CONCORD: WHEN 8 YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT MEETS 697 PLAYERS
Well, shit. Looks like Sony's latest attempt to capture the multiplayer market has crashed and burned harder than a drunk pilot trying to land on an aircraft carrier. Concord, the sci-fi shooter that took a whopping 8 years to develop, has managed to attract a staggering... 697 concurrent players on Steam. That's not a typo, folks. Six-hundred-ninety-fucking-seven.
FROM DEVELOPMENT HELL TO PLAYER PURGATORY
Let's put this into perspective, shall we? Helldivers 2, another Sony title that probably cost a fraction to make, pulled in 460,000 players at launch. Concord, on the other hand, couldn't fill a medium-sized high school auditorium. It's like throwing a party and the only guests who show up are your mom and the neighbor's cat.
THE PLAYSTATION PROBLEM
Now, you might be thinking, "But what about PlayStation players?" Well, while we don't have exact numbers, it's safe to assume they're not exactly breaking records over there either. Unless every PS5 owner suddenly developed a fetish for mediocre sci-fi shooters, Concord is probably as popular on console as a fart in an elevator.
WHY SO SERIOUS (AND EMPTY)?
So, what went wrong? Well, for starters, the game looks about as original as a Hollywood remake. "Guardians of the Galaxy called, they want their art style back." Then there's the whole "woke" controversy, because apparently, some gamers' fragile egos can't handle diverse characters in their pew-pew space games.
But here's the real kicker: Concord isn't free-to-play. In a market saturated with quality F2P titles, Sony had the audacity to slap a $40 price tag on this ghost town of a game. It's like trying to sell ice to Eskimos, except the ice is actually lukewarm water and the Eskimos have better things to do.
PVP: PLAYER VERSUS PRACTICALLY NO ONE
Concord offers 5v5 PvP action. Great in theory, but when your entire player base can fit in a large minivan, finding a match might take longer than the game's development cycle. Meanwhile, Helldivers 2 lets you team up against AI aliens, which is apparently what the people want. Who knew?
FINAL THOUGHTS: A CONCORDANCE OF ERRORS
Look, I'm sure the devs poured their heart and soul into this game. Eight years is a long time to work on anything, let alone a game that fewer people are playing than your average local bingo night. But sometimes, no matter how much effort you put in, things just don't click.
Concord serves as a stark reminder that in the cutthroat world of multiplayer games, it's not enough to just show up. You need to innovate, excite, and for fuck's sake, read the room. Maybe next time, Sony will spend less time in development and more time figuring out what players actually want.
For now, Concord joins the ranks of gaming's most spectacular flops. At least it's number one in something, right?