Concord was in development for roughly eight years, Firewalk dev confirms
"We're strapped in and ready to push it."
A member of Firewalk's development team has revealed Concord - PlayStation's new 5v5 sci-fi shooter - was in development for "around" eight years.
A post on social media platform X by Concord lead character designer Jon Weisnewski celebrating the game's launch confirmed this little titbit, with the developer stating he had been working on it personally for about five of those years.
"We don't get a lot of Launch Days in our careers so today is special for a ton of reasons," Weisnewski wrote. "Oblige me some good vibes today." The developer went on to state the entire team was "strapped in and ready to push it for years to come".
Prior to its release, Firewalk laid out a roadmap for Concord, sharing plans to keep the game fresh for at least three seasons. In July, the studio also revealed the game won't have a battle pass, stating: "You own Concord, Concord doesn't own you."
"Concord feels like a load of brilliant games combined - but is that enough?" Chris Tapsell wrote in Eurogamer's Concord preview. "The true hook with Concord, I suspect, will reveal itself once it's in the hands of its audience, as they wrestle with optimal combinations and strategies and the meta begins to congeal."
Digital Foundry, meanwhile, has dubbed Concord a "technically solid, well-made hero shooter" with "potential".
This week's release of Concord, along with its development time and post-launch commitment, made me think of Naughty Dog's cancelled standalone The Last of Us multiplayer.
On its cancellation, the studio - which had reportedly been working on the game for four years - said when faced with the choice to become a "solely live service games studio" or continuing "to focus on single-player narrative games" it chose the latter.