The sudden shutdown of the newly-launched hero shooter Concord sparked a completely unsurprising wave of unlucky grave dancing amongst individuals who decried the sport for being too “woke” or numerous, fairly than being a recreation “for players,” no matter that is alleged to imply. But amidst all that predictable sound and fury, there are additionally messages of help for the builders at Firewalk Studios, and expressions of hope from followers that Concord will likely be again.
Concord went into full launch on August 23, which implies it lasted solely 11 days earlier than Firewalk and Sony had seen sufficient. It’s exhausting to overstate what a high-speed prepare wreck that represents: Amazon’s Crucible lasted greater than a month earlier than it was un-launched in 2020, whereas Valve’s CCG Artifact made it nearly three years—admittedly with miniscule participant counts—earlier than the axe lastly fell. Even the notorious Anthem struggled alongside for a pair years earlier than Electronic Arts threw within the towel.
The solely sooner cancellation that comes instantly to thoughts is The Day Before, which went beneath in simply 4 days and took a complete improvement studio (or maybe I ought to say, purported improvement studio) with it. Lasting only one week longer than The Day Before, properly, that is actually not nice.Â
It additionally stands in very sharp distinction with the boldness Sony appeared to have within the recreation pre-release: Sony truly acquired Firewalk in 2023 solely on the perceived power of Concord, and Amazon based mostly an episode of its upcoming videogame-based collection Secret Level on it.Â
harmony is meant to be in an episode of the brand new amazon present secret degree pic.twitter.com/rNdBt1DbxWSeptember 3, 2024
The near-complete disinterest within the recreation and subsequent determination to surrender on it after lower than two weeks is hard to see from the skin trying in, and little doubt a lot harder for builders to expertise first hand, a reality acknowledged by different recreation makers on social media.Â
“There are going to be plenty of Takes (TM) right this moment however needed to say this: Launching a recreation is so fucking exhausting, and a bunch of unimaginable expertise labored to deliver this recreation to us,” Bungie and Blizzard veteran Daryl Nelson tweeted. “Firewalk did not deserve this and I hope that the workforce can recuperate and regroup from this.”
“Don’t wish to retweet any clickbait or entice trolls, so I’ll simply say my coronary heart goes out to everybody at Firewalk Studios relating to right this moment’s information. Fuck,” The Last of Us and Uncharted author Josh Scherr stated.
“My coronary heart goes out to the Firewalk workforce, this determination couldn’t have been a straightforward one,” Tencent international senior group supervisor Evan Berman tweeted.
God, sorry to the clearly proficient people at @FirewalkStudios. It’s a polished-looking recreation however the excessive worth level launching right into a saturated market was at all times going to be tough. This is such a wierd sutuation to unwrap. https://t.co/YMzmBsvNnUSeptember 3, 2024
The query hanging over Concord proper now’s, what subsequent? Firewalk stated it needed to “discover choices” and it is attainable Concord might come again sooner or later sooner or later, retooled and probably free to play. That’s not unprecedented: Gigantic, as an example, returned as a free-to-play recreation earlier this 12 months, six years after it was shut down, and Ubisoft’s For Honor stumbled badly earlier than the discharge of a free “starter version” sparked a turnaround. And allow us to not neglect that Cyberpunk 2077, which everybody now loves, was kicked off the PlayStation Store for six months as a result of it was such a catastrophe at launch.
Some Concord followers are hoping for the same consequence right here, or at the least that Firewalk will not endure layoffs or an outright closure because of the sport’s failure:
#Concord shutting down, refunds going out. I do hope that they’re planning on relaunching, perhaps with some modifications sooner or later. That wording within the weblog positively does not sound prefer it’s executed simply but. Hope you retain your spirits up @FirewalkStudios!! pic.twitter.com/parvk5f67HSeptember 3, 2024
@FirewalkStudios you all did not deserve any of this. What you all put out is high quality, and I would like y’all to know I THOROUGHLY loved my time with #Concord. The grifting, the pointless hate, the assaults your studio obtained is unwarranted, the gaming group allow you to all down.September 3, 2024
Please do not punish Firewalk Studios, allow them to regroup and check out their hand at one thing that is not a dwell service recreation. Give this workforce one other shot https://t.co/opQENu7AZUSeptember 3, 2024
Firewalk Studios hasn’t commented on the shutdown or the way forward for Concord past right this moment’s announcement, however design director Josh Hamrick expressed gratitude for the reveals of help prolonged to builders. “For all of you reaching out with love, you’re the cause we make video games,” Hamrick tweeted. “Thank you from the underside of my coronary heart. Now I’m gonna go win this Area Control match.”
