It seems potential customers weren’t keen on spending $40 for a live service hero shooter featuring unattractive, androgynous blobs and queer aliens with preferred pronouns.
Following Sony’s abrupt decision to kill the momentum of their surprise hit, Helldivers 2, by requiring PC players to create a PlayStation Network account, the company made several new announcements at the subsequent State of Play presentation, which did not sit well with gamers.
One such game announced during this presentation was “Concord,” a 5v5 multiplayer shooter developed by Firewalk Studios, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment.
The game itself didn’t generate much excitement. It’s a standard first-person hero shooter, similar to Overwatch but notably more progressive. The primary takeaway for potential customers was that Concord seemed to embody the ESG agenda and DEI initiatives. The game’s extensive roster of characters appeared designed to meet every conceivable diversity quota, resulting in characters that many found unattractive.
From unattractive, overweight Black women to a lesbian Buzz Lightyear, elderly and unappealing Asian grandmothers, effluent aliens, and androgynous characters with ambiguous genders, Concord appears to be made by activists for activists.
Gender identity plays a significant role in the game, as evidenced by every character having their own preferred pronouns displayed on the selection screen.
Ironically, this focus on pronouns is helpful given how many characters lack clear feminine traits, making it hard to discern their sex. Concord is a mediocre hero shooter filled with a diverse range of characters and cringeworthy Marvel-style humor.
Firewalk Studios, the developers, seem to be targeting gamers willing to pay $40 for this experience by offering unique cinematic vignettes for Concord’s characters each week. These vignettes likely aim to flesh out the characters’ lore and backgrounds, potentially introducing inclusive queer romance elements as well.
The reveal trailers for Concord received an overwhelming number of dislikes. Given that the majority of gamers are men who value attractive character designs, it raises the question of what audience Sony and Firewalk Studios were targeting during the game’s development.
It seems their primary goal may have been to earn praise from game journalists for promoting a progressive message, rather than appealing to the broader gaming community.
Sony has openly expressed their desire to push PC gamers towards purchasing their DRM-heavy console by deliberately slowing the release of the few first-party games available on the PlayStation 5.
In contrast, their live service games are set to launch on PC simultaneously. This strategy follows the monumental success of Helldivers 2, which matched the sales of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 in half the time, primarily driven by PC players.
Despite this, Sony angered the PC community by requiring PlayStation Network accounts, leading to Helldivers 2, Ghost of Tsushima and even the single player God of War: Ragnarok being blocked in over 170 countries where PSN account creation is restricted.
Concord follows the same path. Sony is banking on its success to grow the PlayStation brand among PC gamers, but the response has been underwhelming. Gamers aren’t particularly interested in a progressive and queer hero shooter. Concord’s early access, which began a few days ago, was initially exclusive to those who pre-ordered the game.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Sony had to drastically alter their plans to gatekeep Concord from those who pre-ordered, likely due to low pre-order numbers. Instead, they decided to make the open beta accessible to anyone with an active PlayStation Plus subscription.
This change opens Concord up to over a hundred million gamers from July 18th to the 21st, ahead of its official release on August 23rd.
So, how has Concord performed during its early access phase?
Not very well, as one might expect. The game is struggling even on PC, initially peaking at 1,124 concurrent players on Steam before dropping to around 600 over the next two days. Given the lower barrier to entry for PC players compared to consoles, especially considering that the majority of Helldivers 2 players were on PC, it’s reasonable to assume these figures would be even lower on consoles.
Compounding the issue, Concord requires an active PSN account to play, effectively preventing its sale in over 170 countries, similar to Ghost of Tsushima and Helldivers 2. Despite efforts to promote the game by offering pre-orders four additional beta codes for friends and giving away codes on social media, actual player numbers remain low, with the exception of content creators and streamers like xQc and penguinz0 who played the game for content rather than genuine interest.
