The New PlayStation Exclusive’s biggest mistake has nothing to do with its gameplay

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The New PlayStation Exclusive’s biggest mistake has nothing to do with its gameplay

Summary

  • PlayStation’s latest exclusive, Concord, struggled with low player numbers at launch, failing to meet expectations set by other hero shooters.

  • Concorde’s $40 price tag may be deterring players, especially when compared to free-to-play options like Overwatch 2 and Marvel Rivals.

  • The game’s requirement of a paid PlayStation Plus subscription on top of the purchase price could further limit its player base on consoles, hindering success.

The latest PlayStation exclusive, Concordwas launched on PlayStation 5 and PC on August 23, 2024, following a beta for the game in July 2024 that had underwhelming player numbers. The first-person hero shooter game was revealed in May 2024 at the PlayStation State of the Game showcase, introducing its rag-tag group of protagonists in a sci-fi environment in a cutscene before showing some gameplay, with many pointing to the apparent inspiration from Marvel’s Guardians of the GalaxyAlthough not favorable, with many “We have Guardians of the Galaxy at home“They were thrown about at the time.

Concord Was reportedly in the works for eight years, notably since the time of Blizzard launched the very successful Overwatch In 2016, and it’s clear that PlayStation was hoping this was its own big hero shooter. However, as listed on SteamDb, Concord Couldn’t even reach 700 players on its launch day, alternating between 550 and 650 players instead. This year’s other notable life service failure, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Even managed to start off in the thousands before sharply falling off, making Concord A huge miss for Sony so far. from monday morning, After a full weekend since the launch of the game, ConcordThe player count has peaked at 697 on Steam.

Related

Concorde has done one thing differently to its main competition

Overwatch 2 and other hero shooters are free to play

The production value may look impressive, and its gameplay seems to be what people would expect from the genre, but there is one major difference between Concord And its peers that may be the reason it’s not that successful, and that’s its $40 price tag. $40 is not an expensive title in the general AAA gaming space, where most standard edition titles are priced at $70, with some enhanced editions reaching prices over $100. However, In the hero shooter space, free-to-play seems to be the way to go.

Not only did Overwatch 2 Been free-to-play since its launch, but this year’s other notable hero shooter, Wonder rivalsWill launch in December 2024 as a free-to-play title with a recent announcement at Gamescom 2024 confirming that all heroes will be available at no extra cost, including members of the original Guardians of the Galaxy. The closed alpha and beta game tests for Wonder rivals have generated a lot of hype with positive feedback, so it seems likely that this will have a successful launch.

Therefore, with players already having free options in the space that they can dive into, the price may be affected in which Concord Hasn’t seen a huge number of players signing on. Again, there haven’t been any stats shared about console player counts yet, but it’s also possible that PC players still feel burned by PlayStation yet. Heldivers 2Where a forced PlayStation Account link was implemented in the successful title months after its launch, resulting in some players who bought the title not being able to play it due to the service not being available in their country. The decision was rescinded, but the game is still delisted in many countries, and it’s possible that the debacle caused many not to pick up another full-priced PlayStation Life service title on PC.

Source: SteamDb

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