Sony shuts down Concord within two weeks of release, players to get full refund

Following a not-so-great release on PS5 and PC, Sony’s latest entry into a live service video game, Concord, have ceased all sales. An official statement from the company notified players that the game will be taken offline indefinitely starting September 6. Players on both PS5 and PC will receive a full refund for the game in the coming days.

“While many qualities of the experience resonated with players, we also recognize that other aspects of the game and our initial launch didn’t land the way we’d intended. Therefore, at this time, we have decided to take the game offline beginning September 6, 2024, and explore options, including those that will better reach our player,” the official PlayStation Blog wrote.

Concord launched back on August 23 with a price tag of $40 following the success of Helldivers. However, this time around, fans were not impressed. Even the open beta test did not attract as many players despite being free. The game launched with less than 700 concurrent players on Steam and while the numbers may be a bit higher on PS5, it wasn’t sustainable.

Also Read: PS5 price increases amidst PS5 Pro leaks and rumours

What caused Concord to fail?

While there were a lot of factors that brought on this situation, the main complaints from those who purchased the games were generic arena shooter gameplay paired with bland characters that were not memorable. The $40 price tag also did not help the game in any way, considering there are a lot of established alternatives, and Valve also went on to announce Deadlock on the same day.

What hits even harder is that the game was reportedly under development for eight years and cost Sony $100 million. As per fans, the only way Sony can redeem themselves is to release an official port of Bloodborne on PC.

Sony you have one guaranteed way to make up that Concord loss: pic.twitter.com/8Hx9F61JwV

— kate bush's husband (@airbagged) September 3, 2024

Players who purchased Concord will be issued a refund from their respective platforms, i.e, PlayStation Store, Steam or Epic Games Store. Those who purchased a physical copy of the game will need to contact the retailer for refund process.