We have some new interesting rumors about a game that isn’t going to exist after tomorrow, Concord.
Inside Games hosts Lawrence Sonntag and Bruce Greene discussed the fallout of the game’s closure in the latest episode of their YouTube show. In the middle of this roundup, however, they shared some new details that they heard from their own sources.
First things first, they were told that Concord sold 10,000 units across all platforms. They did bring up Simon Carless’ estimate that the game sold 25,000 units. Bruce and Lawrence made it clear that they were told the game actually sold up to this lower number, for both PC and PlayStation 5.
As we pointed out when we reported on Carless’ estimate, it didn’t really make sense for 10,000 people to have bought Concord on PC, when player metrics did not go higher than the peak of 697 players on SteamDB. It’s not that we expected to see a 10,000 concurrent player peak on SteamDB.
But the way those player numbers peaked low, and dipped completely for the next few days, did not support the idea that that many people bought the game on PC. Maybe it is true that more than 700 or even 1,000 gamers bought Concord on Steam, and those other players just never logged in.
If there’s some reason there were that many buyers of the game who didn’t actually play it, we would need someone in the know to blow the whistle on it. But it is entirely possible that Sony will just tell the public themselves, if it benefits them to be that transparent.
The other detail Lawrence and Bruce shared is that Firewalk Studios is currently on paid time off. If there are some employees still maintaining those servers, they will probably join everyone else in going on vacation this coming weekend.
While this is clearly a brief respite, it’s at least good to know that Sony didn’t just throw them under the bus. I want you, dear reader, to remember this well: whether a game developer made a good or bad game, does not determine if they deserve to have a livelihood.
It’s really hard to see a way forward for Concord itself. Even if Sony was willing to pay to make the game free to pay, and even to invest in what would be expensive changes to the character designs, they would still be entering an incredibly competitive market.
It’s easier to see Firewalk finding a way forward on their own. As many fans have pointed out, they are clearly qualified to make one of those dream Sony multiplayer games they want to play. They can make a PlayStation All-Stars hero shooter, or that new SOCOM or Resistance game.
There’s also no reason for Firewalk to not just take a step back into becoming a support studio for now. Their specialties will definitely prove useful to Sony Santa Monica, Insomniac, etc.
If Firewalk were to spin off into an independent studio again, they would have to find a buyer, but Sony may just agree to such an arrangement. Sony was willing to do that for Daybreak, FKA Sony Online Entertainment.
We would certainly like to hope for the best for Firewalk Studios, but for now, they will be waiting for news for what comes next just like the rest of us.
