Concord was a complete failure with a very difficult start, and Sony is using its financial results to re-examine the reasons for that failure. What can we learn from this?
After the sudden cessation of Concord Just eleven days after its launch, Sony is addressing the reasons for this failure. During a question-and-answer session following the financial results presentation, Sony President Hiroki Totoki shared his analysis. For him, Concord was an important lesson in live service gaming, which was still new territory for Sony.
Essential learning for live gaming with Concord
Totoki explained that live services are still an area of research for Sony. Concord’s failure shows that launching a new live service license carries risks and a degree of unpredictability. According to Totoki, Sony could improve its process by implementing more user testing and internal evaluations from the earliest stages of development. By better anticipating these phases, Sony could avoid repeating Concord’s mistakes.
Another important point: Sony’s organizational structure. Totoki admits that better coordination between development and sales teams would have made Concord’s launch easier. This lack of fluidity between departments may have played a role in this failure.
Lessons that can be learned for future launches
Totoki also spoke about the need to carefully choose launch windows for future games. By avoiding competition between its own titles, Sony could optimize the performance of each game upon release. This strategy is even more important in an increasingly competitive market.
Sony senior vice president Sadahiko Hayakawa compared Concord’s failure to the success of Helldivers 2, another live service game released this year. For Hayakawa, these two contrasting experiences are valuable. They will make it possible to improve development processes and the management of live service titles, but also to understand which elements are working and which need to be checked.
Source: Sony
