Sony President Hiroki Totoki recently addressed concerns regarding the failed PlayStation 5 hero shooter, Concord, during a call with earnings analysts. He highlighted four key points on what went wrong with the game and how the company plans to improve in the future.
Firstly, Totoki emphasized the need for PlayStation to be more involved in the development process from an earlier stage to ensure things are on track. Secondly, he mentioned that there should be better communication between teams within the company to avoid siloed approaches to new projects. Thirdly, he acknowledged that the timing of Concord’s release may have been a contributing factor to its failure. Lastly, Totoki pointed out the risks associated with live-service multiplayer games, even when everything seems to be going right.
During the call, Totoki mentioned the importance of user testing and evaluation at various stages of development to prevent such failures in the future. He also highlighted the need to break down organizational barriers between development and sales teams for smoother processes. Additionally, he emphasized the importance of selecting optimal release windows for first-party and third-party titles to maximize performance without cannibalization.
Concord, which was released in August but failed to attract players, was ultimately unreleased by Sony just a few weeks later. The game, developed by Firewalk Studios with an estimated $200 million budget, was fully refunded to players after its demise. The closure of Firewalk Studios resulted in 170 job cuts, bringing Sony’s total gaming layoffs for the year to 1,290.
In response to the failure of Concord, PlayStation co-CEO Hermen Hulst stated that lessons would be learned from this experience to enhance the company’s live service capabilities for future growth in the gaming industry. The competitive nature of the PvP first-person shooter genre was cited as a challenge, with Hulst acknowledging that Concord did not meet its targets.
Moving forward, Sony aims to apply the insights gained from the Concord incident to improve its game development and release strategies. By learning from past mistakes and implementing changes based on Totoki’s recommendations, the company hopes to avoid similar failures in the future and deliver successful titles to gamers worldwide.
