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[Ribi]

Common modern day budget. People laughed back when something like SC got 300mil and now look the budget is fucking normally by today's standards which is even more ironic when you consider what firewalks uses to work on

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

it's not the 'professor' aka Neogaf's boogeyman.

Wow. Okay. Just wow.

 

[TheInfamousKira]

Unemployment with The Professor.

 

[GermanZepp]

 

[Barakov]

Damn. Look at all that peach fuzz.

 

[Saturn Dragon]

As crazy as it seems, there was a tweet from Herman Hulst in 2021 or 2022 saying how good the game is from what he saw at Firewalk. He and the rest of the Sony gang must had loved what they saw so much, they didnt even bother partnering with them the traditional way and see how it goes. The bought out the whole studio in 2023.

Same thing with Jade Raymond's Haven studio. A newly built studio with nothing. Bought them out. And people arent liking their anti-rich woke heist game going by the trailer.

And Bungie of course too. At least they got a good track record. Problem is they paid $3.6B and the second they bought them in early 2022, it's been downhill since.

Yeah, as other members already posted, it's beyond non-sense that TPTB liked it and let Firewalk do their thing up until the end. Even after the awful reception everything they showed had.

The antirich heist game looks bad, but not as bad as Concord. Well, it's a solid contender for another extreme flop, but at least there's time to change some things up, isn't it? Isn't???

 

[CLW]

How are they going to explain the 8 years gap in their resume ?

 

[Killjoy-NL]

 

[Saturn Dragon]

Imagine they re-release the game as Drocnoc and it’s all big titties and white men.

Dr. Ocnoc and the Professor: The Adventure.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

As crazy as it seems, there was a tweet from Herman Hulst in 2021 or 2022 saying how good the game is from what he saw at Firewalk. He and the rest of the Sony gang must had loved what they saw so much, they didnt even bother partnering with them the traditional way and see how it goes. The bought out the whole studio in 2023.

is not that crazy when the whole industry was intoxicated with the COVID growth. MS acquiring ABK put pressure on Sony to be more aggressive on their GaaS endevour. further more, people are forgetting there was internal turmoil inside Playstation as well.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

NeoGAF? Dude, like 20K people in total bought it worldwide.

Let's be honest, most people didn't even knew it existed.

The hate-bubble is much smaller than people think.
(Something something echochambers)

 

[Traxtech]

I'm sure they have alot of talented people that I hope find good homes within playstation.

 

[blacktout]

Let's be honest, most people didn't even knew it existed.

The May State of Play where Sony unveiled the Concord cinematic and gameplay trailers has almost two million views on YouTube, and that's just one of many ways in which the game was promoted.

Concord didn't die obscure and unknown. It was rejected en masse.

 

[havoc00]

I'm sure they have alot of talented people that I hope find good homes within playstation.

Yea they should send them over to Team Asobi for some diversity

 

[Saturn Dragon]

Let's say they released the very same game but free to play and more importantly with SUPER COOL ASS CHARACTERS. Like 80% of the characters HOT AF big booty girls like in Stellar Blade or something. (8 years of development focusing on high tech glutes and tits physics)

Would this have been a hit or what?

 

[Robb]

Some developers are updating their resumes and portfolios, a few have already preemptively exited the studio, and others are waiting to see what a potential severance package will look like before deciding what to do next.

 

[Dthomp]

Oh i missed these concord threads. Next one will be the "Studio shutting down" one

 

[Hypereides]

"one of the more expensive studios in the PlayStation portfolio on a per-head basis"

Fucking crazy. lol

Hermen really didn't think this through. What on earth made them so valuable? Was it because they were aiming for a GAAS? Sounds like Hermen was drunk when he bought up the studio.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

The May State of Play where Sony unveiled the Concord cinematic and gameplay trailers has almost two million views on YouTube, and that's just one of many ways in which the game was promoted.

Concord didn't die obscure and unknown. It was rejected en masse.

Yes, State of Play.

That isn't the same as Concord. How many views do Concord trailers have?

