Players petitioned to re-release Concord. Why did this Sony FPS masterpiece end up like this?

"Concord," a multiplayer shooter developed by Sony's Firewalk studio that had been highly anticipated, was announced to be removed from the shelves just two weeks after its launch. The news of the closure of the server brought more heat to "Concord", which seemed to think that things were not lively enough. Some players even started a petition, hoping that Sony would return this masterpiece of "political correctness" to the shelves.

Concord's closing service is not without warning. As early as the game's launch, some analysts predicted that its sales would be dismal. According to analyst Simon Carless, the game will sell about 10,000 on Steam, about 15,000 on PS5, and the cumulative sales will only be 25,000 sets. So, why did Concord end up like this?

First of all, the game itself lacks highlights, and it is difficult to stand out in the highly competitive market. "Concord" has been in development for eight years, and its development time can even be traced back to 2016, the year when "Overwatch" was released. The members of Firewalk Studio are also mostly from well-known game companies such as Bungie and Activision, and have extensive experience in shooting game development. However, "Concord" does not show the qualities that match the background of its development team. If it were eight years ago, its gameplay and story setting would have been impressive, but in eight years, there have been too many similar games on the market. For Sony, "Concord" is a "new dish" served after eight years of precipitation, while for players, it is just a "cold meal" that changes the soup without changing the medicine.

The game was released at a bad time and missed the best market window. During the eight years of development of "Concord", the game market has undergone tremendous changes. The emergence of games such as "Overwatch", "Apex", "Valorant", etc., has continuously divided the player market. As a latecomer, it is conceivable that "Concord" wants to compete with players in these established games.

With the increasing number of similar games on the market, players' requirements for game quality have also risen, and "Concord" obviously did not meet the expectations of players. Although "Concord" is satisfactory in terms of screen performance, it is lackluster in terms of gameplay and content, making it difficult to meet the needs of players.

Another factor is the excessive pursuit of political correctness in "Concord". First of all, it is stated that "political correctness" is necessary, and it is also the trend of current social development. But obviously, "Concord" does not balance this issue well, which makes many players face it with the mentality of watching the fun and having fun.

On the change.org website, a playful player started a "please re-release'Concord '" petition with the title: "We were too busy that week - please re-release'Concord'". The player said: "I really believe this game still has a chance and should be re-released."

The comment below is also very interesting: "If you do this [re-release], I will personally invest $50 million to keep the game alive and cover operating costs", "I'm too busy to play Overwatch or watch Guardians of the Galaxy III. Then too busy to play Concord, I may be too busy again, but it's worth a try.", "Despite working 60 hours a week, I still put in 30 + hours on Concord."

The failure of "Concord" is a valuable lesson for both Sony and Firewalk Studios. Although game developers are still proud of the game, they may need to consider how to keep their next game alive for more than two weeks.