FoxMcChief
Gold Member
I bet they’re all walking on eggshells. Just wondering when Sony will close them down and cut their losses. I can’t imagine that the vibe is good in their office.
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Is Concord headed to be Sony's biggest first party flop ever?
- Thread starter LakeOf9
- Start date
LordCBH
Member
It’s worse than Redfall.
To be fair, I would rather play Redfall. And Redfall was dogshit.
hemo memo
You can't die before your death
DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
Also with Redfall it was clearly rushed and broken. It was released in a half baked state.
With Concord, the problem is that people just REALLY don’t want this game.
James Sawyer Ford
Member
James Sawyer Ford
Member
Would be a shame to outright cut them
I still think at a minimum they would provide great value as a GaaS support studio to Bungie
clarky
Gold Member
I understand that, but they have at least 150 bodies for 18 months.
Thats not small. 10 is small. I'd call them mid, in every way lol.
Killjoy-NL
Member
Pretty much, it isn't that much different from Arrowhead.
Sony probably also didn't expect too much from Concord, just like they didn't expect too much from HD2.
It's just that one was a sleeper-hit and this created a shitstorm before it even released.
James Sawyer Ford
Member
150? Where is your source?
clarky
Gold Member
Bullshit they didn't expect much. They saw the IP and what they had in 2023 and bought the lot.
clarky
Gold Member
Dunno if that one is reputable but after a quick google they all say around the same.
tmlDan
Member
you can tell, the advertising for this game is extremely minimal and only shows up on specific sites or Sony owned events like EVO
James Sawyer Ford
Member
clarky
Gold Member
Ok? I never said otherwise but Sony must have been confident with what they saw to buy the studio.
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diffusionx
Gold Member
Maybe it’s either this or Blasto
Killjoy-NL
Member
I posted that.
Source was here:
Firewalk Studios
Firewalk Studios is an American game development studio based in Bellevue, Washington. Founded in 2018, it is a subsidiary of PlayStation Studios, and is owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment since 2023. Firewalk was established in 2018 as a subsidiary of ProbablyMonsters, by veterans of game...
There's another one saying 169 in 2024:
And I see 169 according to their LinkedIn:
Firewalk Studios | LinkedIn
Firewalk Studios | 4,812 followers on LinkedIn. Creating worlds that ignite imagination and connection takes a collaborative team of top-tier creators. At Firewalk, we aim to deliver awesome gaming entertainment, rooted in strong gameplay and inspiring art, that captures the joy of playing...
www.linkedin.com
diffusionx
Gold Member
Yea, and $100 million is cheap for a game these days.
clarky
Gold Member
$100 million isn't cheap if you lose it.
James Sawyer Ford
Member
Confident in the talent, gameplay, etc.
Concord is a well playing game, just marred by horrible artistic/thematic direction and lacking long term longevity
If Sony is playing the long game they will let the team retool on a new IP or become Bungie support
clarky
Gold Member
Confident in the game, the IP and the Studio.
They were dead wrong no matter which way you paint it.
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160+ employees, composed of experienced hires from Activision, Bungie and other AAA studios, headquartered in Washington. Game in active development before 2021 when Sony partnered with them.
You’re probably looking at a budget in the $100m range. And they’ve also got to make these CGI shorts to share every week or so.
James Sawyer Ford
Member
Its cheaper than true AAA games like GoW or SM
Part of a GaaS strategy is knowing some of them (most, even) will fail.
tmlDan
Member
im with you on this, obviously it's bad but not as bad as it could've been. I also highly doubt Sony themselves spent that much but the studio could have had investors/personal investment from prior that is now gonna go down the drain.
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Setsuna Mudou
Member
I know exactly how it gets to this point. Same way rocksteady got to the point they got with suicide squad...
By waiting too damn long to show to the public what they are working on. I know the internet used to complain a lot when demos would be shown and then having to wait multiple years until the game was released. What we didn't realize back then is that by showing early versions of the game (keyword, early), it allows to get a public reaction to it and measure the level of excitement for the concept.
Imagine showing the demo they showed 3 or 4 years ago. Or Rocksteady showing a demo of king shark shooting purple shit 4 to 5 years before the release... Plenty of time to course correct and make the necessary adjustments.
Now we get no news, no E3, no hype, nothing for years on end, outside of some leakers and rumors, so when finally the game is shown, if it looks completely off the mark, guess what. Too late now to change anything.
So there we go, this is how we get to this point. And the same is applicable to many devs/publishers, this concord is just the latest example.
Ass of Can Whooping
Gold Member
I don't know where you go with studios like these. They were built up with a design by committee mindset so they're already set up for failure. The director was probably a director in name only. You don't have proper leadership.
There's probably plenty of talented folk there. Let them support other studios.
There's probably plenty of talented folk there. Let them support other studios.
clarky
Gold Member
That's the worst strategy of all time, you don't make anything to fail. That's like a gamblers thinking.
James Sawyer Ford
Member
They are not dead wrong just because their first game failed to take off
There are many examples of teams with poor first showings commercially that have done better over time
Killjoy-NL
Member
I was talking about Concord as a title.
