Despite almost everyone recommending that Sony delays Concord and reassesses the planned business model, the company, in conjunction with Firewalk Studios, seem intent on launching the game in August as planned, despite feedback from the beta. This has become all the more apparent this week, with the studio ignoring criticisms and announcing plans for free updates post-launch. 

Firewalk Studios and Sony have today announced the post-launch plans for Concord, a game that absolutely nobody seems to be excited about. The studio has confirmed that there are no plans to introduce a battle pass, something typically needed to keep the money flowing for live-service games. Instead, Concord wants to deliver a “rewarding and robust experience on day one”.

To try and keep players engaged, Concord will get free updates for new characters and maps, as well as a weekly ‘vignette', which will be a short cinematic cutscene intended to get players invested in the overall story behind Concord.

With post-launch updates being free, it is unclear how Sony plans to make any money from Concord. The game amassed just two thousand concurrent players during its open beta on Steam, and despite a marketing push from Sony, players just don't seem to be biting. It has also come to light that Concord isn't appearing on many Steam wishlists either.

Blizzard originally launched Overwatch as a premium game, asking players to pay up front and in return, they would get free updates. However, just three years after launch, Blizzard realised that was unsustainable and began work on Overwatch 2, which released as a free-to-play game. Those who did play Concord during beta have suggested that the game should be delayed and reworked as a free-to-play game to have a better shot at long-term success.

We've seen a number of major live-service games promise free updates with content like new playable characters and maps in the past. However, as we've seen with games like Babylon's Fall, Marvel's Avengers and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, these free updates do little to ensure that players stick around post-launch. Each game here swiftly fell to low player counts, and given Concord's open beta numbers on Steam, it seems likely that this game will follow a similar path.

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KitGuru Says: Concord could end up being a very good game, but if it isn't resonating with a large audience, then it isn't going to last very long in today's market, which is largely dominated by massive F2P shooters, like Valorant, Counter-Strike, Fortnite, Call of Duty: Warzone and others. 

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