- Concord turned 2 recently, but the game remains an important reminder of PlayStation’s live-service failure.
- Since its release, the gaming giant’s lineup has continued to struggle, leading to delayed games and shuttered studios.
- As a result of these setbacks, the PS6’s first-party lineup could suffer at launch.
PlayStation’s forgotten live-service hero shooter, Concord, recently turned 2. Launched on August 23, 2024, the game was effectively destined to fail, and it immediately crashed and burned after launch.
Two years later, it’s clear that PlayStation is still dealing with the fallout of Concord’s failure. Indeed, the gaming giant’s live-service plans have yet to bear fruit, and even with major developers like Bungie launching Marathon, things have yet to turn in PlayStation’s favor.
With Concord turning 2 recently, I thought this would be an appropriate occasion to look at PlayStation’s current position regarding its live-service plans.
Why it matters: Concord, like PlayStation’s other live-service projects, was a huge investment from Sony and PlayStation. However, all the time and effort spent on the game was completely wasted.
Concord And Its Consequences
In case anybody forgot, Concord was shut down in a mere 2 weeks after its release, making a new record for how fast a game could lose developer support.
Since then, PlayStation itself has significantly dialed down on its live-service plans. The gaming giant is no longer forcing its A-list teams to delve into the genre, but even existing titles have gone through a harsh readjustment.
For instance, Fairgame$, announced before Concord, has yet to see the light of day. Reports suggest the game has gone through a major revamp, likely a consequence of PlayStation wanting to avoid another Concord-like failure.
Similarly, Guerrilla Games’ Horizon Hunters is nowhere near launching right now after having been rebooted in development. This, yet again, is PlayStation’s attempt at learning from Concord’s failure.
What this means is that the fallout will continue extending for a few more years until these games are released. Whether they succeed or fail remains to be seen, but PlayStation’s massive hero shooter bet has left the company in doubt more than anything else.
It doesn’t help that Bungie’s Marathon has been completely underwhelming, fading slowly over time.
The Impact on Single-Player Titles
As an indirect consequence of the live-service push, PlayStation’s single-player lineup has suffered quite a bit.
Although you’d be forgiven for thinking everything is sunshine and rainbows at PlayStation Studios, this is clearly not the case. Were it not for Insomniac Games pumping out AAA games relatively quickly this generation, the PS5’s first-party library would have been completely barren.
Consider the fact that Naughty Dog has yet to release a new game in over six years now. This is precisely because the team spent time working on The Last of Us Multiplayer before eventually moving on from the project.
Similarly, Guerrilla Games has been out of the picture for a while and is expected to remain as such until it figures out Horizon Hunters Gathering. As a consequence of the live-service push, a studio like Bluepoint Games has recently been shut down, and another team like Bend Studio has failed to produce a game since Days Gone‘s launch in 2019.
All of this may not seem like much at first. After all, PlayStation still has plenty of exciting first-party titles out each year, but once things add up, it could be devastating for the gaming giant’s business.
The PS6 Generation Will Suffer
Following this live-service push, PlayStation will have effectively spent the entire PS5 lifespan recovering from the aftermath.
Where Sony could have had its most talented teams working on single-player projects, they have been set behind multiple years. As game development becomes more arduous over time, this means that the PS6’s launch lineup will suffer.
Sure, the gaming giant will probably have the God of War Trilogy remakes and Intergalactic ready in time for launch, but everything else remains a huge question.
The PS5’s launch lineup was already quite thin back in 2020, and one team that delivered a launch first-party title, Bluepoint Games, is now defunct. With most of its studios suffering following the live-service fallout, the PS6 might just have things even worse than the PS5 in this regard.
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[Senior News Reporter]
Avinash is currently pursuing a Business degree in Australia. For more than 5 years, he has been working as a gaming journalist, utilizing his writing skills and love for gaming to report on the latest updates in the industry. Avinash loves to play action games like Devil May Cry and has also been mentioned on highly regarded websites, such as IGN, GamesRadar, GameRant, Dualshockers, CBR, and Gamespot.
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