The technical quality and polish of the game itself is undeniable, so maybe Sony bought the studio because of their technical quality, in order to grow them as one of their studios?
That's what Sony does.
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James Sawyer Ford
Member
It’s not a gambler’s strategy, it’s no different than a VC fund
You need enough GaaS games released and the few that make it end up being so successful that they recoup all the failures and still generate a massive profit
balls of snow
Gold Member
It will have a knock on effect on other Sony gaas ventures I can tell you that. Look at Ubisoft cancelling their gaas shooters because Hypnoscape? Hyperscape? failed at launch among others.
nial
Gold Member
I know it's a wet dream of yours, but did you say that about Shu when MAG, Socom 4 and Starhawk all flopped?
clarky
Gold Member
Of course they were wrong to buy the studio. You think everyone over at Sony HQ is as optimistic as you right now?. A simple publishing deal would have been much more preferable for Sony.
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James Sawyer Ford
Member
Not for all 6 years
Tiago Rodrigues
Member
They had so many flops back then.
Even PS4 era had stuff like The Order and Driveclub that had multiple delays and ended up closing a studio. Sony Santa Monica literally had a project that costed Sony 100M dollars that never saw the light of day.
Sony started collaborating with this studio in 2021 during covid days. They didn't create it and were part of the development for 3 years only. Yeah they bought the studio...a studio with no IPs, not that many people, etc...but i'd bet it's probably around 100M tops. There's no way they just gave away more than that amount to a studio that's basically a startup with a single game in development.
Now...whenever Haven releases their flop game...THAT will sting! Sony is basically creating their new game from scratch and it seems too far away from release. That will be Sony's biggest flop this generation. Concord will be nothing close to it.
Even PS4 era had stuff like The Order and Driveclub that had multiple delays and ended up closing a studio. Sony Santa Monica literally had a project that costed Sony 100M dollars that never saw the light of day.
Sony started collaborating with this studio in 2021 during covid days. They didn't create it and were part of the development for 3 years only. Yeah they bought the studio...a studio with no IPs, not that many people, etc...but i'd bet it's probably around 100M tops. There's no way they just gave away more than that amount to a studio that's basically a startup with a single game in development.
Now...whenever Haven releases their flop game...THAT will sting! Sony is basically creating their new game from scratch and it seems too far away from release. That will be Sony's biggest flop this generation. Concord will be nothing close to it.
James Sawyer Ford
Member
They are only wrong to buy the studio if it doesn’t provide any positive value over 10+ years.
You don’t buy a studio and then judge it on the first game they release. If that’s what they end up doing, it’s stupid short term thinking
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clarky
Gold Member
Why are you on damage control?
The game isn't great and looks to be a very costly failure, no?
Jibran#one
Member
I mean 6 years alot can change I'm pretty sure in 2018 overwatch was massive.
The problem is last 2 3 years they definelty would've known that this game can't and won't survive especially if it's not f2p.
I mean the direct competitor is overwatch and it's free how can u compete with that
The problem is last 2 3 years they definelty would've known that this game can't and won't survive especially if it's not f2p.
I mean the direct competitor is overwatch and it's free how can u compete with that
TehGoomba7s
Member
Arena shooter with no FoV slider and 120hz support was a big red flag from the beginning.
clarky
Gold Member
They will be either shuttered or relegated to a support studio within 12 months.
Sony doesn't fuck around with failures. You think they will still be around in ten years?
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James Sawyer Ford
Member
Why are you on the negativity patrol?
The game is a flop. That doesn’t mean it sucks or that the studio is terrible and not worthy of a long term shot
I would rather Sony keep these new studios afloat to make GaaS initiatives than force it on their SP devs
Certainly never said that.
Striking Distance Studios made Callisto Protocol over 3 years, with a total studio size of 150 employees in total, which would have also ramped up over time since it was a new studio, like Firewalk.
Development and marketing costs were cited as $160m. You’d imagine development costs were the bulk of that.
Nobody’s making an AAA GaaS title for under $100m.
Perrott
Member
I doubt that the game designers, level designers, programmers, online infrastructure engineers, animators, ground-level artists and QA testers responsible for what beneath that ugly coat of paint is a well-crafted and extremely polished FPS are to blame for the project leads, writers and art director's terrible call to go for this cringy Marvel-esque tone and woke and totally unappealing character designs.
Fire the studio leadership, keep the talent in the trenches and give them an already established IP with a cemented aesthetic and direction (Killzone, Resistance, or even Destiny for a spin-off game) and at least let them have a chance at redemption.
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Killjoy-NL
Member
You want to say Concord is a mess on a technical level?
Even DF praised it for the level of polish and how good the performance is. The game is top tier on a technical level.
That's why Sony bought them, not because of Concord per se.
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Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
I'm waiting to see if
Men_in_Boxes
gets excited about Fairgame$ before I write it off completely. If he seems interested, you know its days are numbered. I think the game will catch more eyes just by being 3rd person. Probably will have a campaign also, in addition to PvE / PvP.
James Sawyer Ford
Member
I doubt it. Why buy the studio? Concord flopping was in their potential outcomes before they bought the studio
James Sawyer Ford
Member
You could say the same for your tastes
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