Gamers who participated in the Early Access Beta don’t seem impressed with Concord. Influencers like Endymion have criticized it as an Overwatch clone, noting sloppy animations and awkward character movements. In a competitive hero shooter, smooth combat mechanics are crucial.
The consensus on Concord is clear and rational: the game is headed for failure. Similar to Square Enix’s Foamstars, which began as a free-to-play title for PS Plus subscribers but saw a massive 95% player drop-off after transitioning to a $40 price tag for a sparse Splatoon imitation with pricey “micro” transactions, Concord seems poised for a similar fate.
Charging $40 for what seems to be the most progressive, queer-friendly game of the year, surpassing even Suicide Squad, appears to be a death sentence. Even if Concord were free-to-play, it’s doubtful it would attract a substantial player base due to its unappealing character designs and lack of representation for certain demographics within the gaming community.
Particularly noteworthy is the involvement of Jon Weisnewski, the lead character designer at Firewalk Studios. In 2020, Weisnewski responded to Petar Kotevski, a former lead programmer at Bungie, asserting that White people possess privilege and must actively acknowledge and strive for equality. He emphasized that neglecting to pursue these goals could perpetuate systemic racism.
I wonder if this correlates with Concord featuring the most politically correct and sanitized roster of characters ever seen in a video game. Notably absent are any White characters, replaced instead by a variety of he/him robots, effluent aliens, purple lesbians, amorphous brown figures without discernible gender, elderly women, and lesbians in power armor.
On the flip side, Nexon’s recently launched free-to-play MMO, “The First Descendant,” is making waves. The game reached a peak of nearly 265,000 concurrent players on PC and has maintained a strong player base of over 165,000 after its first week. While I find the game somewhat uninspiring—the story is average and gameplay resembles a budget version of Destiny—one undeniable draw is its appealing character designs.
Unlike many recent titles, “The First Descendant” doesn’t lean into woke themes. Instead, its main appeal lies in the attractiveness of its character designs, which seems to resonate well with its player community.
The game is heavily pay-to-win, typical of Nexon titles, yet players are still flocking to this stripped-down version of Destiny. Its appeal lies in the smooth and fluid movement and gunplay. While the story is lackluster, the game doesn’t push identity politics or agendas like Destiny does.
Playing solo can be dull and monotonous, but teaming up with friends makes it worthwhile. However, it does suffer from common Unreal Engine issues, such as inconsistent frametime stutters and texture popping as seen above.
The anticipated failure of Concord will likely be seen as a victory for gamers awakening to the industry’s deep-seated corruption. The video game business is no longer financially viable, especially evident with Sony’s recent closure of their London Studio amid global layoffs, including their main VR game developer, alongside the troubled launch of the PSVR2 headset.
The prevailing sentiment surrounding Concord reflects widespread disgust and disdain, viewing the game as a symbol of everything that has gone awry in the industry which is more concerned with mythical ESG hedge fund financing over pandering to consumers.
Today’s video games are increasingly shaped by activists, backed by massive financial entities like Blackrock, Vanguard, and Blackstone, enforcing censorship, the eradication of femininity, diversity mandates and inclusivity quotas. Concord perfectly aligns with these requirements, featuring virtually no visibly straight male characters and certainly no straight male gamers are going to pay $40 for it.
Concord epitomizes the industry’s internal decay, its studios facing financial ruin due to misguided global initiatives and consultations on woke DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) policies. Sony’s eagerness to charge $40 for this progressive content while effectively blocking 170 countries from accessing the game in order to coerce PC gamers into adopting PlayStation Network accounts seems indicative of its declining strategy.
It’s highly probable that Concord will be Firewalk Studios’ sole venture. After investing several years in its development since the studio’s establishment in 2018 and partnership with Sony announced in 2021, the game’s release is shaping up to be a colossal failure.
Despite years of effort, Concord emerges as a visually repugnant Marvel shooter, poised to rival Suicide Squad as the biggest flop of 2024.
