Concord’s often-cited 25,000 sales figure was an analyst estimate, not a total confirmed by Sony. GameDiscoverCo analyst Simon Carless estimated roughly 10,000 Steam sales and 15,000 PlayStation sales through the end of August 2024. Analysts pointed to a difficult combination of a $40 price, limited visibility, few clear points of difference and competition from established and free-to-play shooters. The available evidence does not establish one definitive cause.
What the 25,000 figure does—and does not—mean
Simon Carless of GameDiscoverCo estimated that Concord had sold about 10,000 copies on Steam and 15,000 on PlayStation by the end of August 2024. GameSpot reported the estimates on September 3, 2024, citing Carless’s figures as reported to IGN. The combined estimate of around 25,000 is not an audited total or a sales figure Sony publicly confirmed. GameSpot’s report describes the estimate and the analysts’ explanations.
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Castlevania Double Pack: Aria of Sorrow / Harmony of Dissonance | $114.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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Giovanni Loves Video Games, Pizza, and Concord, North Carolina. | $1.29 | Buy on Amazon |
The estimate also has a cutoff: it concerns sales through the end of August, shortly after Concord’s August 23, 2024 launch. It should not be presented as a final lifetime sales total. The reporting available here does not establish a confirmed final total.
Why analysts thought the launch struggled
The explanations below are analysts’ interpretations of a weak launch, not an official postmortem or a proven causal breakdown. They describe a combination of barriers rather than showing that any single decision doomed the game.
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- Concord is a new team-based shooter for PS5 and PC, in which you take control of the fate of your team.
- Assemble your space crew of lawless freegunners in Concord and play online with friends in thrilling 5v5 PVP modes across the galaxy.
A $40 entry price in a crowded category
Concord launched at $40, according to GameSpot’s summary of the analyst commentary. That price asked players to pay up front for a team-based multiplayer shooter in a market that included established games and free-to-play alternatives. Midia Research analyst Rhys Elliott argued that Concord should instead have launched free-to-play or been included in PlayStation Plus. That was a proposed alternative, not evidence that a free launch would necessarily have produced a different outcome.
Weak visibility and limited differentiation
Analysts also cited marketing they considered lackluster and a lack of distinctive features in a crowded shooter genre. Ars Technica’s contemporaneous coverage likewise questioned whether Concord offered enough that was new to stand out among live-service team shooters. These points help explain the challenge: a new paid game needed both visibility and a compelling reason for players to choose it over familiar competitors. They do not establish how much each factor contributed to the sales estimate.
Early engagement signals were low
Two reported indicators showed a small early audience, but neither should be mistaken for a total sales count:
- Steam: GameSpot reported a peak of 697 concurrent Steam players, based on Steam tracking. This counts simultaneous players on Steam, not all owners or players across platforms.
- PlayStation 5: Circana analyst Mat Piscatella said fewer than 0.2% of active PS5 players were playing Concord on August 26, 2024, as relayed by IGN and GameSpot. This is a snapshot of platform engagement, not a measure of total sales.
The indicators are consistent with limited early reach and engagement, but they do not independently prove why players did not buy or continue playing.
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What happened after launch
- August 23, 2024: Concord launched, according to contemporaneous reporting.
- September 2024: Firewalk game director Ryan Ellis announced that sales would stop and that the game would go offline beginning September 6. Sony said buyers would receive refunds. Ellis acknowledged that parts of the game and launch had not landed as intended: “However, while many qualities of the experience resonated with players, we also recognize that other aspects of the game and our initial launch didn’t land the way we’d intended.” The Los Angeles Times reported the offline announcement and refunds.
- October 29, 2024: Sony announced that Concord would be permanently sunset and Firewalk Studios would close. Sony Interactive Entertainment Studio Business Group CEO Hermen Hulst said: “After much thought, we have determined the best path forward is to permanently sunset the game and close the studio.” Hulst also described the PvP first-person shooter genre as competitive and said Sony had not hit its targets with Concord. Fast Company reported the sunset and studio closure.
What the evidence supports
The clearest account is that Concord had a very weak launch by the indicators reported at the time; analysts saw its paid entry point, marketing, differentiation and crowded competition as a damaging combination; and Sony withdrew it within weeks before later ending it permanently. The available reporting does not establish a Sony-confirmed final sales figure or a single definitive reason for the outcome. Ars Technica’s contemporaneous analysis also placed the launch in a crowded PvP shooter market and questioned the game’s distinctiveness.
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