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[Kotaku] Concord Director Steps Down As Studio Behind Historic PlayStation Flop Waits For Sony's Decision
HeisenbergFX4
Member
Not going to argue with you over why Concord flopped and what should be trashed over social climate
This dude oversaw the biggest flop ever, in my book thats a career killer full stop
400 million?
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near
Gold Member
Not debating with you on why it flopped, the thread is about Ryan Ellis stepping down. The contention here is this:
All I'm saying is there is no reason why Ryan Ellis shouldn't be able to direct another game after this. It's not career ending. But we can agree to disagree on this one.
DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
Absolutely insane if true. Everyone needs to watch this. My summary from the other thread (which nobody will see because it’s moving so damn fast):
- already cost $200m by the time it reached alpha stage and was in atrocious state at that time
- required another $200m to get it to MVP (minimum viable product) state
- the $400M figure doesn’t even include the cost of buying the studio
- the most expensive first/second party game Sony has ever made
- this was Herman Hulst’s baby and nobody was allowed to criticize it
- only made $1m revenue before they had to refund it and give it all back
- biggest loss Sony has ever suffered on a project
FewRope
Member
Nah, PlayStation it's done, I dont see then recover from this if it's true. And it is, because all this shit remasters indicate something
PatientGamer
Member
People think Concord failed because of 'Woke' stuff. But I actually asked some real woke gamer friends of mine, and they said they wouldn't touch the game with a bargepole lol. So it failed on multiple accounts, it just wasn't fun to play. They were either told a pack of lies by the focus groups or they failed to listen to them.
Sony themselves also failed here, because they would've had MULTIPLE site visits and playthroughs of the game and they greenlit the thing. So this is as much on them as it is on Firewalk.
Sony themselves also failed here, because they would've had MULTIPLE site visits and playthroughs of the game and they greenlit the thing. So this is as much on them as it is on Firewalk.
Timberwolf25
Member
Posters arguing even $100M was an overestimation are eating some serious crow right now
Dazraell
Member
Nah, he's banned lolPosters arguing even $100M was an overestimation are eating some serious crow right now
Timberwolf25
Member
Just checked. He's not who I was think of
DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
But, Sony knew that not every GaaS bet would pay off! $400m on a total loss was a known and acceptable risk, it’s all part of the plan.Posters arguing even $100M was an overestimation are eating some serious crow right now
Timberwolf25
Member
Yup, that sounds like the "Man" I was think of
recursive
Member
Lmao. Of course it was. Get out of your bubble. Majority of the world doesn't like woke shit.
laynelane
Member
DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
It probably would’ve been fucked either way, but if they had cool and attractive characters that people actually liked and felt excited for, I think they easily could’ve had 50x more people playing it.
InterMusketeer
Member
RavageX
Member
Honestly, this would have been put into supporting VR instead of putting all your hopes and dreams on this shit.
In no way did this look like a good idea (to me). The character designs are piss poor. Robots and space suits would have been better. Better yet, use an existing world/characters, like Killzone. That might have been pretty cool. Resistance: Fall of Man even.
In no way did this look like a good idea (to me). The character designs are piss poor. Robots and space suits would have been better. Better yet, use an existing world/characters, like Killzone. That might have been pretty cool. Resistance: Fall of Man even.
Bernardougf
Member
I fucking knew it ... this crazy woke dutch is going to fuck all ....
If this is true ... how in the fuck Japan dont axe this guy ????
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Saturn Dragon
Member
Imagine 6 Astrobot-like-quality games. 2 per year. One fall release and another for Christmas.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
It's possible that 343i is sharing their Elixir of Insolvency Protection with Firewalk.
marquimvfs
Member
Nah, the only reason that it failed is that it got greenlit. That's it.
PendekarRajawali
Member
That’s why Xbox needs to be great again. This industry needs a fierce competition. 400M for nothing is crazy.
Danny22
Member
The responsibility is 100 percent Herman Hulst. Nothing will be learnt until he's the one getting fired.
PurePlatinum
Member
Too bad - Game was really solid from what I played. They delivered on the game, but Sony should have never bit on this studio. No idea what they were thinking. Even just investing and publishing it as a 2nd party would have been excusable. Now they've got to deal with the fallout.
ArtHands
Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
Safe to say its the biggest flop of all time.
Rocco Schiavone
Member
Make sure you sign the petition if you haven’t already (or sign it again if you have).
