Concord Shutdown

Submission 798

Part of a series on Concord. [View Related Entries]

Overview

Concord Shutdown, also known as the Concord Shutting Down Controversy, refers to the complete shutdown of the 2024 first-person hero shooter game Concord just 11 days after it launched for PC and PlayStation 5. The sudden announcement of the video game's cancelation in early September 2024, as well as refunds for all players who purchased the game, led to a large backlash against Firewalk Studios and Sony Interactive Entertainment. Critics of Concord also praised its failure as the news spread online, with many posting memes and jokes that mocked the game, including discourse about it being a flop.

Background

On September 3rd, 2024, 11 days after it launched, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced via a blog post^[2] that its hero shooter Concord would be removed from sale and that it would shut off the game's servers on September 6th, 2024, after failing to generate many players.

The X^[1] / Twitter account @Dexerto posted the message written by Firewalk Studios Game Director Ryan Ellis in which he thanked the fans' support and recognized "that other aspects of the game and our initial launch didn’t land the way we’d intended. Therefore, at this time, we have decided to take the game offline beginning Sept. 6, 2024, and explore options, including those that will better reach our players." The X post (seen below) amassed more than 16,000 likes and 2,400 reposts in a few hours.

The company also offered players refunds for purchasing the physical copy of the game.^[2]

Online Reactions

Concord's shutdown news quickly spread and created a significant amount of backlash and mockery against Sony and the studio behind the game, with numerous gamers complaining about the state of the current gaming industry and the oversaturation of the hero-shooter genre and its live service model.

For example, on September 3rd, 2024, X^[3] user @TheNCSmaster posted the Grant Gustin Next To Oliver Queen's Grave meme, adding a Concord promotional image over the grave (seen below), which amassed over 3,200 likes and 570 reposts in a few hours.

Also on September 3rd, TikToker @bluethunder^[4] uploaded a video explaining Concord's shutdown (seen below), amassing roughly 8,000 plays and 545 likes in a few hours.

YouTubers, streamers and other gaming content creators posted videos about Concord shutting down in early September 2024, as Twitch streamer Asmongold did in a September 3rd video (seen below), which amassed over 125,000 views and 7,900 likes in a few hours.^[5]

The topic also became the subject of memes and discussions on Reddit. For example, Redditor Atreus421bo^[6] posted a screenshot of a tweet about the game's shutdown on September 3rd, 2024 (seen below), which garnered more than 3,900 upvotes and 920 comments in a few hours.