Concord has possibly just 25,000 sales in total, according to industry analysts, based on an extensive report from IGN’s Rebekah Valentine.
It’s tied to the game’s exceptionally low playercount, which peaked under 700 on Steam and was the 147th most-played game on PlayStation during its launch week.
You can also see those sales in…the actual sales charts, albeit without specific numbers attached.
On Steam, where at the time of this writing Concord has 38 concurrent players, is listed as being the 3,983rd best-selling game on the platform.
So, you can see where those 25,000 units estimates are coming from, and multiplied by $40, well, that’s just one million dollars in revenue.
If you want to compare that to say, an actual PlayStation hit like Spider-Man 2, that game sold 11 million units by last count, and that would be about $770 million in revenue.
The issue is that Concord is not some small indie project, but one that took Firewalk reportedly 6-8 years to develop.
Estimates are around the $100 million mark, but there’s no firm sourcing at that.
Even half of that would be a $49 million loss, currently, with essentially no current room for improvement.
How low these sales are will likely accelerate the timeline for the game to go free-to-play.
As the second week of Concord’s release approaches, the PlayStation multiplayer game is starting to take shape, and things are still going to be, well, very bad.
Industry observers speculate that Concord may have only sold 25,000 units overall, citing a thorough report by IGN’s Rebekah Valentine. It’s connected to the game’s remarkably low player base, which peaked at less than 700 on Steam and ranked 147th on PlayStation during the first week of release.
Though there aren’t any precise numbers listed, you can still view those sales in the real sales charts. Concord’s current Steam ranking is 3,983rd out of all games on the platform, with 38 concurrent players as of this writing. Once more, 12 days after its release, and at $40 instead of $60–$70 like many of its competitors, you can see that it is the 154th best-selling game on PlayStation after doing a lot of scrolling.
Thus, it’s clear where those estimates of 25,000 units are coming from. Multiplying that number by $40 yields a mere $1 million in revenue. Should you wish to draw a comparison, consider Spider-Man 2, a real PlayStation hit that brought in about $770 million in revenue after selling 11 million copies as of the last count.
The problem lies in the fact that Concord is not just a small independent project; Firewalk reportedly spent six to eight years developing it. It’s unclear what the precise budget is. There is no firm sourcing at that amount, but estimates are close to $100 million. With virtually no current room for improvement, even half of that would represent a $49 million loss.
This will probably hasten the game’s transition to a free-to-play model given how low these sales are. It’s possible that other games will be given a chance to gain traction, but right now, Sony has to act quickly to try and enlist players in any way it can. Making games free to play is the most obvious lever to pull. With 100 nightly players on Steam and ranking as the 150th most played PlayStation game, it should be able to do this even in the absence of a monetization plan. In light of the fact that the entire purpose of the game was to offer a ton of free, earned content in exchange for a $40 price point, the game is definitely not built to be played for free, but that doesn’t matter for now. There must be participants. Swiftly.
Regardless, I am 99.9% certain that this won’t work. Though the odd developer or gaming publication may say, “Actually, it’s not bad,” these figures are simply too low, and the game’s reputation is simply too tarnished. But it has to try, and the only real options here are loss-cutting and total and total abandonment.
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