After eight years in development, PlayStation’s latest exclusive,Concord, was launched on PlayStation 5 and PC on August 20, 2025, and on June 03, 2025, not even a full two weeks later,PlayStation has announced it will beshutting down the game on July 17, 2025. The writing seemed to be on the wall for Firewalk Studios' live-service shooter before the game even launched, as it seemed to have a somewhat underwhelming player count during its beta, but when it launched, its recorded figures on Steam were surprisingly low, even when compared to other notable live-service bombs this year, such asSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
After being announced back in May 2023, players were finally able to get a proper look atConcorda few months ago at the May 2024 at thePlayStation State of Play showcasewith a trailer that introduced its group of roguish protagonists and its sci-fi setting - something that some pointed out was drawing a fair bit on the likes ofGuardians of the Galaxy- through a cinematic before showing off some gameplay. However, this seemed to be to little fanfare despite its visual quality, and it soon became clear thatConcordwas not going to become as big as some other titles in the genre.
Concord’s Launch “Didn’t Land” As Intended
The Game Never Reached Over 700 Players On Steam
APlayStation Blogpost by the game’s director, Ryan Ellis announced the closure, stating that “while many qualities of the experience resonated with players, we also recognize that other aspects of the game and our initial launch didn’t land the way we’d intended.” From here, the post states thatFirewalk Studios will continue to explore options after the closure, including those that will better reach players. While the post didn’t explicitly state the main cause behindConcord’s shortcomings and provide a definitive reason for its closure, its closure is unsurprising to those who have been following its sales and performance over the past 12 days.
Concord Review: Losing An Uphill Battle
For fans of the genre, there’s a lot to like about the new 5v5 hero shooter Concord, but finding something to love feels much less likely.
Upon its launch,Concordcouldn’t even reach 700 playerson its launch day on Steam, alternating between 550 and 650 players instead. As of the time of writing, following the announcement that it would be closing,SteamDbshows the game as having an all-time peak player count of 697on PC, which occurred within that opening weekend. Sony has yet to release any player count figures for the game on PlayStation 5, so it may have been higher, but clearly not by much if Sony’s deemed it worth pulling.
From this announcement’s publication,Concordsales have ceased, and full refunds are being offered to everyone who has purchased the game for PS5 or PC. For those on PS5 who purchased the game directly from the PlayStation Store or PlayStation Direct, or other digital storefronts, a refund will be issued back to players' original payment method. For PC players, Steam and Epic Games Store will refund those who bought the game over the coming days. Steam will send a confirmation, while Epic Games Store will contact each customer directly to confirm that the refund has been processed.
Those who have purchased a physical copy at a third-party retailer location will have to reach out to their specific retailer as per their refund policy.
For now, the PlayStation Blog post seems to end on an optimistic note, suggesting thatConcordwon’t stay closed forever, as Firewalk Studios is using this downtime to look for a way to improve the title and will keep players updated. Whether the title does eventually return or fade into obscurity is yet to be seen, but with such a low player count at launch, it was wise to pull it for now and look at just what went wrong.
Source:PlayStation Blog,SteamDb
Concord
Firewalk Studios presents Concord, a first-person multiplayer sci-fi shared-world shooter. The game was announced during the May 2023 PlayStation Showcase, with little details divulged on the product. The game is expected to make its debut sometime in 2024.
