The PlayStation Network doesn’t have public player counts, so it’s hard to judge the overall picture, but things aren’t looking good for Concord on PC. The $40 hero shooter is getting mostly positive reviews on Steam, but has only reached 697 PC players so far in its opening weekend, according to SteamDB.
Critics on Steam praise the graphics and gunplay, which is consistent with PC Gamer editor Morgan Park’s preview of Concord. The game seems to have the exact opposite of Valve’s finally released Deadlock: it’s more of a pure shooter than a skill-focused game, and is more akin to Call of Duty or Destiny’s Crucible than Overwatch.
It’s also a pretty pretty game, with a Guardians of the Galaxy-inspired aesthetic and some ambition to continue the seasonal story. Some of the reviews argue that it’s a bit lacking in content – hardly an unexpected or mortal sin for a live service launch – but the real issue, as several users note, is the $40 price of entry.
Helldivers 2 exceeded all expectations as Sony’s $40 multiplayer game earlier this year, but it’s a completely different caliber to Concord – and all other games, there’s nothing like it. Less MMORPG babble and complications than Destiny or Warframe, but much more progression and storytelling than co-op shooters like Killing Floor. There were plenty of reasons to bet on Arrowhead even before Helldivers 2’s runaway success.
But there are plenty of hero and arena shooters out there, and the best ones are established, cheaper, or even free. No matter how good Concord’s shooting and aesthetics might be, Destiny, Overwatch, XDefiant, Apex Legends, The Finals, and (at least for now, if you can get an invite) Deadlock all fill a similar niche and are completely free, with either established player bases and competitive scenes or (in the case of Deadlock) rising interest and word of mouth. And the built-in time commitment of live services in this genre makes it hard to justify trying multiple games – I think most players only have their one or two favorites.
I don’t want to put Concord down – it took eight years to develop and it seems to have a lot to offer as a shooter – but 2024 would be a difficult year to release a competitive multiplayer shooter under the best of circumstances, and the price seems like a heavy burden for Concord.
