Concord Becomes Sony's Biggest Flop Yet

Concord is Sony's latest release, coming out to both PC and PlayStation 5 simultaneously; it's a colourful first-person shooter where you'll join the crew of the Northstar and assemble a crew of outlaws. The title comes out in a relatively saturated market, fighting against top dogs in the industry, with gameplay similar to other hero shooters (either arena or tactical).

The catch? It released with an entry fee of £34.99 where the industry standard is usually free-to-play, setting it behind against other competitors in the market by a large margin. This hefty price was received with negativity originally, with users disbelief at the pricing and the fact that there would be an upcoming cosmetics shop for the title; in a world where microtransactions are being less and less tolerated in paid titles, prospective players met this news with the worst possible reaction: disinterest.

Now, it's been a few days since the release of the title, and Concord basked in a 697 all-time peak upon its release, never meeting these numbers again and seeing dropoffs that it likely won't recover from. At the time of writing (on the 27th of August), the title has seen a 24-hour peak of 276 players, though it also saw a low of sub-100 players. Likewise, its all-time peak of viewership stats is an eye-watering 113,330 viewers... last month, with its peak viewership upon release not even scratching 10% of that glory.

With 417 reviews and a quickly dwindling player count, the 71% review rating is seeing a downwards spiral as more negative reviews come in. Complaints range from being unable to find matches to playing matches with regions outside of the US, leading to uneven matches and ping, causing players to be unable to hit targets.

After eight years of development and an estimated budget (based on the studio's staff and location) of $75 million, Concord has secured its spot as Sony's biggest flop yet.