This past Friday saw the multiplayer world get yet another live service team-based PvP FPS in the form of Concord, and if that description made the game blend into your mental furniture, you are apparently not alone, as the game’s release weekend hasn’t exactly made waves in gamers’ hearts and minds.
By all objective measure, Concord doesn’t appear to be a bad game, as critical impressions and overall Steam reviews would suggest, but then it also isn’t exactly blowing the doors off the genre, with most reception calling it a perfectly fine shooter.
This lukewarm reception appears to be reflecting in player headcount as well, with the shooter earning an all-time peak of just under 700 players on Steam (though it is also on PS5). To understand that number in perspective, recall that the beta test it held last month had a Steam peak concurrency of just over 2,300. And this is happening even as developer Firewalk Studios has tried to drum up excitement with community engagement and shared hype moments.
There is certainly no shortage of armchair analysis from major gaming press and players themselves, with presumptions ranging from bad timing for a new live service release to a price tag to boring character design. Overall it would seem as if Concord hasn’t landed with a thud, but it also is the proverbial tree falling in the forest with nobody around to hear it.
