By But why?
- by Sammy Barker
Even a year after its launch, it’s still hard to comprehend just how much of a flop Concord was. It was a failure on a level we’ve never witnessed before – a genuinely unparalleled disaster.
However – and bear with us – it wasn’t the most terrible game ever created. Yes, its character designs raised eyebrows and its overall premise lacked innovation, but it was well-executed and functioned quite effectively. There have certainly been worse titles.
Thus, we figure it was unavoidable that some enthusiasts would attempt to revive it, following the platform owner hastily shutting down the shooter’s servers less than a month post-launch.
Moreover, The Game Post revealed this week that one group succeeded in reverse-engineering the game, allowing it to boot the title, connect to a lobby, and engage in a match.
(Amusingly, the game’s concurrent users in this post-closure scenario probably weren’t too far off its all-time high when it was publicly accessible.)
In a subsequent update, however, the site claims that a “digital asset protection” entity known as MarkScan has begun issuing copyright strikes against any footage from the re-established servers.
This is significant as it’s a company Sony typically employs whenever it seeks to eliminate content from the Internet, including instances of modded gameplay footage. Clearly, this particular case would fall under that umbrella.
It’s important to mention that the hobbyists themselves haven’t received a cease and desist regarding the reverse engineering of Concord’s servers just yet, although the team seems to be scaling back its activities now that it has garnered some attention.
While we recognize this game is one Sony wishes to forget, we don’t see much harm in this situation.
After all, very few wanted to engage with Concord when it was legitimately available – what damage could occur from a handful of dedicated fans spinning up their own servers to maintain the game’s legacy?
[source thegamepost.com, via thegamepost.com]
As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy possesses over 15 years of expertise assessing the realm of PlayStation, spanning from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s a specialist on PS Studios and industry topics, along with sports games and simulators. He also enjoys role-playing games when he has the opportunity to engage with them, and is somewhat of a gacha whale.