Concord, Sony’s first-party multiplayer title, launched on August 23 on PS5 and PC, but failed to attract players with its Overwatch-style 5v5 hero shooter premise. After dismal player numbers on Steam and poor sales, the PlayStation parent took Concord offline on September 6 and refunded all players who had purchased the game. After its two-week run, the online shooter, which spent years in development and was supposed to be Sony’s big live service bet, ended up a massive commercial failure. A new claim from an industry insider, however, has shed some light on just how big a flop Concord was for Sony.
Concord Development Cost
Speaking on the Sacred Symbols podcast, industry insider Colin Moriarty, citing a source who claimed to have worked on Concord, said the game cost $400 million (roughly Rs. 3,341 crore) to make. He also said that the game was internally referred to as “the future of PlayStation,” with Sony believing the game had the potential to become a Star Wars-like franchise.
“The reason that I wanted to talk about it [Concord] is because some of the assumptions that I’d made about the game were dead wrong, as far as how much it cost and how much Sony really lost on it,” Moriarty said on the podcast last week. “Concord cost about $400 million,” he added.
I spoke extensively with someone who worked on Concord, and it’s so much worse than you think.
It was internally referred to as “The Future of PlayStation” with Star Wars-like potential, and a dev culture of “toxic positivity” halted any negative feedback.
Making it cost $400m. pic.twitter.com/F5O0oy4gaQ
— Colin Moriarty (@longislandviper) September 20, 2024
Sony’s Reported Loss
It’s unlikely, however, that Sony bore the entirety of that cost. According to Moriarty, about $200 million (roughly Rs. 1,670 crore) had already been spent on developing Concord by the time the game entered its alpha stage around the first quarter of 2023. It’s unclear how much of that development cost came from Sony, before the company acquired Concord developer Firewalk Studios from its previous owner, ProbablyMonsters, in April 2023.
According to Moriarty’s source, Sony went on to spend an additional $200 million on the game after that point, bringing total development cost to around $400 million. He claimed that during its alpha stage, Concord was in a “laughable state,” and thus Sony had to spend the additional $200 million to get the game to “minimum viable product” stage.
Moriarty also claimed that Concord represented Sony’s “biggest loss ever on a game,” considering the company had fronted most of the $400 million budget. “it’s the biggest game Sony has ever released from a budgetary standpoint from a first party or second party,” he said. “Let that sink in.”
Concord Internal Issues
The podcast also dived into the reasons for Concord’s colossal failure. The game, according to the source, was a “Star Wars-like project” for Sony and was being referred to as “the future of PlayStation.” It’s worth noting here that the Japanese company, traditionally known for its narrative-focussed single-player games, has made a major push into live service titles in the past few years; much of that effort has been walked back after setbacks, with Sony reportedly halving its slate of live service games that were planned to launch by March 2026.
On the podcast, Moriarty also said that there was a “toxic positivity” about the game at Firewalk, where people weren’t allowed to speak against it or criticise aspects of development internally. He also added that the game was championed internally by Hermen Hulst, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment Studio Business Group.
Sony has not shared any details about Concord’s disastrous launch, neither has the company confirmed or denied the reported budget of the game. Concord went offline on September 6 after poor sales and a negligible player count following launch. Sony confirmed that all sales of the game would be ceased and players who had purchased the game on PS5 or PC would receive full refunds. The hero shooter is no longer available to buy on PlayStation Store or PC storefronts like Steam and Epic Games Store.
Last week, a report claimed that Concord game director Ryan Ellis would be stepping down from his role and moving to a support role instead.
Concord launched on PS5 and PC on August 23 with a $40 price tag and subsequently failed to attract enough players. The game’s concurrent player count on Steam peaked at 697, and reports estimated that it sold around 25,000 copies across PS5 and PC.
