In a week that could have served to commemorate three decades of the iconic racing saga’s existence, Need for Speedthe headlines regarding the video game industry once again focused on negative stories that affect the talent within creative teams, either due to the poor quality of their work or the high expectations of investors.
Concordthe service-based game developed by Firewalk Studios and owned by PlayStation, turned out to be a flop in the community gamerThe title in question was launched on August 23 and just two weeks later its closure was announced, which will be accompanied by refunds for consumers who purchased it.
The aforementioned stumble is delicate, since other productions that in the past were highly criticized as Babylon’s Fall either Redfalllasted longer on the market and even surpassed the number of simultaneous players of Concord, which at its premiere managed to gather barely 600 and in the following days, the figure was falling until it was below the 100 users.
This situation can be seen from various angles, an example of which is the lack of experience both of Firewalk and PlayStation Studios to create on-demand video games, since these types of experiences are characterized by visual content and very striking character design that keep the public hooked and Concord did not know how to exploit this.
Similarly, having launched a pay product compared to other competitors under the scheme free to playended up condemning it. It is striking that Sony did have high expectations for this new franchise and even made a PS5 Themed Controller which is still available in the company’s official store because it did not have the expected demand.
Without a doubt, it was very risky to have bet on a new license to enter a market where PlayStation lacks the necessary knowledge, taking into account that it could have been experimented with renowned intellectual properties such as Killzone either Resistance that remain in the trunk of memories.
On another note, the bad news not only reached Firewalk Studios, but Ouka Studioshas its days of existence numbered due to the sales of Visions of Manawhich were below expectations and did not meet the interests of the board of directors of NetEase, the Chinese giant focused on computers and mobile devices.
For NetEaselike its competitor Tencentthe commercial bet of the future is to invest in small studios that generate greater profitability as has been the case of the successful Black Myth: Wukongwithout resorting to the payment of royalties for obtaining the licenses as was done with Square Enix to obtain the rights to Visions of Mana.
The industry of the video games has been advancing at a very fast pace in recent years and every day break more paradigmsIf the market has gradually had to adapt to subscription models and games on-demand, the trend is expanding towards the conception of creative teams that promote innovation at low cost, with the opportunities and risks that this entails.
#failure #Concord #risky #bet #GAAS
