Concord Sales Sink To Complete Disaster | Only Made $1 Million

Concord has been a complete disaster for Firewalk Studio and, by extension, Sony. Since the original announcement fans have been pushing back at the title. There are obviously many reasons for this. Concord looks to take inspiration from titles like Valorant and Overwatch. Sadly, they completely missed the mark. The truth of the matter is that people already have Overwatch, and thus, there is no reason to play Concord. They also have Valorant, so again, there is no reason for them to swap. This is in addition to the dozen other live service options out there.

It is also worth pointing out that most of those titles are free to play, while Concord will set you back $40. This is in addition to all the other monetization options they include. It is worth mentioning that it is not the only reason Concord fails. The truth is that this game falls short in many aspects. While the gameplay mechanics can sometimes be fun, it does not do enough to set itself apart from competitors. One of the biggest disasters for this title has to be the marketing. Many of the character designs leave nothing to be desired.

When some playable designs were first revealed, most immediately dismissed them as DEI. Granted, DEI has become a bit of a buzzword over the last few years, but in this case, gamers might not be incorrect. I do not know what they were thinking or why they thought creating some of these designs was a good idea. Not every women’s design needs to be a supermodel, but at the same time, you also do not have to overcompensate that much. Character design is a core part of your game.

Concord Has Horrible Sales

Concord failed miserably on this front, and it is showing in the sales. Thus far, it is estimated that they only sold 25 thousand units, which means that they made about 1 million in sales. Granted, there are a lot of in-game purchasing options, but even if you triple that amount, they still fall horribly short. Right now, there are about 700 concurrent players on Steam. While that number might be a bit higher when you include PlayStation, it won’t make much of a difference.

By every metric, this title is failing. Despite many saying that the gameplay is at least decent, sadly, that was never going to be enough. The market right now is exaggerated. Every publisher is trying to make a live service game. Most hope to cash in on the trend and get that Warzone or Fortnite money. While everyone is chasing that trend, no one is trying to innovate. You will end up with this when you chase profit over consumer demand. So what do consumers want, and is there still room for live service?

The short answer to the second question is yes. There is room for live service. However, the market is starting to shrink—not in terms of player demand but in terms of the difficulty of getting into it. Since there is so much of this, fans are starting to recent it. My second answer is going to be controversial. If my statement turns you off, I will not blame you. But based on the comments towards this title, I have to say it. Concord needs to stop with the unpleasant character designs. No one wants to play with them.

Why Concord Failed

It is a mean thing to say, but it is the truth. Even if your other characters look great, people will have difficulty looking past that one design. I am not saying it is correct, but it is a fact. We are visual creatures, and most don’t want to touch the game if that is what your characters look like. You can argue until you turn blue about why it should not matter, but it does. You can say that it is fat phobic, sexist, or racist, but that won’t do anything to change people’s minds.

Gamers right now are more distrustful than ever before. If they just suspect that you are doing things for DEI reasons or consulting with DEI companies, they won’t play your game. This is not because they have female leads or black people or any other type of inclusion. Rather, they hate the reasons behind the decisions. Strong Female and black leads have always been at the forefront of video games. Companies like Rockstar Square Enix and Blizzard all paved the way. It is rather the motives behind the sudden shift that has people alarmed.

Gamers distrust studios putting DEI at the forefront of their marketing campaign. When you do that, it is clear your only motive is pandering. Rockstar did not make a big deal about having a black lead in GTA San Andreas and five because it did not matter. You did not hear Square Enix brag about Lara Croft in the beginning because having a woman was not their goal. Making a fun game was. Attaching DEI to subpar games and blaming white men when it fails is the issue.

Conclusion

If you spent more time creating a good game instead of playing identity politics, things would suck this much. I know people might not like this type of thinking, but it is hard to look past. I do not believe that DEI is the big bad boogeyman that is destroying gaming. Gaming is bigger than it ever was before. While some publishers are failing, the industry as a whole is growing. I think Corporate greed is way more harmful than a few fat, ugly girls in a video game.

Having publishers reskinning the same content and making you pay hundreds of dollars for content that should have been included is more of an issue for me. I believe in Diversity and Inclusion, and many more people feel the same way. I know many gamers are drawn to female leads or do not care about diverse characters. However, they get irritated when a company like Sweet Baby Inc. forces their policies and social issues down their throats. Fixing this issue is not that hard.

Do not attack your fan base, and don’t turn identity into a main selling point.