Concord May be 'Unsalvageable' According to One Analyst as Fans Debate Potential Free-to-Play Future

ign.com:

As of about 10:30am PT / 1:30pm ET on September 6, Concord's servers are officially closed. Sony's troubled live service game didn't even last two weeks, failing to fill its beta and launching to a tragically low concurrent count on Steam. Ultimately it is estimated to have only sold around 25,000 units, which is extraordinarily low by first-party release standards.

Concord servers are now offline.

Thank you again to all the Freegunners who have joined us in the Concord galaxy. pic.twitter.com/o1dTywrqUx

On Bluesky, Circana executive director Mat Piscatella called Concord's shutdown "unprecedented," nothing that even Anthem was the best-selling game of February 2019 and is still playable today. Asked how it compares to the likes of The Day Before and Crucible, two other games that were shuttered soon after release, Piscatella said that this "one reads differently to me than anything that's come before," describing it as being "soundly rejected" by players.

It makes Concord one of the most remarkable news stories of the year — a first party release that ultimately never had a chance.

Still, at least some fans are wondering if there's a future for Sony's shooter. Could Concord work as a free-to-play game? That's been one of the main questions on platforms like X/Twitter and Resetera as fans debate the path ahead for Sony. Even before Concord shut down, Forbes writer Paul Tassi called its transition to free-to-play "inevitable," though wondered if it would change things.

There are certainly plenty of sticking points. The roster failed to resonate with fans, and the art style and writing has variously been described as a kind of off-brand Guardians of the Galaxy. There's also little in terms of innovation to differentiate Concord from other hero shooters. In a market flooded with live service games, success is increasingly a zero sum game, and Concord was on the wrong side of the divide.

Nevertheless, we found points to like about Concord. In our review, we described the