Concord, Sony’s first multiplayer game, launched on August 23rd on PS5 and PC, but failed to attract players with its Overwatch-style 5v5 hero shooter premise. After abysmal Steam player numbers and poor sales, parent company PlayStation took Concord offline on September 6 and refunded all players who purchased the game. After a two-week run, the online shooter, which was years in the making and was supposed to be Sony’s big bet on the live service, ended up a massive commercial failure. However, a new statement from an industry insider has shed light on just how big of a failure Concord has been for Sony.

Concord development cost

Speaking on the Sacred Symbols podcast, industry insider Colin Moriarty, citing a source who claimed to have worked on Concord, said the game cost $400 million (roughly Rs. 3,341 crore) to make. He also said that domestically, the game is being called “the future of PlayStation” and that Sony believes the game has the potential to become a Star Wars-like franchise.

“The reason I wanted to talk about it (Concord) is because some of my assumptions about the game were completely wrong, about how much it cost and how much Sony actually lost on it,” Moriarty said. on last week’s podcast. “The Concorde cost about $400 million,” he added.

Sony loss notification

However, it is unlikely that Sony took on all these costs. According to Moriarty, about $200 million (roughly Rs. 1,670 crore) had already been spent on the development of Concord by the time the game entered the alpha stage around the first quarter of 2023. It’s unclear how much of those development costs went to Sony, before the company acquired developer Concord Firewalk Studios from its previous owner, ProbablyMonsters, in April 2023.

According to Moriarty’s source, Sony then spent an additional $200 million on the game, bringing the total development cost to around $400 million. He claimed that Concord was in a “ridiculous state” during the alpha stage, and that Sony had to spend an additional $200 million to bring the game to the “minimum viable product” stage.

Moriarty also claimed that Concord represented “Sony’s biggest loss in the game”, given that the company covered most of the $400 million budget. “This is the biggest game that Sony has ever released in terms of first-party or second-party budget,” he said. “Let that sink in.”

Concord Internal Affairs

The podcast also delved into the reasons behind Concord’s colossal failure. According to the source, the game was a “Star Wars-like project” for Sony and was being called “the future of PlayStation.” It’s worth noting here that the Japanese company, traditionally known for its narrative-focused single-player games, has made a big push into live services over the past few years; most of those efforts were shelved after setbacks, and Sony reportedly halved the list of games for the live service that were slated to launch by March 2026.

Moriarty also said in the podcast that there was “toxic positivity” about the game at Firewalk, where people weren’t allowed to speak out against it or criticize aspects of internal development. He also added that the game was supported internally by Hermann Hulst, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment Studio Business Group.

Sony hasn’t shared any details about Concord’s disastrous launch, nor has the company confirmed or denied the game’s reported budget. Concord shut down on September 6 due to low sales and low player numbers after launch. Sony has confirmed that all sales of the game will be halted and players who purchased the game on PS5 or PC will receive a full refund. Hero Shooter is no longer available for purchase from the PlayStation Store or PC storefronts such as Steam and the Epic Games Store.

Last week, a report claimed Concord playing director Ryan Ellis would leave his role and move into a support role instead.

Concord launched on PS5 and PC on August 23rd for $40 and subsequently failed to attract enough players. The game peaked at 697 concurrent players on Steam and is estimated to have sold around 25,000 copies on PS5 and PC.