Summary
Concord, the next onSony’sslate of live-service games to release, was announced tolargely negative reactionsthis past week. The majority of normal, well-adjusted gamers were annoyed that we are getting yetanotherlive-service shooter that we don’t want, especially since this one looks veryOverwatch-y in nature and some of its characters areveryreminiscent of those fromGuardians of the Galaxy.
I was personally pretty upset that it actually captured my interest, and thenbait-and-switched me with a live-service shooterinstead of being the narrative-driven single-player game I thought it was.
Some people, though, immediately derided it as ‘woke’ because its heroes aren’t primarily white men. There’s also been some mild backlash over its lead character designer ‘bashing white folks’ because he once made a tweet about white privilege being real and white people having to actively work for racial equality, which is a pretty lukewarm thing to say in this day and age.
Concord Will Likely Be Around The Same Price As Helldivers 2
Regardless of why you hate the entire idea of Concord – there are as many valid reasons to roll your eyes at it as there are stupid reasons – you might be surprised to hear that the game will allegedly not be free-to-play. Concord will cost about $40 according to a pre-order page on the Australian PlayStation Store, which puts it at 60 AUD. That’s the same price range as my personal favourite live-service title,Helldivers 2.
There’s also a Digital Deluxe Edition that costs $60 and includes cosmetics, skins, and early access to the game.
Also like Helldivers 2, Concord is launching simultaneously onPCandPS5. These similarities indicate that maybe Sony is mixing up its playbook in order to entice more players across platforms. Another similarity: both games progress their narratives week over week – Helldivers 2 uses Major Orders to create a story, while Concord will be using weekly cinematics as its means of storytelling.
Why Is Concord’s Price A Good Sign?
Much ado has been made about Helldivers 2’s monetisation, or rather,the lack of it. Instead of using shady monetisation techniques to extract money from players, Arrowhead’s breakout shooter has a battle pass and cosmetics that can be unlocked with a premium in-game currency that is pretty easy to find when playing. There’s very little incentive for players to shell out for the game’s premium currency if they’re playing often.
Part of the reason it is able to do this is because it wasn’t free-to-play, but it alsosold for a price that was cheap in comparison to modern triple-As. Because players were paying to play the game, there were fewer reasons for the developers to institute extremely extractive monetisation practices. Games like Overwatch 2 andDestiny 2only make money through in-game monetisation, which is why they lean hard into ripping their players off.
This is a good sign. Concord’s developers may, in turn, reject Overwatch 2’s style of monetisation and instead offer players something far more reasonable. This might be a big pull for players who are sick of F2P games’ unreasonable monetisation, and might even convince some players to move over to at least experiment with something new that respects their time and wallets more.
Do I think this will save Concord? Absolutely not. While I think it’s cool, the genre is oversaturated, and having to pay for this very derivative game might put a lot of potential players off. But I think that for people who were already going to try it, this might be the thing that convinces them to stay instead of jumping ship to a similar game that’s constantly trying to take their money. There’s a tiny flicker of hope for Concord, but it’s just a flicker.
Concord
WHERE TO PLAY
Concord is an upcoming FPS from Firewalk Studios, part of the PlayStation Studios family. A PvP multiplayer title, it is slated for launch on both PS5 and PC in 2024.
