Sony recently showed off Concord, its new hero shooter, at its PlayStation State of Play to a rather unimpressed audience. But now it’s already launched an early test so PS Plus players (and a few PC pre-orderers) can get their hands on it and actually see how it plays.
Feedback has been relatively positive overall. While there’s some push and pull about its unique character designs, echoing ‘70s sci-fi, most gameplay impressions relay that it’s well-made and fun to play.
That last point may be the most problematic one, and one the industry keeps facing time and time again. In this age of established multiplayer shooters like Fortnite, Call of Duty, Apex, Overwatch and more, it is incredibly hard to break into the market, especially with a totally new IP.
But the main issue here is price. Concord is asking for $40, which is far lower than the $70 mainstream games cost and exactly how much Sony’s smash hit Helldivers 2 costs. However, in the hero shooter genre, Apex Legends is free, Valorant is free and Overwatch just went free-to-play after it deemed its paid model was no longer working. The upcoming superhero Overwatch clone Marvel Rivals will also be free, in addition to having a hyper-recognizable IP.
While it doesn’t matter if this is “fair” or not, that’s the state of the current market. While Helldivers 2 managed to get away with that price point, the hero shooter genre has been long established as overwhelming free-to-play at this point. Big multiplayer games, even PvE ones like The First Descendant, are launching free-to-play which helps them amass big numbers.
This is the problem with releasing a new game like this because the odds are stacked so far against it. You’re making a game competing in a market with some of the most-played titles in the industry that have been planted there for years. You’re making a brand new IP that must have interesting characters to hook players when the industry is drowning in “heroes” already. And in Concord’s case, you are asking for $40 when almost all of its potential competition costs nothing.
This may be an experiment by Sony to see if a new multiplayer PvP shooter can get away with this. I am wondering if Concord’s success or failure will contribute to how Sony/Bungie decide to launch Marathon, a higher profile PvP shooter that has also reportedly switched to a hero-based model, now led by the ex-head of Valorant. Will that be free, or $40?
We’ll see how Concord does in the long run. If it can overcome these long odds I would be surprised, no matter its overall quality.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
