Sony Axes Big-Budget 'Concord' Game Two Weeks After Release
(Bloomberg) -- Sony Group Corp. is nixing a major online game it released only two weeks ago, marking one of the biggest flops for the PlayStation business.
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Multiplayer shooter Concord will cease operations on Sept. 6 and players will get full refunds, Sony said in a blog post. The game, which took years to develop, was released with much fanfare on Aug. 23 for the PlayStation 5 and PC. But its initial launch “didn’t land the way we’d intended,” game director Ryan Ellis said in the message to players.
The first-person shooter, reminiscent of Blizzard Entertainment’s hit Overwatch, encapsulated Sony’s effort to build a title that can extend its reach beyond console players. Building on its acquisition of Bungie, Sony’s entertainment division is now working to expand its audience with original games and content.
But Concord entered an extremely competitive genre, where incumbents like Overwatch are free to play whereas Sony’s title cost $40. The Japanese company may be cutting its losses on a title that’s garnered a slew of negative reviews and failed to gain traction. Under Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki, Sony has grown more selective about game projects.
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