Concord's Failure Was Expected to Cost Sony Fortune

As someone who has been following the gaming industry for quite some time now, I must say I’m left scratching my head over Sony‘s decision to invest such a staggering amount into “Concord”. Coming from a generation where games like Pong and Pac-Man were considered high-tech marvels, it’s mind-boggling to see the budget for a single game reach the hundreds of millions.


It appears that Studio Firewalk missed their opportunity for a comeback, as it’s been revealed that Concord was an expensive flop for Sony, albeit not as costly as initial reports indicated.

Just a reminder: at the end of September, there were reports that the budget for Sony’s new shooter game was over 400 million dollars. Some insiders considered this amount absurd, which is hardly surprising, since even a production like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was said to have costed around $300 million. It’s a more expansive title than the online shooter created by a smaller team (Firewalk supposedly employed 160 people, and Insomniac Games around half a thousand before the layoffs at the beginning of the year ).

“Over 200 million dollars” for starters

Initially, the information provided by Kotaku appears to go against these assumptions. This is partly due to the reported initial development cost of Concord, which, according to their sources, exceeded $200 million.

It should be noted that an exact figure wasn’t provided, and Kotaku highlights that the reported “200 million dollars” didn’t fully account for Firewalk Studios’ entire project. Moreover, it seems plausible that this sum doesn’t encompass Sony’s acquisition of the studio and its brand as well.

200 million dollars appears to be an outrageous sum, especially considering that Cyberpunk 2077 reportedly cost around $275 million to produce (excluding subsequent updates), and Sony’s two successful titles had budgets ranging between $210-220 million. Essentially, the cost of Concord is roughly equivalent to what Sony invested in a top-tier single-player game.

Excessive ambitions?

In contrast to rumors circulating, the studio’s formal announcement doesn’t verify these claims, but it does offer insights into potential reasons behind the increased production expenses. Notably, the company began as a “fresh venture” amidst the pandemic, incorporating a “novel, tailor-made FPS engine,” switching from Unreal Engine 4 to UE 5, and optimizing for 60 fps on PS5 and PC.

This suggests that the makers had lofty aspirations, as evidenced by the references to “elite-level gameplay” and “attractive environments,” and this could have resulted in them investing a significant amount of resources (meaning: funds) into the making of Concord.

It’s quite surprising that before its debut, there was relatively little enthusiasm for this game, which wasn’t a promising sign given the highly competitive market of online shooters. This is particularly noteworthy since most of the hero shooter competition offers free play, while Concord requires payment.

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2024-10-31 11:31