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Is Concord headed to be Sony's biggest first party flop ever?

Killjoy-NL

Banned
Black people are not half of the world population. So even by a global standard, Black people are overrepresented in the game. By a Western standard, White people are underrepresented and Black people are GROSSLY overrepresented. DEI practices are used to correct perceived inequalities in Western nations. Not the globe. And the demographic makeup of the world shouldn't have an impact on how a nation conducts itself.
True, but what makes you think I was talking about black people only?

60% of the world population is Asian, there's also Arabs and South Americans.
So in a way, Concord character roster is kinda representative.

Having said that, Idgaf if characters are white, black, yellow, purple or green.
Just thought it was worth pointing out and already said your points were valid.
 

Fess

Member
I don't think every female character needs to be a total babe, but completely ditching that concept entirely is/was an asinine idea.
Exactly. Western developers often talk about representation and diversity, how it’s important to make everyone feel included. Sounds nice, right?
But too bad if you’re beautiful or have a nice body… Then you get no representation at all. Sorry. And they’ll do whatever they can to make sure you and all the things you represent are excluded. Such wild diversity can not exist!


In the real world I see strikingly beautiful people every single day. So how about leaving something of that within the gaming universe as well? Doesn’t matter if it’s alien characters. Have a couple different Liaras and Thors in there. Diversity remember? It’s really not that complicated to get some positive buzz. Right now there is nothing in there to pull you in on this new IP, except gameplay, which doesn’t seem to be much different from what’s already out there. So yeah, good luck then!
 
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Varteras

Member
True, but what makes you think I was talking about black people only?

60% of the world population is Asian, there's also Arabs and South Americans.

Correct. Which also shows that Asians are not globally represented in the game well. There are only 2 definite Asian characters. One who may be Native American or Indian. That is not a global representation and it still shows a significant overrepresentation of Black people, who are 10 to 15% of the global population.

So in reality, that doesn't work either way. Because it doesn't match global demographics and it absolutely does not match a Western standard. DEI is a Western issue. Therefor, complaints against it are through the lens of DEI overcorrecting on perceived Western inequalities.

You can tell me all day what you think, but it won't change the perception of those in the West turned off by DEI.
 

Boss Mog

Member
lol I can't want till GTAVI releases

This will be a fun place at release talking about theses "conspiracies" lol
There's no "conspiracy", you only need to look at SBI, they clearly state they do these things and they advocate for like minded employees of dev studios to threaten their bosses into hiring SBI.
Not saying your points aren't valid, but globally, "white" people are a minority.
Maybe 12% of the world population is white, at most?

So are you sure that if a character roster is dominated by "minorities", they truly are misrepresented, or just going by your perspective/point of reference?
Who cares about "globally"? How many current gen videogames are being sold in Tajikistan or Lesotho? The fact is games like Concord are directed primarily at the North American and European markets and game buyers in those regions are mostly white (78% in the US). So if you're a game studio that goes on about "representation matters" but then you fail to "represent" the demographic that will overwhelmingly buy your game, then you are full a shit and just pushing an agenda.
 

Killjoy-NL

Banned
Correct. Which also shows that Asians are not globally represented in the game well. There are only 2 definite Asian characters. One who may be Native American or Indian. That is not a global representation and it still shows a significant overrepresentation of Black people, who are 10 to 15% of the global population.

So in reality, that doesn't work either way. Because it doesn't match global demographics and it absolutely does not match a Western standard. DEI is a Western issue. Therefor, complaints against it are through the lens of DEI overcorrecting on perceived Western inequalities.

You can tell me all day what you think, but it won't change the perception of those in the West turned off by DEI.
Looked it up, you're right. Black and white are pretty even.
So all they have to do is make one black character white and the whole issue should be solved.

Anyway, I actually agree with you. It's an entirely western issue all together, from both sides.

Besides, I'm bi-racial, I could be offended by both sides to begin with.
 

