After Just 14 Days, Concord Has Been Unceremoniously Un-Released

It feels like just yesterday that I was speaking to how Concord’s sales numbers were so dire that the game barely felt like a new release – and now, that is all being walked back.

Concord is being taken offline as of September 6, with a full round of refunds to those that purchased the title.

'Concord' gets delisted on September 6th. Sony is offering a full refund.https://t.co/ubb2KJWbWu pic.twitter.com/cNxsJ3piyD

— Knoebel (@Knoebelbroet) September 3, 2024

In a statement on the PlayStation blog, Ryan Ellis, Game Director at Firewalk Studios said:

We’ve been listening closely to your feedback since the launch of Concord on PlayStation 5 and PC and want to thank everyone who has joined the journey aboard the Northstar. Your support and the passionate community that has grown around the game has meant the world to us.
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However, while many qualities of the experience resonated with players, we also recognize that other aspects of the game and our initial launch didn’t land the way we’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.
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While we determine the best path ahead, Concord sales will cease immediately and we will begin to offer a full refund for all gamers who have purchased the game for PS5 or PC. If you purchased the game for PlayStation 5 from the PlayStation Store or PlayStation Direct, a refund will be issued back to your original payment method

Those who spent their hard earned dosh on the game will be refunded directly via their storefront of choice, be it Steam, Epic Game Store or the PlayStation Store – if you bought the game physically, you may want to bundle your disc and head back to your retailer of choice.

It is a savagely sad state of affairs for a game that both Adam and myself found to have a bit of juice to it – not quite Valorant, not quite Overwatch. One of the best observations I managed to see came from former Managing Editor of Kotaku AU, David Smith, who said:

Concord is a polished multiplayer shooter that combines some of the better elements of its contemporaries, and whose problems are almost all external

These were the words that had congealed in my own giblets – this game is far from a mega stinker, it just has the unfortunate reality of manifesting at an incompatible time.

So where to now for Concord? Well, the Blog post makes mention of “determining the best path ahead”, so one could assume there will be some fervently awkward discussions to come at Firewalk Studios in the coming days, so if you are a supporter of Firewalk and the world they have crafted you would want to keep an eye on whatever announcement is to come.

Are you surprised by the outcome for Concord? Did you enjoy your time in the Freegunners? Let us know in the comments or on social media.