It’s been a year since Concord, the Sony-backed competitive FPS game, shut down just a couple of weeks after its infamous launch. With triple-A visuals, a big development budget, promises of regular storytelling through high-quality cinematics, and even a spot in Amazon’s gaming anthology series, Secret Level, both Sony and developer Firewalk Studios were gunning for it to be the next big multiplayer hit. What transpired was the opposite – a poor reception to its reveal, a low turn out to its beta, and generally sour sentiment towards the game meant that it had woefully low player counts. Just two weeks after its full release, Concord was taken offline. Now, new perspectives from those who worked on the game appear to have been shared in a podcast. A group of developers from an unnamed studio, discussing a notoriously large project that was shut down rapidly after launch, have discussed the “red flags” they saw during development, and described the game as “the most beautiful car that we crashed.”
The latest episode of the A Life Well Wasted podcast features several game developers talking candidly about their time at a particular studio and their feelings towards a now-delisted game they built there. After analyzing the names of some of the interviewees, I can say with confidence that they are discussing Firewalk Studios and Concord.
While there’s virtually unanimous agreement that Firewalk was a good place to work, with this group talking about a strong sense of comradery and a shared passion for the FPS game they were creating, they also acknowledge there were some “red flags.” On a couple of occasions, the point is raised about how the game was actually built and put together to a high degree of quality and accuracy, perfectly realizing the vision leadership had established – but of course, that vision was ultimately the issue. There was also an incredibly strong sense that Concord couldn’t fail due to the time and resources that had been pumped into it.
“Every creative endeavor is a gamble, but from when I first came in four years ago, it was like: ‘it’s too big to fail, there’s so much behind this.’ Even if things go poorly on launch, it’s gonna be ok, and we’ll have one year’s runway, two years’ runway or something like that to right the ship,” one dev recalls.
Reflecting on what actually turned players against Concord, one developer says that Firewalk simply did a bad job communicating what their goal with the game was going to be – it should’ve been established well in advance of its cinematic reveal. The game’s aesthetics and characters also just didn’t resonate with players, and as one dev summarizes: “it taught me something important – there’s something worse than making a bad game, and that’s making an uncool one.”
In terms of the game’s rapid shut down and delisting, there’s a split among the group. Some were watching streams, waiting to be there for the exact moment the servers got switched off – one describes the moment as a “mercy killing” for the project given it had been so battered the weeks prior. Others were truly heartbroken that the game wasn’t being given a chance to survive. While there’s a lot of acceptance that Firewalk, as a whole, could’ve done a better job realizing what players want and communicating effectively, there’s also the sense that Concord wasn’t an inherently ‘bad’ game.
“‘Greatest flop of all time’ – I don’t feel like it deserves that,” says one dev, knocking the label that many have given Concord. “I think gamers missed out,” another says, ruing the fact that so many never tried it and will never get the chance to play it in the future. Due to the game’s level of polish and visuals, another describes it as “the most beautiful car that we [Firewalk] crashed.”
The entire episode makes for an interesting listen, and you can do so here, or you can quickly digest some more quotes from the development team at this ResetEra post.
While we mourn the passing of Concord, and look back on its swift demise as a case of how not to go about marketing and shipping a big-budget PvP shooter, here are some of the best multiplayer games you can actually play right now. Alternatively, here are some of the upcoming PC games you can look forward to for the remainder of 2025 and beyond.
Did you give Concord a spin back in the day? Tell us what you really thought over in our Discord server, or just come and have a chat about your favorite PC games more broadly.