Killjoy-NL

Banned
Who cares about "globally"? How many current gen videogames are being sold in Tajikistan or Lesotho? The fact is games like Concord are directed primarily at the North American and European markets and game buyers in those regions are mostly white (78% in the US). So if you're a game studio that goes on about "representation matters" but then you fail to "represent" the demographic that will overwhelmingly buy your game, then you are full a shit and just pushing an agenda.
Edit:

My apologies, I was way off.
 
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Varteras

Member
Looked it up, you're right. Black and white are pretty even.
So all they have to do is make one black character white and the whole issue should be solved.

Anyway, I actually agree with you. It's an entirely western issue all together, from both sides.

Besides, I'm bi-racial, I could be offended by both sides to begin with.

The thing is, it doesn't NEED to be accurate representation. It really doesn't. The problem is that DEI has a growing connotation as being a bad thing. Even Microsoft is dropping it.

Essentially, the "Woke" movement overplayed its hand. So what you have is a Western population that has many people who are repulsed by the practice. So when they see pronouns or a noticeable lack of representation of the predominant demographic in their corner of the world, it lowers their expectations or desire for the product. Whether that representation is in the product itself or the people making it.

It's simply bad optics for the game at this point in time. Though like I said, the issue of DEI pales in comparison to the other issues this game has.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
The most profitable market for console gaming is Northern America and western Europe, followed by Asia. I think outside of a vocal X crowd no one really cares about representation.

On the contrary, they get sick of the constant pandering and pushing of agendas. Not because they are bigots or racists, but because its not their demographic. Its very lop sided. A few people clamor for pronouns and representation, but what about those who don't need to have it in their games? I don't need that information for example. I the real world and on the news I have my fill of this stuff and all other things going on outside, give me some escapism.

And for what. This is another product that will crash and burn and within the year everyone will forget it exists in the first place... which means it was all in vain. I really wonder why these big corporations are so sensitive to a small minority of very vocal crybabies. And they all tank, look at Disney. Sony should've seen the warnings.
 

Killjoy-NL

Banned
The thing is, it doesn't NEED to be accurate representation. It really doesn't. The problem is that DEI has a growing connotation as being a bad thing. Even Microsoft is dropping it.

Essentially, the "Woke" movement overplayed its hand. So what you have is a Western population that has many people who are repulsed by the practice. So when they see pronouns or a noticeable lack of representation of the predominant demographic in their corner of the world, it lowers their expectations or desire for the product. Whether that representation is in the product itself or the people making it.

It's simply bad optics for the game at this point in time. Though like I said, the issue of DEI pales in comparison to the other issues this game has.
Like I said, I don't disagree with you. I couldn't care either way, was just playing devil's advocate.

Personally, I think Woke is dumb af, but I also think the entire discussion is dumb af either way.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Man, I'm old. That "prof" looks like a child to me and I can just sense how working with them would be an absolute nightmare.

Say something they consider out of line, don't pull the studio message, look at the character designs the wrong way or heaven forbid say " they look too ugly" and your exiled.

I hope the decent developers got out of their quick.

Western game development is going crazy and these kids are going to be doing everything to make talented old school devs extinct for not following the crazy route.

I don't even know what can happen to resolve western development. Shits a mess.
 

Varteras

Member
I don't even know what can happen to resolve western development. Shits a mess.

It can only be cleansed..... WITH FIRE!

flame thrower fire GIF
Fire Elmo GIF
hot the last jedi GIF by Star Wars
 

laynelane

Member
That´s the problem with superwoke games. The devs aren´t just trying to do something gamers will like, which is hard enough as it is. They are also trying to force gamers to like what they consider gamers must like in order to not be fatphobic, patriarchal and all that jazz. That´s why they remove characters they think people want, and introduce other characters even when they know people don´t like them. Because woke devs are trying to educate gamers according to their political views instead of trying to make a product they will enjoy and remember

That's the sense I get too. DEI devs, the more extreme ones, are trying to 'educate' us. Of course, their definition of educate seems to be sell us what they think is 'correct' until we think it's correct too. I think that's why feedback falls on deaf ears in these cases. There's no doubt the devs have heard the issues people have with the characters and the superfluous addition of things like pronouns. They'll just keep ignoring it all while reassuring themselves that gamers are the problem. The fact that gamers are customers, though, is why they should pay a little more attention.
 
