Trouble in the Live-Service Trenches: Sony's Concord Struggles to Find Its Footing

Sony's latest entry into the live-service genre, the hero shooter Concord, has had a rocky start since its debut on PC and PlayStation 5 last week, with initial numbers far from promising.

According to data from SteamDB, Concord reached a peak of only 697 concurrent players on PC on its launch day. As of now, the player count has dwindled to just 252. This underwhelming performance comes despite two beta testing periods, an early access phase that began on August 20, and the official launch on August 23. To put this in perspective, Helldivers 2, another live-service game from Sony's first-party studios released at the same time on PC and PlayStation 5, managed to hit a peak of 458,709 concurrent players around its launch. Even six months after its release, Helldivers 2 continues to attract tens of thousands of players.

The situation isn't much better on PlayStation 5. Although Sony has yet to release its monthly top downloads report, the game's standing in the PlayStation Store suggests it's not performing well. Currently, Concord ranks 38th on the PS5 Games page when sorted by "bestselling," a surprisingly low position for a newly launched title that received significant marketing support from PlayStation.

On Twitch, Concord is drawing a modest audience, with 505 viewers tuned in at the time of writing. In contrast, Star Wars Outlaws, another recent release, boasts a significantly larger viewership of 112,000 on the platform.

Concord is a 5v5 hero shooter developed by Firewalk Studios, a studio owned by PlayStation Studios. This game is part of Sony's broader strategy to expand into live-service games. According to the lead character designer, Concord has been in development for about eight years and has received substantial promotion from Sony, especially since acquiring Firewalk in 2023. Despite this, the game's reception has been mixed. Digital Trends’ Giovanni Colantonio praised Concord for having "fun hero-shooter bones" but criticized it for lacking innovative ideas to elevate its otherwise solid foundation.

The future of Concord remains uncertain. On one hand, the game could potentially attract more players through future updates. The developers have already committed to at least three seasons of content, which should keep the game active until January 2025. However, the game faces stiff competition in the crowded live-service shooter market, dominated by established giants like Fortnite and Destiny 2. Moreover, the much-anticipated release of Marvel Rivals in December poses an additional challenge for Concord to stand out.

While Concord still has time to turn things around, it will need to make significant strides to capture the attention of players and secure its place in the competitive landscape of live-service games.