- Concord will be priced at $40, but it will be swarmed by free-to-play titles in the unforgiving live service market.
- This price tag will limit the game’s appeal, pushing millions away who would have tried it otherwise.
- To make matters worse, players who buy the game will likely be forced to deal with egregious microtransactions and monetization.
PlayStation just shared more details on Concord recently, and let’s just say, the footage didn’t do Firewalk Studios’ work any favors.
Whether it be the generic MCU-style quips and characters or the cookie-cutter first-person shooter gameplay done countless times before, nothing about Concord immediately shouts originality.
However, this may not be the biggest problem. PlayStation has already confirmed that this title will not follow the general free-to-play trend, and recent listings confirm that it will cost about $40.
While this price makes Concord noticeably cheaper than the average $70 AAA release, PlayStation is practically asking to have the first-person shooter smothered by the competition here.
Why it matters: Following the highly successful Helldivers 2, PlayStation seems to be making a mistake in its journey toward becoming a live service giant.
Free To Play Is The Way To Go
Going free-to-play is a no-brainer for the type of game Firewalk Studios is creating.
Reflect on the biggest first-person shooters on the market, and you’ll probably think of Overwatch, Valorant, Apex Legends, Call of Duty, and more. All of these have one thing in common: they’re either free-to-play or have one such component, in Call of Duty’s case.
Even Marvel’s Rivals, a first-person shooter dubbed an Overwatch clone, will launch as a free-to-play title. In my opinion, PlayStation’s decision to price Concord at $40 comes across as tone-deaf.
PlayStation may find the day-one sales beneficial, but the free-to-play market is relentless and one that is rarely kind to newcomers. It doesn’t help that Firewalk Studios hasn’t shown much originality or given gamers a reason to go out and spend $40 on the title.
Keep in mind that, unlike free-to-play titles, Concord will probably require an additional PS Plus purchase on consoles, bringing the price tag further up. Also, before you bring up Helldivers 2’s launch price, consider the fact that there aren’t many games that capture the happy-go-lucky vibe of that co-op shooter.
It is also important to remember that third-person shooters, in general, are nowhere near as popular.
Limiting Newcomers From The Beginning
The biggest advantage of free-to-play games is that they eliminate the barrier of entry. This also makes it so that the general consumer is more willing to try newer releases.
Imagine booting up your PC or PS5, and you see a shiny new first-person shooter from PlayStation. Who doesn’t love first-person shooters? And PlayStation rarely creates bad games. This is what you’d probably think, right?
This is the mindset that initially made Fortnite and Warzone so big. As someone who was never particularly interested in either of these, I downloaded both of them on multiple occasions and logged on for several hours simply because my friends asked me to and I had nothing to lose.
A similar scenario recently pushed me toward XDefiant. Sure, I moved on from the game rather quickly, but others probably stuck with it. PlayStation has deprived Concord of this magical experience.
Considering the size of the first-person shooter market, millions would have probably tried the title on day one had Sony gone the free-to-play route.
What About The Microtransactions?
If there’s one thing guaranteed for the live service genre, it’s the fact that you can bet on microtransactions running the show.
Like every other free-to-play shooter, I fully expect Concord to be infested with microtransactions. Battle Passes, cosmetic DLC, multiple currencies, you name it; Firewalk Studios is probably working on all of this and more right now.
I’m someone who hates modern microtransactions, but the free-to-play model makes them easier to deal with.
Once you stack up $40 for the base release, $80 for 12 months of PS Plus on consoles, and the additional cash for microtransactions, you may as well go and play any of the hundred free-to-play live-service titles available on the market.
Ultimately, PlayStation seems to have written an early death sentence for its ambitious first-person shooter. Concord needs every advantage it can find, and a free-to-play model could have been a game-changer in this situation.
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