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PeteBull

Member
There most definitely is a spectrum, you just decided to cherrypick a single aspect to turn it black and white.

That's why some of you seem to think like I'm some defender of Woke irt Concord when I'm as much against Woke as you are.

But there is point where you have to wonder if you aren't taking things a bit too far.
Turn time back to the 80s and most ppl were still somewhat sane in the western world, then for some reason westerners got indoctrinated more and more with all the insane feminism/wokeism/rasism stuff- yes, when particular race has clear advantage/gets benefits that come straight from color of their skin thats racism, and thats all the diversity hires are about, then u wonder why west is getting worse and worse vs countries where sanity prevails.
Back in communism poland we had stuff like that too, for example if some1 was going to college but was child of blue collar workers they get additional bonuses on the exam score that qualified u for college vs kid of a teacher, super unfair stuff.

U think in china winnie the pooh or russia's putler is protected by 5feet female bodyguards like trump was on that assasination attempt rally? World laughts at america now and its diversity hires, and when actual war happens all the feminism vanishes, just like it was in feb 2022 in ukraine- all women could leave country yet 18-60yo men were drafted(not all went for first line of fire, but still :p ).
Same thing will happen when(im saying when coz its obvious if some1 follow geopolitics, that it will happen, and not in distant future) china invades taiwan and US will be obliged to help, u wont see feminists at all then :)
 

Killjoy-NL

Banned
Turn time back to the 80s and most ppl were still somewhat sane in the western world, then for some reason westerners got indoctrinated more and more with all the insane feminism/wokeism/rasism stuff- yes, when particular race has clear advantage/gets benefits that come straight from color of their skin thats racism, and thats all the diversity hires are about, then u wonder why west is getting worse and worse vs countries where sanity prevails.
Back in communism poland we had stuff like that too, for example if some1 was going to college but was child of blue collar workers they get additional bonuses on the exam score that qualified u for college vs kid of a teacher, super unfair stuff.

U think in china winnie the pooh or russia's putler is protected by 5feet female bodyguards like trump was on that assasination attempt rally? World laughts at america now and its diversity hires, and when actual war happens all the feminism vanishes, just like it was in feb 2022 in ukraine- all women could leave country yet 18-60yo men were drafted(not all went for first line of fire, but still :p ).
Same thing will happen when(im saying when coz its obvious if some1 follow geopolitics, that it will happen, and not in distant future) china invades taiwan and US will be obliged to help, u wont see feminists at all then :)
Feminism ruined society, but that's an entirely different subject. Lol
 

Bkdk

Member
All they have to do is hire a few of shift up's character designer to fix the character design and this game will see 100k+ concurrent players right now, they don't even have to cancel any of their woke characters, they can keep all that if they want, gamers want diversity and want hot girls to be included. That's it. but they are just too stupid to do the right thing, I don't even know if I should feel funny or just frustrated at what is happening in many of the western game devs, it's honestly so easy to fix the biggest problem in many of their games, yet they just won't do the right thing, it's not even expensive to hire many top tier character designers from these korean game studios. Certainly much cheaper than the inferior counterpart they would get from the character design devs in the west.
 

PeteBull

Member
Agreed and I think that’s going to, ultimately, be the reason the game flops. There will be a lot made of the “woke” or DEI elements of the game, blah, blah, blah. But when it comes down to it, the game doesn’t offer anything particularly new, unique, or identifiable over well established competition in the genre.

I give the devs credit for having faith in their game but their faith alone does not a commercial success make.

$40 for a hero shooter when one can get others with equal or better gameplay for free is going to be a hard sell for many. That will be the bigger issue than pronouns and “ugly” characters.

(The required PSN linking on PC is also a hindrance. Guess they learned nothing from the Helldivers debacle.)
When devs focus on pushing woke agenda, like with concord, there is lil throutput left for anything else, thats why almost all woke games are really bad/fail miserably.
In most of those woke games its not like gameplay/high quality is top priority and u got lil bit of wokeness sprinkled on top, its opposite, pushing woke agenda is their sole priority, anything else is aftertought.
 

