The president of Sony comments on the failure of Concordia

Key points

Sony is still analyzing Concord's failure.
The company believes that the game did not have enough “gates” to ensure that it met player expectations.
According to company president Hiroki Totoki, Sony's “silo” organizational structure likely contributed to Concord's failure.

PlayStation is still analyzing the failure of Concordaccording to Sony president Hiroki Totoki. The company official said as much in a recent Q&A session, which also saw him speculate on some of the reasons why Concord it ended the way it did.

The first and last game from Sony subsidiary Firewalk Studios hit the market on August 23rd. It was closed just two weeks later, with Concord making it what is believed to be the costliest failure in Sony's live service efforts to date.

Reaction to former GTA developer's Concord studio closure

Former GTA developers comment on the closure of Concord Studio

A former Rockstar Games developer, who worked on several GTA games, agrees with their opinion on Sony closing the studio behind Concord.

Now that Concord is confirmed to not be returning in any way, Sony President and Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki mused about the short-lived game during a Q&A session held after the company's latest earnings conference call. Among other things, the exec said Sony is “in the process of learning” what went wrong with the Firewalk hero shooter. Totoki offered some theories on the matter, such as noting that any new IP carries inherent risk and is far from a sure bet.

Concord didn't have enough “gates,” Sony president says

The head of Sony also expressed this opinion Concord they didn't have enough “gates” in the form of “user testing” and other forms of evaluation. The timing of these checks was another potential issue he identified in retrospect. “We should have built those gates much earlier than we did,” he explained. Instead, Sony was apparently unaware that the game could turn out to be a major flop until 2019 Concord The open beta failed to generate any significant interest a month before the shooter's market debut.

Sony's organizational structure probably didn't do Concord any favors

Totoki also acknowledged that Sony's business structure may have contributed to the company's failure Concord. Specifically, he described Sony as a “siloed organisation”, suggesting that its individual departments are currently quite isolated from each other and admitting that this may have caused a disconnect between them in terms of Concordthat's the case.

While Concord ended up being one of the highest profile failures in Sony's history, it remains to be seen whether its fate will lead the gaming giant to reconsider its overall foray into live service. After all, the only other live service game released by Sony in 2024, Helldivers 2it ended up being a huge success; it sold over 12 million copies in its first three months on the market, making it the fastest PlayStation game to reach this figure. As of late 2024, Sony still has several live-service titles in the works, including ones from Haven Studios. Fairgames and Bungie's Marathon. The latter is currently believed to be targeting launch in the second half of 2025, while Fairgames is still without a tentative release window.

Gather your crew of Freegunner space outlaws and team up with friends online for thrilling 5v5 PVP modes across the galaxy in Concord.

Concord is a new team-based first-person shooter for PS5® and PC*. Choose your own roster of Freegunners from the crew of the Northstar, a group of outlaws and adventurers who work as mercenaries.

ASSEMBLE YOUR CREW
From powerful mystics to skilled gunslingers and helpful healers, each Freegunner brings unique skills, personalities, and abilities that cater to a wide range of playstyles.

Create your own custom Freegunner squads with Crew Builder to bring an arsenal of different role types to the match, or focus on your favorite characters to master their gameplay and unlock unique modifiers, cosmetics, back stories and more – you decide when to play your characters and your impact on the game.

PLAY. PROGRESS. CUSTOMIZE.
Earn and unlock a wide range of character customization items and learn more about the characters, worlds and factions of the Concord Galaxy with the Galaxy Guide.

You'll also be able to progress and unlock Freegunner variants: versions of each of the 16 Freegunners with combat trait modifiers added to their base abilities. As you learn and master characters, combat traits allow you to tailor each character to your playstyle.

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