Edit:
Not that it matters, because the fact that most don't people even know about the game is part of the problem, as it highlights the game just being uninteresting to most, apart from being Woke.

 

[Longcat]

Yeah but Hermen Hulst saw the game and loved it. Saw no red flags.

This character literally wears a red flag lol. I'll never understand the big corporation fetish of flushing money down the toilet for the nonexistent "modern audience".

 

[Germuso]

Just close the studio.

 

[Raven117]

get the few talented developers moved over. There should be absolutely no creative team left in any capacity.

 

[ArtHands]

Maybe Sony can get them to work on a remaster to get them back on their footing

 

[Z O N E]

The studio was less than 12 people in 2019.

The 200 million number was always ridiculous.

They were based in Bellevue, which is EXTREMELY expensive.

Entry level software engineer in Bellevue is already at about $122k
Average software engineer salary is about $180k to $320k

Then include the location of the building and all the other positions and the people running the company and what not and you get yourself one extremely expensive company.

Also, according to sources:

"including the possible shutdown of the entire studio, which sources tell Kotaku is one of the more expensive studios in the PlayStation portfolio on a per-head basis."

So a studio that only has 169 employees, is one of the most expensive studios in the Playstation portfolio? No wonder they were banking on Concord to be a hit...

 

[Radical_3d]

This character literally wears a red flag lol. I'll never understand the big corporation fetish of flushing money down the toilet for the nonexistent "modern audience".

I hate woke stuff as much as the next guy, but really, do you plan on buying Fair Games? It’s not woke, so surely it’ll be fun, right?

 

[Cyberpunkd]

So a studio that only has 169 employees, is one of the most expensive studios in the Playstation portfolio? No wonder they were banking on Concord to be a hit...

On a per-head basis.

 

[Bartski]

Just a glimpse at the real size of the axe coming their way

 

[PeteBull]

I hate woke stuff as much as the next guy, but really, do you plan on buying Fair Games? It’s not woke, so surely it’ll be fun, right?

its woke af, and it will bomb hard

 

[cormack12]

FW will close, but Ryan Ellis is still employed in a support role.

At some point, someone will spill the beans or he'll update his Linkedin resume which studio he works for. Will be hilarious which game he's part of next.

Like that exec of Bud Light who went on gardening leave but no longer works there

 

[Radical_3d]

its woke af, and it will bomb hard

We agree in one thing.

 

[Xtib81]

We will miss our professor.

 

[Klosshufvud]

With 200m, we would've had 5 or so high calibre Japanese first party games.

So tragic what road Sony went down on. This game has ceased to exist. The 200m flushed down the toilet. Could've gone to make video game classics in a better world.

 

[hemo memo]

With 200m, we would've had 5 or so high calibre Japanese first party games.

So tragic what road Sony went down on. This game has ceased to exist. The 200m flushed down the toilet. Could've gone to make video game classics in a better world.

We could've easily got 4 Astrobot games with that budget.

 

[ahtlas7]

 

[Klosshufvud]

We could've easily got 4 Astrobot games with that budget.

Astro Bot is proof how much amazing talent still recides in Japan that Sony leaves completely underutilized. Says something when their top two games this gen (Gran Turismo 7 and Astro Bot) are both made in Japan. Meanwhile God knows how many millions Sony has blown on these failed GAAS games. I'm guessing the budget for Factions must've been similar given the many years it was in development. And all that money wasted on Bungie. It just makes me sad to think about. The fate that befell Sony. So much short term greed thinking, so little about the actual quality of games.

 

[SkylineRKR]

Yeah they could've done better things with this investment. Its not like no one saw this failure coming.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Yeah they could've done better things with this investment. Its not like no one saw this failure coming.

I'm certain Firewalk was acquired primarily for their technical expertise, because no matter what people think of Concord, on a technical level is was solid.

But being this big of a flop, business-wise there is no other option than to shut down the studio and maybe shift a portion of talented devs towards other studios.