PeteBull

Member
Gonna laugh at OP when the game launches to overwhelming/very positive reviews on Steam or become a huge success on Playstation
That will happen in same timeline biden isnt looking like he is about to die out of old age in his every official interview/meeting :p
 
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PeteBull

Member
You guys are really invested in this dei and anti-dei modern western identity politics crap too much to not look at why this is in this state now.

The average joe does not give a crap about politics, on both sides, and Hogwart's Legacy and modern God of War and Spider-Man games in singleplayer and Helldivers 2 in multiplayer, are living proof of that.

Of course, there are exceptions that do not sell well (sold in the millions still, but not the target set by Square is what I mean), despite being GOTY contenders like FFVII Rebirth, but they are again, exceptions that do not make the rule.

The game is outright uninspiring pile of garbage and brings nothing new to the table, the 100's of other Overwatch clones haven't already.

The only thing riding with this is the first party nature of it's production value and Bungie behind some of the creative decisions on gameplay.

Doomed to fail from day 0.
Thats coz diversity was top priority both in hiring and making this game, not gameplay, not fun, not high quality of the product, but stupid and surreal agenda pushing, thats why game is so bad.
 

FewRope

Member
You guys are really invested in this dei and anti-dei modern western identity politics crap too much to not look at why this is in this state now.

The average joe does not give a crap about politics, on both sides, and Hogwart's Legacy and modern God of War and Spider-Man games in singleplayer and Helldivers 2 in multiplayer, are living proof of that.

Of course, there are exceptions that do not sell well (sold in the millions still, but not the target set by Square is what I mean), despite being GOTY contenders like FFVII Rebirth, but they are again, exceptions that do not make the rule.

The game is outright uninspiring pile of garbage and brings nothing new to the table, the 100's of other Overwatch clones haven't already.

The only thing riding with this is the first party nature of it's production value and Bungie behind some of the creative decisions on gameplay.

Doomed to fail from day 0.
The art style is legit bad, thats the only real reason why this is going to fail like the fattest bomb ever made
 

FunkMiller

Member
Exactly. Western developers often talk about representation and diversity, how it’s important to make everyone feel included. Sounds nice, right?
But too bad if you’re beautiful or have a nice body… Then you get no representation at all. Sorry. And they’ll do whatever they can to make sure you and all the things you represent are excluded. Such wild diversity can not exist!


In the real world I see strikingly beautiful people every single day. So how about leaving something of that within the gaming universe as well? Doesn’t matter if it’s alien characters. Have a couple different Liaras and Thors in there. Diversity remember? It’s really not that complicated to get some positive buzz. Right now there is nothing in there to pull you in on this new IP, except gameplay, which doesn’t seem to be much different from what’s already out there. So yeah, good luck then!

Sex sells.

Always has. Always will.

The irony here is that they could have successfully pushed the diversity and inclusion, if they’d combined it with existing popular archetypes, instead of swapping them out. But more important to deny the male gaze than make money, I guess?
 

Tams

Member
I don't play games to look at uggos.

It's one of the main reasons I stopped playing Warframe. Sure, the space ninja Tenno look fantastic, but all the enemies are ugly and they are what you spend all the time looking at.

Didn't like Helldivers 2 much for much the same reason.
 

Killjoy-NL

Banned
Sex sells.

Always has. Always will.

The irony here is that they could have successfully pushed the diversity and inclusion, if they’d combined it with existing popular archetypes, instead of swapping them out. But more important to deny the male gaze than make money, I guess?
They should've went with hot sexy lesbians for females characters to strike 2 birds with 1 stone.
 
Sex sells.

Always has. Always will.

The irony here is that they could have successfully pushed the diversity and inclusion, if they’d combined it with existing popular archetypes, instead of swapping them out. But more important to deny the male gaze than make money, I guess?
Theres sex in the game?

Dont get it twisted. Sex sells, genders and pronouns dont. They are too busy talking about it rather than actually having it.
 

