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- It has recently been revealed that Concord cost over $400 million to develop.
- This makes it the biggest failure in the history of gaming, which shouldn’t be taken lightly.
- The game was reportedly being pushed by one of Sony’s leading figures, Hermen Hulst.
Many would know by now that a failure occurred by PlayStation, known as Concord. This game was in development for 8 years, and as soon as it was revealed to the public, it was deemed a failure. I honestly don’t understand how Sony didn’t see it coming.
Concord’s failure was pretty much obvious after its betas were released. The game had a really underwhelming launch, and just two weeks after it was released, Sony took it offline.
Now, a New report has highlighted that Concord was much more to Sony than we would have thought, and it is actually the biggest failure in the history of gaming.
Why it matters: Given the $40 price tag and how generic this live service hero shooter looked, the failure was pretty much a given. However, Sony never once thought that it could fail, as the gaming giant had hopes no one would have imagined.
The Future of PlayStation, Really?
It is pretty hilarious that this generic live service title was considered the future of PlayStation. Can you believe it? Can you really believe this game was called the future of PlayStation? How could one look at it and say that this is the future of a multi-billion dollar company?
Maybe I am too dumb to comprehend all this, but you can see that the aftermath wasn’t pretty. A very reliable source confirmed that this game was called ‘The Future of PlayStation’ and that it cost well over $400 million to develop.
Of course, Sony did not allocate all of the money, as the gaming giant acquired the studio after the game was in development. However, this live service title was in a really bad condition, which is why even more money was spent on it.
The total sum is said to be $400 Million, which is a lot. For reference, the development and marketing budget of Red Dead Redemption 2 is estimated to be around $300-500 Million. The development cost is estimated to be around $200 Million.
This is a huge chunk of money, but look at the difference between these two titles. One is the 7th best-selling game of all time, and one is the biggest failure of all time.
Someone Was Being Delusional
When the game’s alpha was ready, as per the sources, it was in a laughable shape. However, when it was in the alpha stage, $200M was already spent on it. For now, it is unclear how much of the money Sony allocated to $200M, but it has been revealed that after the alpha state, Sony allocated a similar sum.
So, Sony would have spent well over $200 million. This title was being called a baby of Hermen Hulst as he was a massive fan. There was this ‘positive toxicity’ internally, which would not let anyone say anything bad about the game.
If anyone didn’t like the character, the design, or literally anything, they would simply have to not say anything. That is how this game was launched. It seems like the current head of PlayStation, Hermen Hulst, has also played a major role in its failure.
So, many were being delusional about the game’s success. It is estimated to have sold around 25k on both platforms, but everyone who bought the game was refunded.
Is Concord Coming Back?
Some recent activity at Steam did hint that this live service title could be coming back. Sony might be planning to revive it as a Free-to-Play model, but its open beta was F2P, and not many played it.
So, it seems like the revival won’t make much sense, but given how this game was treated, I won’t be ruling out this possibility. Some fans who enjoyed the game are hoping for a comeback, but it is unlikely to work.
That said, the director has already stepped, and layoffs are expected very soon. The studio seems to be in a very sorry condition right now and is likely to face a closure.
After such a failure, it is a miracle that Sony hasn’t closed this studio yet. However, given this new information, it makes sense why the developer is still hanging to the thread.
Concord is actually the biggest ever first-party game by PlayStation budget-wise. So, this is the story of the biggest failure in gaming history. Hopefully, we won’t get to see more of such incidents, as this would ultimately hurt the very gaming industry we adore.
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[News Editor]
Obaid is pursuing a Law degree, while working as a content writer. He has worked as a gaming writer for over a year because of his passion for the medium and reporting the latest updates in the industry. Having played hundreds of games, Obaid finds himself coming back to Elden Ring, Cyberpunk 2077, and Red Dead Redemption 2, with these games being among his favorites. He has also been mentioned on highly regarded websites, such as Wccftech, Metro UK, PS Lifestyle, GamePressure, VGC, and Gamespot.
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