When is the Concord release date on PS5? The debut game from Firewalk Studios is a PvP hero shooter that gives big Guardians of the Galaxy energy thanks to its light-hearted tone and vibrant cast of space-faring characters. It’s one of the many cogs in Sony’s ever-growing live service machine, and it’s launch is closer than you might expect.
With some noticeable similarities to Destiny 2 and Overwatch, we’ve got our fingers crossed that Concord will rank among the best FPS games of this console generation when it arrives. But what exactly can you expect from one of Sony’s most intriguing new PS5 games? When will it come out? What will the gameplay be like? Is it free-to-play? Well, we’ve got all the info you need right here.
Concord release date
The Concord release date will arrive on Friday, August 23, 2024 and will launch simultaneously on PS5 and PC. However, you will be able to play the game sooner than that, as there will be a pre-launch beta some time in July.
Concord was first announced during Sony’s 2023 PlayStation Showcase with a short CGI teaser trailer, which confirmed a broad “2024” release window.
It’s concrete release date of August 23 was confirmed during May 2024’s State of Play broadcast, which gave fans a first look at the game’s roster of characters and some gameplay footage too. You can watch the State of Play a little further on in this guide.
Concord developer
As mentioned, Concord is being developed by Firewalk Studios. In April 2023, Firewalk Studios was acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment to make it a first-party PlayStation studio. It is comprised largely of former Bungie developers who have experience making some of the best space shooter series ever, such as Halo and Destiny, and that bodes well for Concord.
Former talent from big FPS studios like Respawn (Apex Legends, Titanfall) and Treyarch (Call of Duty) are also working on Concord at Firewalk. All of this experience and the influences of other massive shooter series can definitely be seen when you see Concord in action.
Concord gameplay
Concord is a 5v5 first-person shooter, with a wide roster of characters to choose from that each have unique abilities. In the words of Firewalk’s design director Josh Hamrick, the developer’s core focuses have been on “tight core movement, precise and visceral shooting, and expressive abilities”.
The first look at gameplay we got during May’s State of Play certainly lined up with Hamrick’s claims. While there was no extended footage of a single match, for example, there were dozens of short snippets showing a handful of characters in action. It also showcased the tight, arena-style maps that felt very reminiscent of the maps you’d see in Overwacth or even Destiny 2’s PvP modes.
Probably the most intriguing piece of information, and the one that might see Concord stand out somewhat from other similar hero shooters, is that characters each have deployable gear items “that can persist throughout a full game”. Those are the words of lead character designer Jon Weisnewski, who also reels off a short list of some of the gear you’ll be using: “healing pads, bullet-blocking domes, explosive traps, [and] lane-blocking walls” are all mentioned.
While hero shooters love to stuff loads of tactical gear like this into their characters’ kits, very rarely will it persist past a single round of a match or a single life, if it’s a respawn mode. We can’t wait to see how Concord’s decision to keep things persistent will pan out.
Menu footage from the State of Play gameplay reveal also suggest that there will be at least 16 characters when the game launches, and we managed to spot five different classes that they’ll be categorized into: warden, anchor, ranger, breacher, and tactician. That’s a pretty impressive lineup, and there will likely be more heroes added throughout the course of the game’s lifetime.
Concord characters and story
In Concord, the characters are known as Freegunners, who are guns-for-hire mercenaries “taking high-stakes jobs on world across Wild space”, according to Firewalk. The game’s characters all reside on a ship known as the Northstar.
A surprisingly-long cinematic introduction to some of the Freegunners kicked off Concord’s State of Play appearance, but Firewalk has confirmed that there’s plenty more cinematics to come. In an effort to develop an on-going narrative and to explore the backstories and relationships of its characters, Concord will release a new “vignette” every single week in effort to keep players coming back.
As mentioned, it looks like there will be 16 characters to begin with in Concord. The names for some of them have already been revealed, either through ability spotlights or menu footage. The named Concord characters we’ve seen so far are:
- Lennox
- Haymar
- 1-0FF
- Star Child
- Vale
- Teo
- Lark
- Emari
- Jabali
- Kyps
Concord game modes
So far, we’ve only seen the name of one game mode in Concord, and that’s Cargo Run. We spotted this in the character select menu that was shown off in the State of Play broadcast. We speculate that Cargo Run is going to be like Escort or Push from Overwatch, which sees you move a payload across the map to a checkpoint.
We also expect to see your standard affair of FPS game modes here. While Concord may have different names for them or put small unique spins on them, the likes of Team Deathmatch and Domination will surely be present.
Is Concord free to play?
It appears that Concord is not a free-to-play title and is a pay-to-own game, similar to Sony’s other recent live service ventures like Helldivers 2 and Foamstars. This was confirmed when the State of Play broadcast said that “pre-orders” for the game would be going live on June 6.
So there you have it – everything we know about Concord so far. Here’s hoping that Firewalk’s experienced team of FPS devs nails it and it makes its way onto our best PS5 games list.