BbMajor7th

Member
lol I can't want till GTAVI releases

This will be a fun place at release talking about theses "conspiracies" lol
I think you have to put the pushback in a broader context. It's undeniable that the gaming and movie industries have seen a massive aesthetic shift in the past decade or so - we've gone from a situation where the white, square-jawed American male was the default, to the self-asserted, no-nonsense women of colour (who's more competent than all of her male counterparts) appearing in everything. The change isn't necessarily a problem - diversity is actually no issue at all - what has caused the crazy pushback is the narrative surrounding it.

Developers and journalists talking loudly and self-importantly about importance of including of non-white, non-male, non-hetero characters and branding people who disagree with them as actively driving bigotry, violence and societal injustice. This is then paired with the constant scorn poured on the white male avatar (I read a Kotaku review of Flintlock the other day that praised it for not being another generic European fantasy 'filled with white men') which again, is very overt and often quite caustic.

It's hard to avoid the sense that the shift we've seen is less about broadening definitions within culture and making it more 'inclusive' so much as exacting a pound of flesh from those who built this industry. Thirty-odd years ago, gaming was a space dominated by a specific type of white male. It wasn't cool to be into games, it wasn't sexy or glamorous - it was an outsider culture that often got you branded as a 'manchild' for enjoying it. That space has developed over time and now games are sexy and chic - it's cool to be a gamer nerd - and it's very, very lucrative. All that money and glamour has brought in a huge new cohort - a bunch of middle-class, metropolitan Westerners who've looked around at the state of things and decided that it needs major improvements.

The pattern is very similar to colonisation - when there was no money or prestige to be had, nobody cared. The cool kids left the nerds to their silly games and got careers elsewhere, now they've seen how much money there is to be had, they've moved in, displaced the people who've been here for decades, and decided to 'civilise' those who've stayed. Like all colonisers, they don't know what they're getting into, they don't have an appreciation of the environment and the climate and all they want to do is mine it for money and reputation.

The regular gamers that have been here a long time have an understandable contempt towards this forced occupation. They were getting along just fine before all these smug, self-important folks showed up and started telling them that they were godless savages who needed to confess their sins and pledge their faith to these new ideals. It's not the diversity that is pissing people off, it's the broader cultural context that's driving it and, honestly, even if I think some of the pushback is ugly, distasteful and really beneath us, I see why they're reacting that way.
 

GymWolf

Member
I don't play games to look at uggos.

It's one of the main reasons I stopped playing Warframe. Sure, the space ninja Tenno look fantastic, but all the enemies are ugly and they are what you spend all the time looking at.

Didn't like Helldivers 2 much for much the same reason.
Were you expecting for automatons to look like this?

5533053_582748_alatir_fem-automaton.2bbbb48e5ba94d77155bad7a9371b2bb.webp
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
There's no "conspiracy", you only need to look at SBI, they clearly state they do these things and they advocate for like minded employees of dev studios to threaten their bosses into hiring SBI.

Who cares about "globally"? How many current gen videogames are being sold in Tajikistan or Lesotho? The fact is games like Concord are directed primarily at the North American and European markets and game buyers in those regions are mostly white (78% in the US). So if you're a game studio that goes on about "representation matters" but then you fail to "represent" the demographic that will overwhelmingly buy your game, then you are full a shit and just pushing an agenda.
Personally I don’t care if it exactly matches the demographic of the general population.

But you know this cast of characters resulted from a process like this:
GizZiyR.jpeg
 

Kerotan

Member
Was just reading impressions over on Ree and some of them are saying it's not fair that the anti pronoun/diversity crowd get to start a hate campaign which negatively effects the success of this game. Oh how unfair on the devs before it launches.

Well maybe you should have used that mindset for the endless games you they/thems tried cancelling before launch. I guess those Devs deserved it. Fucking clowns.

Anyway even there impressions seem to suggest this game is missing the "it" factor. Personally if this fails I hope Sony consider the traditional game approach. Let's be honest though if they attempt this 5 times just 1 hit like Helldivers makes the strategy worth while. Hopefully Sony can have another hit or two like Helldivers and be satisfied with that.
 
