Taking Concord offline less than two weeks after launch, refunds will be issued

We heard some truly shocking things about Concord following its launch in late August. It was only recently noted that the game sold incredibly poorly, with around 25,000 units shipped in its first week, and evidently there was some truth to that because now Sony and Firewalk Studios have dropped a bombshell and basically admitted that the game achieved what it set out to achieve.

In a new PlayStation Blog post, Game Director Ryan Ellis explains: “Concord fans – we’ve listened closely to your feedback since Concord launched on PlayStation 5 and PC, and we want to thank everyone who joined the journey aboard the Northstar. Your support and the passionate community that has grown around the game have meant the world to us.”

“While many qualities of the experience have resonated with players, we also recognized that other aspects of the game and our initial release have not resonated as we intended. As such, at this time we have decided to take the game offline beginning September 6, 2024 to explore options and options, including those that better reach our players.”

Yes, that’s right, Concord is being taken offline and essentially shut down. It’s unclear if this will be a permanent closure or just a temporary shutdown while the studio explores the other options Ellis notes in the statement above, but considering Concord barely had two weeks in the wild, it’s hard to see this as anything other than a catastrophic failure and likely the end of this live service project.

For those (few) who picked up a copy of Concord and are wondering what this means for them, full refunds will be issued. If you purchased through PlayStation Store or Direct, refunds will be sent directly back to the account you used to purchase the game. For Steam users, Steam will send a refund confirmation in the next few days, and the same process applies for Epic Games Store users. Other retailers also have their own methods of returning the money to the buyer.

It should be noted, however, that if you have even the slightest faith that Concord will one day be returned, you should not refund it now, as you will lose access to the game once you complete it.

The blog post ends with: “We will keep you updated and thank once again all the Freegunners who have joined us in the Concord Galaxy.”

RIP Concord: August 23, 2024 – September 3, 2024.