Concord’s initial development deal was around $200 million according to a report by Kotaku, offering a glimpse of how much it cost Sony to develop its disastrous live service game, which lasted just two weeks before being unceremoniously shuttered.
Kotaku’s report, which cites two sources familiar with the agreement, says that the $200 million was not enough to fund Concord’s entire development, nor did it include the purchase of the Concord IP rights or Firewalk Studios itself. Kotaku’s number aligns with an earlier report saying that ProbablyMonsters — Firewalk’s original parent company — raised $200 million in 2021.
Firewalk’s goodbye post sheds additional light on its development costs. Looking back on the studio’s history, the note reflects on being a new startup during the global pandemic, and how Concord only entered full production in 2022. It also talks about building a “new, customized next-generation FPS engine in Unreal 4 -> 5, delivering top-tier gameplay feel, beautiful worlds, and a performant 60fps technical experience on a stable and scalable backend on PS5 and PC to hundreds of thousands of players in our beta.”
It all points to Concord being seen as an ambitious project that was expected to attract a large audience. Instead it launched to tepid reviews and low interest, prompting PlayStation to pull the plug within days of release. One estimate suggested it only sold around 25,000 copies.
Midia Research Analyst Rhys Elliott told IGN shortly before Concord was shut down, “Pivoting to live services is high-risk, high-reward venture, and the risk is heightening to levels that might not be worth it for many AAA console/PC publishers that aren’t already active in the space.”
Concord is hardly the only expensive live service game to fail to meet expectations, with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League facing similar struggles. Live service games are increasingly facing a calcified market dominated by the likes of Fortnite and Call of Duty while costing hundreds of millions dollars to make. Despite that, PlayStation continues to bet big on service games, with Fairgame$ and Marathon among the projects next on the docket.
PlayStation Studios CEO Hermen Hulst says Sony will learn from its experience with Firewalk Studios. “The PvP first person shooter genre is a competitive space that’s continuously evolving, and unfortunately, we did not hit our targets with this title. We will take the lessons learned from Concord and continue to advance our live service capabilities to deliver future growth in this area.”
Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
