Concord |OT| 24 players - It's dead Jim.

[the-pi-guy]

Helldivers 2 did great but as a traditional online game.

I was assuming Fairgame has been more expensive to develop but do we actually know how large the team is?

All we know is:
2021 they had 54 people
2022 they had 106.

[the-pi-guy]

I think it depends on if Fairgames ends up being good, and whether they capture their market.

I've heard good things about Jade Raymond's game, is it Fairgame$, I've heard good things about that. So there's a few, I know people who are a bit skeptical about the trailer, but I've heard internal chatter is very positive about it. So there are these other projects that I assume that the ones that they're focusing on are the ones that they're going to go for. They're going to put out there, they're going to support, and try and make work.

Fairgames is in a better position than Concord for a lot of reasons.

The first impression of Concord wasn't terrible, but the second one was pretty disastrous. People were extremely antagonistic towards the game. The first time was more "ok, that's a good looking cheese burger I guess."

The first impression of Fairgames wasn't good, but it wasn't disastrous either.



Fairgames is also competing in a much easier space. The big competition there from what I understand is PayDay.
Concord was competing against some of the biggest games (Overwatch, Apex Legends) on the market at a much higher price.


If Fairgames can pull off a better second impression, I think it'll do fine.


Maybe it can't, maybe it'll be a disaster.

But I think there's a lot of good reasons why Concord isn't particularly indicative of how Fairgames will be recieved.

[Legend]

Fairgame is a non lethal game that is trying to be edgy. How many of those have worked out? Even just having one of those 2 usually kills a multiplayer game. Nintendo gets a pass but off the top of my head I can't think of any others that made it.

Plus if Sony is confident in it, that's not a sign of it being good. They were so confident in Concord that they bought the studio last year.

Like Concord it just looks like a game without an audience. Great gameplay could go a long way though. They've only shown trash so far but maybe it's really fun, idk.




Also with Concord now being dead, it's funny how many people are talking about it. This is the most anyone has ever cared about it: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=%2Fg%2F11w3hhj9px&hl=en-US

[kitler53]

too lazy to link but just read Amazon will still air their concord episode.    ...kind of want to watch now. 

[kitler53]

with respect to fairgame$,...  somewhere here I posted that GaaS game are risky in that they are community based.   early success drives more success.  early failure drives more failure.   

I literally said only a GaaS game could have $0 in revenue.  I was actually being facetious but apparently concord proved me right. 

fairgame$ first impression was not amazing and I think the concord drama actually makes things worse for them.  I don't think it's impossible for it to be successful but it's going to be hard.   the re-announcement trailer is going to be make/break for them so they better nail it. 



still think the horizon one will do well.   just as a concept sentence it sounds good. 

[the-pi-guy]

Plus if Sony is confident in it, that's not a sign of it being good. They were so confident in Concord that they bought the studio last year.

Everybody keeps saying this.

But I guess I feel like it's different.

Sony being confident about Concord doesn't mean that the internal developers at Firewalk were excited about what it was doing. There's already been a character artist that came out and complained that people above them were pushing certain character designs on them.

And I guess I assume that positive internal chatter comes from the developers themselves, and not the people that felt good about Concord.

Fairgame is a non lethal game that is trying to be edgy. How many of those have worked out?

Are we sure it's nonlethal? End of the trailer looks like someone getting shot at. Unless it's something else. (I have no idea what I'm looking at, to be fair)

I think it could be a lot more fun than people expect.
They're showing some kind of rocket launcher and grappling hook thing.  And lots of other gadgets.



And all of this is assuming that nothing has changed from the trailer and that the trailer was completely representative of the game.

[the-pi-guy]

oh yeah it’s also impossible for me to redownload my review copy of concord. it’s just wiped from playstation completely and it’s got a little lock symbol on it now https://t.co/BfbyqdoV3B pic.twitter.com/YgryH0tEPa

— Gene Park Pro (@GenePark) September 11, 2024

[Legend]

Glad they didn't do stuff like this when PT was delisted.

I'm surprised that a week later we don't have rumblings of what Sony is planning with the studio. If the devs are showing up to work right now, what even are they doing?

[kitler53]

Glad they didn't do stuff like this when PT was delisted.

I'm surprised that a week later we don't have rumblings of what Sony is planning with the studio. If the devs are showing up to work right now, what even are they doing?

only fans.   

[the-pi-guy]

New: sources tell me staff are still in limbo at Firewalk Studios two weeks after Concord was taken offline.

Director Ryan Ellis has stepped down from the role as some hope for the best but fear the worst for the recently acquired Sony studio. https://t.co/SebCMti0qL

— AmericanTruckSongs9 (@ethangach) September 19, 2024

Devs themselves have no idea what's happening with the studio.  

Others, however, feel like mass layoffs will be the most likely result of Concord's failure, including the possible shutdown of the entire studio, which sources tell Kotaku is one of the more expensive studios in the PlayStation portfolio on a per-head basis. Some developers are updating their resumes and portfolios, a few have already preemptively exited the studio, and others are waiting to see what a potential severance package will look like before deciding what to do next.

This was something I knew, but I wasn't thinking about it during the game shutdown.

Bellevue is a very high cost of living area. They're probably behind Naughty Dog, Sucker Punch, and Bungie? for 4th most expensive studio (per person).

Santa Monica Studio moved to LA, which is cheaper.

Sucker Punch and Bungie are also in the Bellevue area.

[kitler53]

if i were them i would fear for the wost as well.

i think being in limbo 2 weeks later isn't that much time.   leadership is never quick to act on stuff like this.   with sucker punch and bungie in the area i would love to think the studio at worst get's reassigned to their projects for a while while they figure out a plan for their next game.    i'm probably being too optimistic...

[Legend]

if i were them i would fear for the wost as well.

i think being in limbo 2 weeks later isn't that much time.   leadership is never quick to act on stuff like this.   with sucker punch and bungie in the area i would love to think the studio at worst get's reassigned to their projects for a while while they figure out a plan for their next game.    i'm probably being too optimistic...

Lots of the devs came from bungie so on one hand that could work, but bungie isn't doing too hot right now.

[the-pi-guy]

Colin Moriarty is claiming the game actually cost $400 million.

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

I don't think what he's saying makes a lot of sense.

[nnodley]

do we actually listen to Colin Moriarty anymore? lolol

[Legend]

If it's actually $400 million, that is just crazy. Wait and that doesn't even include buying the studio!? That can't be right, since the $200 million lines up well with the rumored purchase price.

His talk about toxic positivity sure sounds true. They failed at every step of development but at the very least after the gameplay reveal they should have known things were horribly wrong. It's not like many bad games where launch day is when things crash.