Concord developer expresses gratitude for support following the sudden shutdown: 'For all of you reaching out with love, you are the reason we make games'

GamesFPSConcordConcord developer expresses gratitude for support following the sudden shutdown: ‘For all of you reaching out with love, you are the reason we make games’When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Sony)

concord

Thesudden shutdownof the newly-launched hero shooter Concord sparked an entirely unsurprising wave ofunfortunate grave dancingamongst people who decried the game for being too “woke” or diverse, rather than being a game “for gamers,” whatever that’s supposed to mean. But amidst all that predictable sound and fury, there are also messages of support for the developers at Firewalk Studios, and expressions of hope from fans that Concord will be back.

Concord went into full release on August 23, which means it lasted only 11 days before Firewalk and Sony had seen enough. It’s hard to overstate what a high-speed train wreck that represents: Amazon’sCruciblelasted more than a month before it was un-launched in 2020, while Valve’s CCGArtifactmade it almost three years—admittedly withminiscule player counts—before the axe finally fell. Even the infamousAnthemstruggled along for a couple years before Electronic Arts threw in the towel.

The only faster cancellation that comes immediately to mind isThe Day Before, which went under in just four days and took an entire development studio (or perhaps I should say,purported development studio) with it. Lasting just one week longer than The Day Before, well, that’s really not great.

It also stands in very sharp contrast with the confidence Sony seemed to have in the game pre-release: Sony actuallyacquired Firewalkin 2023 solely on the perceived strength of Concord, and Amazon based an episode of its upcoming videogame-based seriesSecret Levelon it.

concord is supposed to be in an episode of the new amazon show secret level https://t.co/37NsnLVUrf pic.twitter.com/rNdBt1DbxWSeptember 3, 2024

“There are going to be a lot of Takes (TM) today but wanted to say this: Launching a game is so fucking hard, and a bunch of incredible talent worked to bring this game to us,” Bungie and Blizzard veteran Daryl Nelsontweeted. “Firewalk didn’t deserve this and I hope that the team can recover and regroup from this.”

“Don’t want to retweet any clickbait or attract trolls, so I’ll just say my heart goes out to everyone at Firewalk Studios regarding today’s news. Fuck,” The Last of Us and Uncharted writer Josh Scherrsaid.

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“My heart goes out to the Firewalk team, this decision could not have been an easy one,” Tencent global senior community manager Evan Bermantweeted.

(Image credit: n7memo (Twitter))

To all of the folks who worked on Concord @FirewalkStudios : you have my love and sympathy. I can only imagine what you’re going through today, and I hope you find all the support you need in the coming weeks.

(Image credit: MilesDompier (Twitter))

Sending love to the team at Firewalk Studios today. I’m sure this news is hard on all the folks who invested years in bringing Concord to players.

God, sorry to the clearly talented folks at @FirewalkStudios. It’s a polished-looking game but the high price point launching into a saturated market was always going to be difficult. This is such a strange sutuation to unwrap. https://t.co/YMzmBsvNnUSeptember 3, 2024

The question hanging over Concord right now is, what next? Firewalk said it wanted to “explore options” and it’s possible Concord could come back at some point in the future, retooled and possibly free to play. Comebacks aren’t unprecedented:Ubisoft’s For Honorstumbled badlybefore the release of a free “starter edition"sparked a turnaround; the hero shooter Gigantic actually reversed the formula, returningearlier this yearas a paid game six years after the free-to-play version was shut down. And let us not forget that Cyberpunk 2077, which everyone now loves, waskicked off the PlayStation Store for six monthsbecause it was such a disaster at launch.

Some Concord fans are hoping for a similar outcome here, or at least that Firewalk won’t suffer layoffs or an outright closure as a result of the game’s failure:

(Image credit: RoneZoner (Twitter))

(Image credit: SamHeaney (Twitter))

Truly deserved so so much better. Games fail all the time & Concord is leagues above them in terms of fun factor & general quality. Heart goes out to the team @FirewalkStudios . You made a great game. If we see it again, I’ll be there with open arms. If we don’t, I had a blast.

#Concord shutting down, refunds going out. I do hope that they are planning on relaunching, maybe with some changes in the future. That wording in the blog definitely doesn’t sound like it’s done just yet. Hope you keep your spirits up @FirewalkStudios!! https://t.co/gDzzHfU13c pic.twitter.com/parvk5f67HSeptember 3, 2024

@FirewalkStudios you all didn’t deserve any of this. What you all put out is quality, and I want y’all to know I THOROUGHLY enjoyed my time with #Concord. The grifting, the unnecessary hate, the attacks your studio received is unwarranted, the gaming community let you all down.September 3, 2024

Please don’t punish Firewalk Studios, let them regroup and try their hand at something that isn’t a live service game. Give this team another shot https://t.co/opQENu7AZUSeptember 3, 2024

Firewalk Studios hasn’t commented on the shutdown or the future of Concord beyond today’s announcement, but design director Josh Hamrick expressed gratitude for the shows of support extended to developers. “For all of you reaching out with love, you are the reason we make games,” Hamricktweeted. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Now I’m gonna go win this Area Control match.”

(Image credit: Josh_Hamrick (Twitter))

For all of you reaching out with love, you are the reason we make games. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Now I’m gonna go win this Area Control match.

Correction:The story initially stated Gigantic had returned as a free-to-play game. It was free to play in its initial release but the new version is paid.

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