{"id":959602,"date":"2026-01-02T20:50:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T20:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=448883"},"modified":"2026-01-02T20:50:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T20:50:19","slug":"a-good-game-like-concord-just-isnt-good-enough-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-good-game-like-concord-just-isnt-good-enough-anymore\/","title":{"rendered":"A good game like Concord just isn\u2019t good enough anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Concord<\/a><\/em> is a competent, well-made game. Or rather it was<\/em>. I\u2019m going to struggle with tense when it comes to writing about Concord<\/em>, because, as of Sept. 6, the game has been shut down indefinitely<\/a>, just two weeks into its existence. Will it ever come back? Firewalk Studios, which developed the game for Sony, says it\u2019s taking Concord<\/em> offline and refunding buyers while it \u201cdetermine[s] the best path ahead.\u201d But it\u2019s difficult to envision a healthier future for a game that few people seemed to vibe with and many people actively rooted for to fail.<\/p>\n

So many choices made in the rollout for Concord<\/em>, which has reportedly been in development for at least six years, has felt baffling. Sony and Firewalk first revealed the game in early 2023<\/a>, in the form of a retro-futuristic, synth-drenched teaser trailer that conveyed almost nothing about the game except its sense of style. We learned at the time that Concord<\/em> would be a \u201cnew PvP multiplayer first-person shooter\u201d when it launched in 2024, but no unique selling point was promised.<\/p>\n

A full year later, Concord<\/em> reemerged. A slick cinematic introduced the alien weirdos, silly robots, and hardened mercenaries of Firewalk\u2019s sci-fi world. It looked kind of fun, if vaguely familiar. We also got our first look at Concord<\/em>\u2019s gameplay shortly after, which conveyed some combination of Destiny\u2019s Crucible, Guardians of the Galaxy\u2019s wise-cracking misfits, and Overwatch\u2019s hero-focused mechanics. Those are three beloved properties (or they were<\/em> once), yet Concord<\/em> was initially met with a shrug.<\/p>\n

Across two beta test weekends and at its late-August launch, players didn\u2019t show up for Concord<\/em>. The game\u2019s reception made headlines for its low player counts \u2014 the PC version peaked at around 700 concurrent players, according to SteamDB<\/a>, a death knell for the game. No one seemed to be interested in watching other people play Concord<\/em> either, with only a small number of Twitch streamers sticking with the game<\/a> post-launch day.<\/p>\n

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