Concord’s future still unknown as the game’s Director steps down

Following the troubled launch of Concord last month, Ryan Ellis, the Director of the game, has stepped down. This led to Sony pulling the game from sale and issuing refunds to all buyers.

Since the game was taken offline, there has been no clear communication about the future of Concord or the fate of the staff at Firewalk Studios affected by its failure. According to sources within the development team as reported by Kotaku, Ellis, who previously worked at Bungie as Destiny 2’s Creative Director, will now take on a supporting role at the company.

The silence from Sony has sparked speculation about what lies ahead for Firewalk and Concord. With substantial investments in both money and time, it seems unlikely that the game will be completely abandoned, especially considering its strong gameplay. Despite the issues at launch, Concord was well-received for its engaging first-person shooting and character customization. Our review of Concord gave it an 8/10, making the premature end of the game disheartening.

While Concord offered a refreshing alternative to the typical free-to-play model, it struggled to attract players with its one-time price tag of £34.99 for a PvP-focused game. Transitioning Concord to a free-to-play model may be the most viable option, but it would require careful consideration of monetization strategies such as in-game purchases and season passes.

There is a possibility of offering Concord to PlayStation Plus subscribers, but this raises questions about the game’s availability on PC. Given the game’s performance on Steam, Sony may opt to focus solely on the PlayStation platform.

Alternatively, Firewalk may shift its focus to support other PlayStation Studios, or face the unfortunate prospect of layoffs or closure in the competitive gaming industry.

Despite the challenges, there is still potential for Concord to succeed with the right approach and timing for a relaunch.