What happened to Concord?

Sony didn’t waste any time pulling the plug on one of its latest games, Concord. Things seem much brighter for its newest release though! All this and more news from the week. Let’s go! 

Concord discs become coasters

Concord, a $40 game created by Sony-owned studio Firewalk, went offline just two weeks after it was released. Sony is refunding players who purchased the game, but the 5v5 shooter is an online-only game, and therefore unplayable. From Sony’s press release:

[W]hile 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.

Player numbers for the game were low leading to Sony’s decision, and it was occasionally difficult to find enough players to make a match. In an era of free-to-play multi-person shooters like Overwatch and Fortnite, it was difficult to convince players to spend the $40 on Concord, despite Sony pledging that there would be no battle passes or additional fees to the game. Most free games make their money selling cosmetics and battle passes. 

What will happen with Concord? It’s hard to say. Some envision it coming back as a free-to-play game. Others think that is likely not an option. Whatever happens, fans who purchased the physical edition are making their money back as they are currently selling for over $100 on Ebay. A few more links on Concord:

• A good game like Concord just isn’t good enough anymore
• Streamers captured Concord's final moments as the servers went offline
• Concord was worse than bad — it was forgettable
• The internet reacts to Sony's unprecedented unreleasing of Concord

A little robot is a big hit

While one PlayStation game closes up shop, another releases in a big way. 

Astro Bot released last week, and the reviews were some of the best of the year. 

Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier provides a nice overview of the game:

It’s hard to stop smiling as your adorable little robot bounces and floats his way to rescuing other Astro Bots, many of which are dressed up as characters from PlayStation history, such as Kratos from God of War. (The entire game is full of PlayStation references, and your robots fly around on a ship fashioned after the PS5. At times, it can feel like a little much. But clearly it’s all done with love.)

With Astro Bot, it seems PlayStation has found its own Mario or Sonic-esque character. Polygon agrees. Do you plan to pick up the Astro Bot game? Have you played it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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Side Quests (more stories worth reading)

📅 Some site news: our editor will be on vacation the next two weeks. The Games Letter will return Sept. 30. 

🐲 A recent study says playing Dungeons & Dragons helps autistic players in social interactions.

🦾 80 games agree to SAG-AFTRA’s Artificial Intelligence terms.

🎶 An update to Alan Wake will remove David Bowie's Space Oddity from the game and replace it with an original song. 

🎥 There’s a new trailer for the upcoming Minecraft movie.

🤭 The logo for PlayStation‘s 30th anniversary could contain an image of the unannounced PlayStation 5 Pro.

🧹 A Hogwarts Legacy sequel is “one of the biggest priorities” for Warner Bros. Games. 

👋🏼 The developers behind Risk of Rain have stopped work on their new project, as they have joined Valve. 

📉 Board game developer CMON’s revenue fell nearly 25% year-on-year. 

📱 Balatro is coming to mobile in September. 

❎ Third-party studios are speaking out about their difficulties making (or porting) their games to Xbox.

🤖 A new AI model “learns” how to simulate Super Mario Bros. from video footage.

💰 Roblox will start sharing more revenue with creators.That might help with Roblox’s goal of “one billion daily active users.”

📙 A novel based on the popular board game Catan arrives in October. 

📱 GameIndustry.biz has a nice breakdown on what the Digital Markets Act means for mobile game developers.

💻 Acer announced their version of a handheld gaming PC, the Nitro Blaze. 

🧀 What is cheese doing in video games? 

New Releases this week: 

Check out our article on 11 New Games to Play in September.

9/9: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (PlayStation, Xbox or PC)
9/11: Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)
9/12: Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown (PlayStation, Xbox and PC)
9/13: Funko Fusion (PlayStation, Xbox and PC)

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