PlayStation’s recently delisted first person shooter Concord reportedly cost $400 million to develop.

That’s according to PlayStation podcast Sacred Symbols, which claims that the game, which was recently taken offline by PlayStation after just two weeks on sale, was referred to as “the future of PlayStation,” internally.

Sony offered refunds to all players who purchased the game.

The report also claims that a culture of “toxic positivity” shut down any potential pushback to the game’s direction internally.

The game’s director reportedly stood down last week, according to Kotaku.

Citing three sources familiar with the move, the publication says Ellis was emotional when initially speaking to staff after the game’s launch, when it was clear that it was going to be a major failure.

“Ryan deeply believed in that project and bringing players together through the joy in it,” one former developer told Kotaku. “Regardless of there being things that could have been done differently throughout development, he’s a good human, and full of heart.”

Earlier this month Sony announced plans to take Concord offline, pull the game from sale and offer refunds to all players who bought it, just two weeks after launch.

The news followed reports that the PS5 and PC game may have sold as few as 25,000 copies across both platforms since its release on August 23.

“Concord fans — we’ve been listening closely to your feedback since the launch of Concord on PlayStation 5 and PC and want to thank everyone who has joined the journey aboard the Northstar,” Ellis said at the time.

I spoke extensively with someone who worked on Concord, and it's so much worse than you think.

It was internally referred to as "The Future of PlayStation" with Star Wars-like potential, and a dev culture of "toxic positivity" halted any negative feedback.

Making it cost $400m. pic.twitter.com/F5O0oy4gaQ

— Colin Moriarty (@longislandviper) September 20, 2024

Posted: Sep 24, 2024 9:03 pm
Related Forum: PlayStation Forum

Source: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/sonys-concord-reportedly-cost-400m-to-develop/