290°

Concord developers: Failure of leadership and design by committee affected the art direction

Marcus Persson: "The characters in Concord have been one of the most criticised aspects of the game. They have been accused of being everything from generic to advertisements for political correctness culture, which, according to one of the game's developers, Amanda Kiefer, is partly due to the lack of an overall design plan."

Read Full Story >>
gamereactor.eu
kenpachi257d ago

Characters were terrible looking but the gameplay was nothing to write home about either as for that price tag when every other one was f2p didn't help either.

-Foxtrot257d ago

Lack of an overall design plan?

Girl…you had 8 years.

For real though I guess we will never know what truly went on because on one hand it sounds like a very typical thing for executives within a studio to be tone deaf while on the other it could be seen as employees throwing the studio under the bus so they can try and salvage their reputation within the industry to get hired somewhere else.

I hope Jason Schreier does one of his investigations into this, it would be a good read.

Inverno257d ago

8 years of horrible decisions isn't too farfetched. When you put idiots in charge they're usually rewarded by the company, not fired.

Dandizzle257d ago

That Jason dude is a dingus and a will print any story to get headlines. He's outed games not released - tanking studios just so he could get the scoop. Ruined the lives of so many developers I know personally. At multiple studio also. Regardless of Concord, Jason Schreier is no friend of the video game industry.

H9256d ago

As you can see from the designs they had earlier on they had a direction but then Sweet Baby Inc happened and they had to change everything, it's no wonder they took 8 years to make it, having to change things at the whims of those jerks is no easy deal

-Foxtrot256d ago

I didn’t even know any designs of the early days was out there. I’ll have to try and look for them:

Relientk77257d ago

You know when you look at the roster of characters in a game you're playing for the first time and you're like: "Oh that character looks sick or badass i wanna play as them!"

Yeah, that doesn't happen in Concord. The character designs are absolutely awful and boring/generic. I don't know how these character designs got approved.

fr0sty257d ago (Edited 257d ago )

It isn't DEI, it's just pandering for profit. DEI is inclusion, this goes beyond that. It's inclusion for the sake of making money, not for anything that relates to the story of the video game. This is the video game equivalent of every corporation changing their logos to rainbows during pride month... just trying to make that dollar, without actually giving a damn about the people they are pandering to beyond what's in their wallet.

For instance: "DaVeers - If you’re after a they/them for some mayhem, look no further than DaVeers. The Concord character’s kit is built around the huge amount of ignitable Burnite they can splash around the area – be it from their MK 5 Burnite Grenade Launcher or their Burnite Canisters. Considering how many crowded corridors there are on many of the Concord maps, DaVeers is always a handy pick if you’re in the business of zone control."

There's no reason relating to the game's storyline to even mention their gender preferences here... it's just pandering, and doing even that poorly.

MrDead256d ago

Can you keep the Russian propaganda out of here please. $100,000 per episode some of those right wing BS pushers were getting, keep it off of N4G kid.

Aussiesummer257d ago ShowReplies(2)
isarai257d ago

Something really needs to be done to put power back in the hands of the developers & artists and not in the hands of shareholders and investors.

glennhkboy256d ago

No. In this case it was a lack of over-sight from the publisher (Sony) and shareholders that lead to this mess. They let the developer & artist did whatever they wanted, disregarding any criticism & feedback from the customers (i.e. you & me). It is the job of Sony & its shareholders to question what was the business logic behind the game mechanic & characters design.

Show all comments (31)
50°

There’s a Demand for Original Games (Just Not Live Service Slop)

The success of numerous original titles and the failure of several live service games demonstrate a strong demand for story-driven experiences.

Read Full Story >>
8bitdigi.com
330°

PS5 Mega-Flop Concord Is Reaching Absurdly High Prices on eBay

World's most expensive coaster

Read Full Story >>
pushsquare.com
BISHOP-BRASIL64d ago

Pretty standard for pulled off products, collectors love useless but very limited things.

TheEroica63d ago (Edited 63d ago )

This reminds me of when people spend big on "poo-art"...

64d ago Replies(1)
goken64d ago

Worlds most expensive coaster 🤣

badz14964d ago

what's so different between this and those useless NES cartridges or even supposedly "rare" pokemon cards? they are like NFT, just physical. Concord is an actual flop that has been pulled from stores, while Nintendo artificially limited their supply for artificial scarcity.

darthv7264d ago

ehh... I'll stick with the controller. I got enough coasters, they are called xbox games (snickers)

64d ago Replies(2)
Kurt Russell64d ago

Not the biggest coaster collection from xbox this gen :P

TheEroica63d ago (Edited 63d ago )

Concord is the biggest flop of all time... Sony could've saved 5 years by standing over the toilet and flushing 400 million. Remember, Concord is so bad that you cannot even play it anymore. It's vapor. You can't even have a retro review on it or pretend like "maybe there are a few people at home enjoying it". Lol, it was so so bad that it's been obliterated along with piles and piles of money.

The good news is all that failure leads to more pc ports of sonys better games. Sony is a good 3rd party publisher. I'll give them that!

64d ago Replies(1)
Richhard164d ago

Good, I have two sealed copies,

GotGame81863d ago

You can buy a sealed copy for $59 on eBay.

