Despite Sony’s high hopes for the game, the outlook is bleak. According to SteamDB, Concord reached an all-time high of just 697 concurrent players – a devastatingly low number for a multiplayer title that relies on consistent player numbers for smooth matchmaking.

While PS5 players are not included in SteamDB’s statistics, given a metascore of 62 and a shockingly low user score of 1.9 from 637 reviews on Metacritic, it’s unlikely that the PS5 numbers look much better. The decision to offer Concord for 40 euros has been heavily criticized by many gamers. Competing hero shooters such as Apex Legends or Overwatch 2 are free to play. The character designs were considered unattractive and to make matters worse, there were accusations of a forced political agenda – often accompanied by the term “woke”.

Compared to industry leaders like Apex Legends, which had 624,000 concurrent players at its peak, and even older titles like Team Fortress 2, which still has 50,000-60,000 active players, Concord is performing extremely poorly. Given the devastatingly negative feedback, not only the game itself but also the future of Firewalk Studios is at stake. If Concord does not recover, the debut project could also be the studio’s last.