By Sagar V. Mankar PlayStation’s latest release, Concord, has turned out to be a huge disaster, with reports suggesting that Sony might face a loss of up to $200 million, similar to the financial hit we have seen with Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. When compared to Redfall, an Xbox exclusive considered one of 2023’s biggest flops, Concord performs even worse.
Taking Steam numbers as an example, Concord’s player count peaked at just 697 on its launch day, dropping to a mere 97 players shortly after. These numbers are alarming for a new release, especially since the first few weeks are crucial for a game’s success. Most sales happen during this period, after which the game stabilizes or declines. Although there’s always a chance for a comeback with updates or new content, this seems unlikely for Concord, given that its character design concept has already seemed unpleasant among players. While a new character, Freegunner, is set to be introduced in October, there are gaps in the roster that need to be addressed.
When compared to Redfall, a co-op vampire FPS and Xbox’s major flop in 2023, Concord struggles to even match its performance. Redfall also had the same $40 price tag but peaked at 6,124 players on launch day, with over 20 players still active on PC when I last checked. This is quite impressive, considering it was available on Xbox Game Pass from day one, meaning at least 6,124 people bought it on Steam to play.
If we compare it to another major flop of this year, Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, it also performed better in numbers than Concord. Despite the hefty $70 price tag, Suicide Squad peaked at 13,459 players on its launch day, with over 100 players still active on PC now.
While we don’t have the exact PS5 player count for Concord, analyst Simon Carless estimates over 15,000 sales on PlayStation. That’s not a good number either compared to Redfall which sold over 70,000 copies in the first 10 days on Steam only.
Plans exist to support Concord with seasonal content updates introducing new heroes, but it remains to be seen if these promises will be fulfilled. Redfall received significant post-launch updates, but its broader plans were ultimately abandoned, and Microsoft shut down its developer, Arkane Austin.
According to the review aggregation site OpenCritic, Concord holds a 65 overall rating, with 21% of critics recommending the game. In comparison, Redfall has a 57 rating, with only 14% of critics recommending it. It’s important to note that Concord has only received 30 critic reviews compared to Redfall’s 138, so its overall score might change. However, the general consensus is that while Concord is technically well-made with solid FPS action, it suffers from a lack of content, low player interest, and poor character designs. Redfall, on the other hand, was criticized for being a technical mess at launch.
User reviews tell a similar story. Redfall’s recent reviews on Steam are mixed, with an overall rating of “Mostly Negative.” Concord, meanwhile, initially received positive reviews on Steam, which later improved to “Mostly Positive” as more reviews came in. However, Concord’s declining player count is affecting its lower Steam scores lately.
Over the years, many video games have managed to make comebacks. No Man’s Sky, for instance, was heavily criticized at launch but has since become a major hit in the survival genre. Cyberpunk 2077 was a disaster for console players at launch but is now regarded as one of the best action RPGs. While there is a chance for Concord to turn things around, they are against it. Being a multiplayer-only live-service shooter, if its audience dwindles early on, it becomes difficult to justify ongoing updates.
However, a potential comeback isn’t out of the question. If Concord were to go free-to-play, it could attract a larger audience. Even though its free beta didn’t draw many players, making it free-to-play would put it on an even playing field with its competitors, most of which are already free. Alternatively, Concord could be offered as one of the free PS Plus games for a month to boost its player count. Introducing new characters with more appealing designs could also help Concord become more attractive to a broader audience. Time will tell, but if Sony doesn’t take action to address the game’s low and declining player count, Concord may go down as one of the company’s biggest failures.