Save Concord and Firewalk Studios!
digital_ghost
Member
Recruiter when they read concord on your resume:
Shakka43
Member
We should all be happy Factions was cancelled, if it had come out and saw any type of success... Naughty Dog's days as a top single player games studio would be gone.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
Play Station as whole.
Shakka43
Member
LMJ
Member
Hopefully this will be a wake up call for Playstation that these stupid high budget and ridiculous office politics where any dissent is ignored is not only dangerous but disastrous at it's absolute worst.
Hopefully the "Professor" and her ilk will kindly fade into obscurity rather than infest another studio...
Astrobot, the Plucky Squire and Black Myth are proof you don't need obscene budgets, but passion, skilled devs and unique premises/gameplay rather than yet shinier static worlds where we get to be preached to yet again rather than just a great game, there are alternative ways Sony, there really are!
Hopefully the "Professor" and her ilk will kindly fade into obscurity rather than infest another studio...
Astrobot, the Plucky Squire and Black Myth are proof you don't need obscene budgets, but passion, skilled devs and unique premises/gameplay rather than yet shinier static worlds where we get to be preached to yet again rather than just a great game, there are alternative ways Sony, there really are!
laynelane
Member
But what if it truly is...
Given the unmitigated disasters that PS has navigated and survived before (PS3 reveal, PSN hack, etc.), I think they can course correct on this. And by "this", I mean the problems within that caused a game like Concord to be made and released in the first place. A good sign is that they pulled it and offered refunds right away. At least we know that now, someone at Sony is making different choices than those which led to the financial investment in and release of Concord. My bet is that it's a different person or people too and we will see more changes incoming.
Essentially, the financial loss and reputational damage from Concord is just too big to ignore and has revealed a real problem(s) with the way things are being run - and Sony has survived this long in a competitive environment because they will fix problems that harm their business.
OGM_Madness
Member
Answer: Severance
Saturn Dragon
Member
Japan Studio closing is sort of understandable.
I'm just guessing here, maybe I'm totally wrong, but It probably felt like an ARTSY GAMES STUDIO for the western Sony higher ups and they just didn't see its profitability.
Though I hate Sony now because I think Japan Studio was not only historical, but ICONIC and CLASSY studio.
Zacfoldor
Member
Reading the article, why does everyone try to make a game that "bringing players together?"
I want a game that rips players apart, like Concord, but mean spirited to everyone instead of just the vast majority of gamers.
I want a character called "The Bigot Communist" that just rips on everyone and don't give a fuck. Let it be like an alien that hates all humans but is also a communist but only when other identical aliens are the ones in need. Let's give these characters some interesting woke dynamics that make us consider our own hypocrisy.
I want a game that rips players apart, like Concord, but mean spirited to everyone instead of just the vast majority of gamers.
I want a character called "The Bigot Communist" that just rips on everyone and don't give a fuck. Let it be like an alien that hates all humans but is also a communist but only when other identical aliens are the ones in need. Let's give these characters some interesting woke dynamics that make us consider our own hypocrisy.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Funny thing is (unless they are already fired and under NDA), the studio is on hold and everyone is “on vacation” since launch. Their Twitter account went cold fast.
So as crazy as it seems you got 150 doing absolutely nothing for the past month and still getting paid.
At least Ryan Ellis played the corporate game and already scored another Sony job a week ago. No doubt he planned that a month or two ago with execs as he saw the writing on the wall. Most FW people are probably sitting at home now in limbo waiting for that MS Teams meeting whether they will be transitioned to another studio or fired.
So as crazy as it seems you got 150 doing absolutely nothing for the past month and still getting paid.
At least Ryan Ellis played the corporate game and already scored another Sony job a week ago. No doubt he planned that a month or two ago with execs as he saw the writing on the wall. Most FW people are probably sitting at home now in limbo waiting for that MS Teams meeting whether they will be transitioned to another studio or fired.
foamdino
Member
Sounds as if the bit that was ok, the gunplay and the polish, only happened because Sony sent a load of good devs to make it work. Almost as if the ex-bungie folks brought their awful production setup with them when they created the studio.
I did think at one point that the staff had the talent to make good shooters but the direction of a gaas hero shooter was really poor. Now though I feel that there's little value in the studio and staff if they only got to a shippable state by leaning very heavily on a bunch of Sony dev talent. Yikes.
I did think at one point that the staff had the talent to make good shooters but the direction of a gaas hero shooter was really poor. Now though I feel that there's little value in the studio and staff if they only got to a shippable state by leaning very heavily on a bunch of Sony dev talent. Yikes.