Sony’s live service venture is 1-1 so far. After Helldivers 2 set records earlier this year, Concord, a team-based hero shooter by people who previously worked on Destiny, failed to capture the attention of hero shooter fans upon its release.
Its lack of traction on PC and PlayStation 5 forced Sony and Firewalk Studios to shut down the game on September 6. But, just when you thought that this would mean that no one would continue playing the game at all, trophy hunters are scrambling to unlock the game’s elusive Platinum trophy before the servers go dark.
The race against time has led to some unusual gameplay strategies as players are now deliberately throwing matches in the game’s Rivalry mode to earn experience points as quickly as possible. This tactic involves entire teams running off platforms to their doom at the start of each round, resulting in rapid-fire match completions and a steady stream of XP.
Rivalry mode has become the focal point for these XP farming efforts. The best-of-seven, single-life rounds format allows for quick match turnarounds, as each round can potentially last just 30 seconds. This method is the most efficient way to accumulate enough XP to reach reputation level 100 in Concord.
However, the grind is proving to be a Herculean task even with these strategies. As the clock runs out, even seasoned trophy hunters are questioning whether it’s even possible to achieve the Platinum before the shutdown.
Perhaps the only way to achieve this Platinum trophy now is to beg Sony to put Concord back up as a free-to-play title, but we highly doubt this will happen. It probably costs Sony more to maintain the servers than it’s worth.
Besides, one of the biggest selling points of Concord was that it wouldn’t go free-to-play and have microtransactions. How would Sony support Concord if it wasn’t bringing any money?
Unless Sony changes its mind about pulling the plug on Concord, the game’s Platinum trophy will go down as one of the rarest in PlayStation history. Can you imagine how many videos content creators will make about it in the future?
As much of a laughing matter seeing players jump off cliffs in Concord is, you can’t deny that Sony now faces tough questions about its upcoming live service games, including projects from Bungie and Haven Studios. The company had previously committed to launching six live service games after its initial plans to roll out over a dozen, but Concord may force it to reevaluate its strategy.
While Firewalk Studios has hinted at the possibility of exploring options to “better reach our players” in the future, there’s no guarantee that Concord will ever return.
On a similar note, Haven Studios’ Fairgame$ feels like it’s another Concord waiting to happen.
If it’s any consolation, Sony’s single-player investments weren’t severely impacted. Aside maybe from Naughty Dog, which had to dedicate significant resources to the now-canceled The Last of Us multiplayer project, Sony expects to start releasing more first-party exclusives in 2025 ahead of a potential reveal within the next few months.
With the PlayStation 5 Pro expected to sell well, especially with a partnership with Grand Theft Auto 6 on the cards next year and the China Hero Project helping it take advantage of the momentum generated by Black Myth: Wukong in China, the console manufacturer’s finances won’t be hurting as much despite sinking more than $100 million and eight years to make Concord happen.
