‘Worrying Legal Action’ Concord’s Return May Be Short Lived

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The developers of the unexpectedly resurrected shooter game, Concord, are facing a problem: invites to play have been paused because of possible legal trouble. Following unsuccessful attempts to launch the game as a live-service title, Sony is re-evaluating its strategy, and Concord has become a prime example of a project that didn’t go as planned.

The game Concord had a rocky start after its announcement in May 2024. A cinematic trailer reminiscent of Guardians of the Galaxy initially created excitement, but when gameplay revealed it was an online hero shooter, fans were disappointed. Many criticized the game’s unoriginal character designs. Despite a beta test and eventual release months later, Concord didn’t attract enough players. This led Sony to offer refunds and ultimately close down the game and the studio that created it.

Concord Revival Gets Hit With DMCA Takedowns

Despite being a major financial disappointment for Sony – potentially costing them $400 million and leading to the cancellation of other games – Concord did find a small but dedicated fanbase. Remarkably, one player continued to access the game even after the official servers were shut down. Now, over a year later, a group of passionate fans is working to revive the game unofficially.

The team working to recreate Concord is still in the early stages of development, and recent videos showing their progress also revealed several bugs. Shortly after these videos were released, they were taken down due to copyright claims from MarkScan Enforcement, a group known for working with companies like Sony and Microsoft to remove fan-made emulation and modifications. This has led the development team to temporarily stop inviting new people to test the current version, citing concerns about potential legal issues. It’s unclear what this means for the future of the project, but it seems Sony is aware of it and isn’t happy.

It’s still unclear how Sony’s attempt to revive the Concord game will go, but Sony is reflecting on what it’s learned from its push into live-service games. Sony Interactive CEO Hermen Hulst has stated the company will avoid repeating past errors, and highlighted the success of Helldivers 2. However, Sony faces challenges with Bungie’s Destiny 2, which is currently struggling to retain players, and there’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding the new Marathon game.

Sony is scaling back its investment in live-service games, and several projects have already been impacted. Reports suggest that live-service titles in development at Bluepoint Games and Bend Studio have been canceled. Naughty Dog ended development of The Last of Us Factions last year, and Fairgames, from Haven Studios, is also facing difficulties with key developers leaving the project, raising concerns about its future.

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2025-11-15 18:34