Show all comments (37)
280°

Sony's Recent Live Service Game Cancellations Is Reportedly Tied To Failure Of Concord

Sony Interactive Entertainment's recent cancellation of live service game projects is tied to the failure of Concord, based on a new report.

Read Full Story >>
twistedvoxel.com
-Foxtrot127d ago

Good. Let it be a lesson.

I’m super curious about how they are going to go about Fairgame$. It’s a live service title which didn’t get a good reception with the announcement and it’s being made by a brand new studio they decided to buy straight away because of the live service title they were making. It’s super similar to Concord and Firewalk Studios.

Will they cancel it this far into development or release it with the high chance of it being another disappointment and making Sony the laughing stock.

JEECE127d ago

It feels like that one is far enough along that they are going to go ahead and just push it out.

RaidenBlack127d ago (Edited 127d ago )

The Horizon live-service game is on the ... err horizon as well it seems, don't think that's getting cancelled.
Honestly if one modern Sony live-service game that I wish wasn't cancelled, that'd be the "Spider-Man: The Great Web". The leaked trailer looked cool and imho, it had potential. The timing was just not on its side.
With Avengers and Gotham Knights fumbling and Suicide Squad also not garnering much positivity at the time, Sony pulled the plug.
And 2 other I can also consider as well would be Factions 2.0 and Twisted Metal. Any form of a new Twisted Metal game is still fine for me than nothing.
Hope after all this, Marathin delivers. Oh, it better, especially after they changed such an amazing IP's genre.
I am really curious to see what they can pull-off.

PapaBop127d ago (Edited 127d ago )

Marathon is Sony's only real hope I think on the live service front, any live service game released before then will be going out to Freddie Mercury singing "another one bites the dust". They have to hope Bungie have some magic left in them and deliver a product worthy of the name. Live service games and Sony fans are like square pegs in a round hole. They need to really knock it out of the park to justify them and remove the negative stigma surrounding live service games.

CrimsonWing69127d ago

Didn’t they literally announce recently that they’re committed to GaaS?

isarai127d ago

I really don't know how seriously I would take that Herman has always just come off as a yes man. But I say I don't know because I really don't know it could be one way or the other

neutralgamer1992127d ago

Sony's decision to cancel two more live-service games, one from Bluepoint Games and another from Bend Studio—neither of which have significant experience in live-service development—has raised serious concerns among fans. Many of us had been eagerly awaiting announcements about these studios' projects, believing they were nearing completion after years of development.

Now, it appears several first-party studios are being forced to start over, highlighting what feels like a pattern of mismanagement this generation. Sony's strategy seems to be floundering, leaving its first-party portfolio with a string of missteps.

This situation is eerily reminiscent of the "arrogant Sony" era leading up to the PS3's troubled launch. Unfortunately, unlike that time, there’s no strong competition from Xbox to compel Sony to course-correct and refocus on what made them successful in the first place.

127d ago
FinalFantasyFanatic126d ago

Idk, I don't feel like they've learnt their lesson, in the case of Fairgame$, I suspect they'd release it if it's too far along to back out, at least try and make some money on it, if that's possible.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 126d ago
gold_drake127d ago

i still find it ridiculous that they had soo many, 12, in the pipeline. if they had like 3, sure, but 12 is a huge number for potential failure.

Alos88127d ago

They were throwing stuff against the wall and praying something stuck... considering how poorly thought out the whole thing was they should be grateful they even got one win with Helldivers.

PapaBop127d ago

How the hell would that even work? Were they going to create 12 completely different games to try and cater to different audiences? Or would they expect some gamers to be juggling multiple ones and on top of whatever third party ones get created? I really hope someone high up at Sony has pressed the big red panic button because they're starting to look MS levels of incompetent.

attilayavuzer127d ago

Honestly I think the strategy was to have one of them be a huge success (billions in revenue) and have that pay for all the other games and devs they'd shut down from the failures. One Fortnite-level success would double the brand's profit, so it makes sense why they'd take a flier on it, even if the odds were terrible and in practice has so far been about worst case scenario.

FinalFantasyFanatic126d ago

I think they expected multiple failures, they only needed a few to succeed to rake in the big bucks. But there are already a lot of these games out there to the point of saturation, and trying to pull people away from other, popular GaaS games was going to be a big challenge.

MetroidFREAK21127d ago (Edited 127d ago )

They need to wake up. A God of War live service game... what a joke

Relientk77127d ago

A God of War live service game doesn't even make sense no matter how you spin it. What a dumb idea.

bartfart127d ago

Yeah anyone remember gow: ascension multiplayer? Me neither

raWfodog127d ago

I’m a huge God of War fan and this had me scratching my head like ‘huh?’ Stop trying to add GaaS to every IP. It just doesn’t work that way.

Goodguy01127d ago

Focus on quality singleplayer like you had with the ps4 and 3 that made you so well loved. 3rd party will do all the live servicing.

RaidenBlack127d ago (Edited 127d ago )

You need some multiplayer titles as well ... not unlike olden days ... but just not so many of 'em that you lose the quality over quantity.
And plus, experimental smaller projects to keep things interesting.

126d ago
SonyStyled126d ago

They closed all of their ‘small’ game studios though for the GAAS focus. They shot themselves in the foot. PixelOpus, Japan, London (Psygnosis) closed

Show all comments (46)