Concord goes offline as PlayStation rethinks gameโ€™s future

Since Concord officially launched on August 23, there were plenty of reports about how badly it was performing: debuting at fewer than 1,000 players on Steam, and barely cracking the top 50 on the PlayStation charts. We liked the game, but for a multiplayer shooter, those figures seemed grim.

Apparently things were even worse than anyone anticipated, because today Sony announced it would be pulling the game offline beginning September 6:

While many qualities of the experience resonated with players, we also recognize that other aspects of the game and our initial launch didnโ€™t land the way weโ€™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 players.

If youโ€™re one of the (evidently few) people who bought the game, the good news is that youโ€™ll be getting a full refund. If you picked it up digitally โ€” whether on PS5, Steam, or Epic โ€” youโ€™ll be getting a direct refund in the coming days, and if you purchased a physical copy, Sony is telling you to โ€œplease refer to the refund process of the retailer you purchased it from to obtain your refund.โ€

Itโ€™s possible the game may return in another form โ€” maybe free-to-play? โ€” at some point down the road, but at present, Concord looks to be one of the biggest flops in gaming history.