Just a minor remark: "whites" are not all the same, like blacks or Asians. I'm white but I could never be confused with a nordic or slavic white, not even a British one. It's ignorant beyond belief to put them all in the same bag.

So, "representation" is not only impossible but the perfect excuse for racist motherfuckers to impose their perverted view of the world and make a Greek queen like Cleopatra Afro-American in a Netflix "documentary", the dumbest thing I have ever seen.

So, these people can't bomb and get fired soon enough and their apologists or sympathizers may fuck off as well.
 

FunkMiller

Member
They should've went with hot sexy lesbians for females characters to strike 2 birds with 1 stone.

They could have gone with a combination, certainly. Then you cover all bases. That's how you make money. The minority of whining screamers they would have lost with sexier characters would have been more than offset by those more drawn to the game for its power fantasy elements.
 

GymWolf

Member
Just a minor remark: "whites" are not all the same, like blacks or Asians. I'm white but I could never be confused with a nordic or slavic white, not even a British one. It's ignorant beyond belief to put them all in the same bag.

So, "representation" is not only impossible but the perfect excuse for racist motherfuckers to impose their perverted view of the world and make a Greek queen like Cleopatra Afro-American in a Netflix "documentary", the dumbest thing I have ever seen.

So, these people can't bomb and get fired soon enough and their apologists or sympathizers may fuck off as well.
Woke people only care about skin deep differences.

Hell, even in the same family you can find wildly different individuals...
 
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laynelane

Member
Was just reading impressions over on Ree and some of them are saying it's not fair that the anti pronoun/diversity crowd get to start a hate campaign which negatively effects the success of this game. Oh how unfair on the devs before it launches.

Well maybe you should have used that mindset for the endless games you they/thems tried cancelling before launch. I guess those Devs deserved it. Fucking clowns.

Anyway even there impressions seem to suggest this game is missing the "it" factor. Personally if this fails I hope Sony consider the traditional game approach. Let's be honest though if they attempt this 5 times just 1 hit like Helldivers makes the strategy worth while. Hopefully Sony can have another hit or two like Helldivers and be satisfied with that.

I suspect the "hate campaign" they're whinging about is people stating any opinion that doesn't perfectly align with theirs. Also, not buying the game is hate too. And you're right about the source of this too - same community that had no problem boycotting games they didn't agree with - even to the point of banning discussion. That was unfair to the devs of those games too. I think that's one of the things I despise the most - the flagrant hypocrisy.
 

BbMajor7th

Member
Was just reading impressions over on Ree and some of them are saying it's not fair that the anti pronoun/diversity crowd get to start a hate campaign which negatively effects the success of this game. Oh how unfair on the devs before it launches.

Well maybe you should have used that mindset for the endless games you they/thems tried cancelling before launch. I guess those Devs deserved it. Fucking clowns.

Anyway even there impressions seem to suggest this game is missing the "it" factor. Personally if this fails I hope Sony consider the traditional game approach. Let's be honest though if they attempt this 5 times just 1 hit like Helldivers makes the strategy worth while. Hopefully Sony can have another hit or two like Helldivers and be satisfied with that.
I like the bit where the forum that completely banned discussion of Hogwarts Legacy (over guilt by association) argues that people actively rooting for this game to fail are a bunch of unsympathetic alt-right chuds who ignore all the hard work put in by developers.
 

NickFire

Member
It's simply bad optics for the game at this point in time. Though like I said, the issue of DEI pales in comparison to the other issues this game has.
Based on the beta turnout, I don’t think we should be quick to call anything related to presentation a minor issue for this game. Something clearly kept people from bothering to even try the gameplay. Emphasis on people wouldn’t even try it for free.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
Amazes me how much the character design seems to have sway over people take that this game will flop ...umm ...so it's a FPS for starters , and 90% of the time you shooting at the thjngs you have issus with .... umm .... win?

You'd think the maps, game mechanics, UI design, gun play, would be higher on the list of things that make or break a game ...but no,instead we see YouTube videos with "woke trash!" Or "why isn't this free!" In the title.
Dude there is a billion dollar industry of cosmetic unlocks in FPS games, time to wake up and start paying attention. Of course it matters.
 
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