Concord players are racing to reach max level before shutdown
Sony's new shooter has just two days left.
PlayStation's shock decision to shut down its live-service flop Concord just a fortnight after launch has spurred players who did buy the game to try and reach its max level via an unusual method - before it all disappears.
Players are now leaping off cliffs to end matches and earn XP at rapid pace, with a healthy chunk of XP awarded whether a team wins or loses. If Concord was set to last longer, it feels like something developer Firewalk would fix. Now, not so much.
Why are Concord owners so concerned with reaching the game's max level of 100? Well, you need to do so to unlock the "Experienced Freegunner" Trophy, and by extension the game's Platinum. Regardless of whether Concord ever returns after Sony pulls the plug and issues refunds, players will have that award - for now, likely one of the rarest Platinum Trophies available - on their profile permanently.
In a statement released last night, game director Ryan Ellis admitted Concord's "initial launch didn't land" and said the hero shooter would go offline indefinitely from this Friday, 6th September. Owners of the game's digital editions will automatically receive refunds, and have the game removed from their libraries.
As for what - if anything - is next for Concord, Ellis said Firewalk would take time to "determine the best path ahead" and "explore options, including those that will better reach our players".
"Spare a thought for poor Concord, a kind and earnest shooter sent out to die," Eurogamer's Chris Tapsell wrote last week. "It has just released, possibly to its doom, in a nightmarish time for games that require your contiunous engagement."
"Concord's snappy combat and colourful character abilities make it a perfectly playable shooter," Rick Lane ultimately wrote in Eurogamer's Concord review. "But muddled hero designs and unimaginative maps and modes leave it struggling to stand out."