The second half of 2024 has left a sour taste in video game fans’ mouths. With the poor adaptation of the film “Borderlands” and Dust Bowl receiving poor reviews, Concord joins the club.

Concord, an online first-person hero shooter developed by Firewalk Studios, may be the biggest flop in gaming history, second only to The Culling 2.

Concord is shutting down servers only 12 days after its launch Aug. 23. Originally announced in May 2023, Concord generated a skeptical audience. A three-day open beta followed shortly after, with player count peaking at 2,388 players according to the SteamDB.

Concord had quite a bit of content in its official release. Even with 12 maps, six game modes and 16 different FreeGunners, fans still were hesitant about the game. Despite reportedly eight years of development and its backing from Sony Interactive, Concord struggled to retain a player base.

With an all-time peak of 660 players on Steam Charts, many questioned who the game was for. With contenders like Blizzard Entertainment’s Overwatch 2 or Paladins by Hi-Rez Studios, Concord seemed out of place.

Unlike competitors, Concord was not a free-to-play game; instead, it was locked behind a $40 price point. The price gate and its exclusivity to Playstation and PC leading many potential players to stay away from the game and opt for free-to-play competitors.

Players criticized the games FreeGunners, or characters, saying they were basic or lacked personality. Compared with the complex story and characters from Overwatch 2 or Paladins, Concord’s FreeGunners seemed lackluster. This, along with the forgettable maps, churned out an extremely low player count.

This led Firewall Studio Game Director Ryan Ellis to post a statement on Playstation Blog: “At this time, we have decided to take the game offline beginning September 6, 2024. … Concord sales will cease immediately.”

After looking at sales, it is not hard to see why this decision was made. Author of the GameDiscoverCo newsletter, Simon Carless, reportedly told Imagine Games Network that Concord is estimated to have sold only 15,000 units on Playstation and 10,000 units on Steam. Concord was a triple-A game, meaning the combined 25,000 units sold was nowhere near a profitable launch.

Fans were shocked at the immediate removal of the game, and many are speculating if this is the end of Concord. There is a large theory that Concord will rerelease under a free-to-play framework; however, this is not confirmed.

The most notable part of it all is Sony deciding to shut the game down completely. We have seen other games like Rocksteady Studios’ Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League launch with poor reviews but find a cult following. It seems as though Sony does not foresee this happening.

Between the lack of a player base and an overall poor idea of who the game was meant for, it’s not too surprising to see Sony pull the plug on Concord.

Reach Chace Silvey at entertainment@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.