s platinum trophy before it disappears forever.