 

[Calverz]

LET THEM FINISH LAST OF US 2 ONLINE

100%

 

[Touch fuzZy. get BizZay]

Now the professor can take over and lead the studio to new heights

 

[Pasta la Vista]

Let's be honest, most people didn't even knew it existed.

The hate-bubble is much smaller than people think.
(Something something echochambers)

Well damn, guess this must be the real reason Concord failed. Not enough people knew of its existence!

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Well damn, guess this must be the real reason Concord failed. Not enough people knew of its existence!

Part of it, yes. Which has everything to do with the game feeling uninspired.

 

[blacktout]

Yes, State of Play.

That isn't the same as Concord. How many views do Concord trailers have?

Concord opened that State of Play and accounted for like 1/3 of its total runtime. Are you suggesting that most of those 1.9 million views somehow missed it?

Also, the Concord gameplay trailer from that same SoP has nearly one million views:

So, yeah, there's no question that many, many people knew the game existed.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Being true that people in gaming forums are a minority, we are the target for this one. It all boils down that Concord pissed off its target audience. The game was heavily marketed, and people knew its existence and its potential flaws from the first impression.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Concord opened that State of Play and accounted for like 1/3 of its total runtime. Are you suggesting that most of those 1.9 million views somehow missed it?

Also, the Concord gameplay trailer from that same SoP has nearly one million views:

So, yeah, there's no question that many, many people knew the game existed.

I said most people dont even know it exists. That's not the same as not many people know it exists.

Most people also don't know Stray exists, but the teaser trailer had 4.5M views:


It doesn't always say much.
What does say much, is that nobody bought the game and it's for many reasons. Most people not even knowing about it, is part of it. Which already shows that the game was going to die regardless.

 

[IllegalLemon]

The term "flop" would be a massive understatement when describing Concord. But I guess there's no proper negative word to describe it, so I guess Flop would have to do.

 

[blacktout]

I said most people dont even know it exists. That's not the same as not many people know it exists.

"Most" people don't know that any games exist outside of Mario, Pokemon, and Fortnite. So, sure, through that lens, every game that fails fails in part due to a lack of visibility. My point was that Concord wasn't particularly invisible and that the incredible degree to which it failed can't be explained by people not knowing about the game. It had a very normal level of visibility and promotion for a major first party title.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

"Most" people don't know that any games exist outside of Mario, Pokemon, and Fortnite. So, sure, through that lens, every game that fails fails in part due to a lack of visibility. My point was that Concord wasn't particularly invisible and that the incredible degree to which it failed can't be explained by people not knowing about the game. It had a very normal level of visibility and promotion for a major first party title.

That's what I said, didn't I?

Also, Stray had more views than Concord.

Are you going to claim that a game like Stray is a very well-known game?

 

[blacktout]

That's what I said, didn't I?

OK, but then you're not saying much at all about why the game actually failed.

Also, Stray had more views than Concord.

Are you going to claim that a game like Stray is a very well-known game?

The Stray trailer has been on YouTube for over two years vs. three months for the Concord trailer. Stray also sold millions of units (apparently around 4 million on Steam alone) vs. maybe 25k for Concord. If anything, this comparison underscores how poorly Concord performed relative to its visibility.

 

[CuNi]

Stating lack of knowledge about the game is what lead to its demise is such a joke.
If that claim would even somewhat be true, all the media attention the game got for its horrible launch numbers should have spread the "knowledge of its existence" so far that that argument can only be used for initial launch week, if at all.
Hell, even friends who barely play video games send me memes of that game on launch week, so if that game really only "died of obscurity" its number should have skyrocket in the second or third week.
Thing is they didn't, because not knowing about the game was NOT part of its problem.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

OK, but then you're not saying much at all about why the game actually failed.

Because everybody knows why. I was responding to someone.

The Stray trailer has been on YouTube for over two years vs. three months for the Concord trailer. Stray also sold millions of units (apparently around 4 million on Steam alone) vs. maybe 25k for Concord. If anything, this comparison underscores how poorly Concord performed relative to its visibility.

That's not an answer to my question.

Are you going to claim that Stray is a well-known game?