The thing about “live service” games is they need players to survive.
Without an established player base a “live service” game will cease to exist.

“…’live service’ games, a slightly nebulous term that’s come to be understood as encompassing a specific set of
monetisation models (battle passes, cosmetic microtransactions, etc.) applied to a loosely defined set of online
multiplayer games (either competitive or cooperative) with a match-based structure.”

-Rob Fahey, GamesIndustry.Biz

This past weekend, I got to spend a couple of hours playing Concord during its first open beta. Concord is an upcoming first-person, live service, hero shooter and the debut title from Firewalk Studios (a PlayStation Studio).

In less than a month Concord will enter the battlefield to compete with the likes of Overwatch 2, Valorant, Star Wars Hunters, and the other upcoming challenger — Marvel Rivals. Not to mention even more games that fall into the live service games group (Fortnite, APEX Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone…).

I’m a sucker for any open beta/free-to-play weekend. I recently gave XDefiant and Foam Stars a chance, although both of those games didn’t stick with me. My involvement with many of these free trial games only lasts as long as the free trial lasts — sometimes even less. So, the question for Concord is, “Will the hype last?”

I did notice that according to my PlayStation friend group, zero of them played Concord’s Open Beta this weekend — that seems like a bad omen, but it is also a very small sample size (my PS friend group of less than fifty people). In my time spent with Concord, I did end up in a few games with not enough players. At one point I played most of a game as one player vs five others, and that lasted until the very end. I’m not sure if that’s a behind the scenes problem they need to work out or if they really don’t want people quitting mid-game — still, players who quit should be replaced to keep things even.

Overall, I played about three hours of the Concord Open Beta this weekend, and that’s because I did things a little differently this time. I normally spend most of my time during these free weekends playing the free game over anything else. This weekend, I spent my time going back-and-forth between Concord and my main live service game, Overwatch 2 — although it has been a while. It was interesting to compare the two games since I know only one live service shooter can hold my attention at a time.

Overwatch Side Quest:
Not too long ago, I would begin and end most of my gaming sessions with Overwatch. I’d play a few warm-up games,
then get into whatever other game I was currently obsessed with, then play a few more rounds of Overwatch.

Ever since the release/update/patch to Overwatch 2, I’ve fallen off the game. However, any time I jump back in I still
enjoy the matches. I love the Overwatch/Overwatch 2 gameplay. It’s the new Fortnite-ification with season passes,
crowded menus, big franchise tie-ins — sure, those Transformers skins are cool, but unnecessary, the Overwatch
design team has already been creating amazing skins and costumes for the heroes of Overwatch without any
established IP for years.

Let’s get back on track. I’m not here to talk about the jump from Overwatch to Overwatch 2. This is about Concord, and finding out if it grabbed my attention enough to take me away from Overwatch 2, and possibly other gamers from their favorite live service title.

Design & Hero Lineup

One of my favorite things about the Concord Beta (other than actually playing the game) was the simplicity within the menus. So many live service games feature complicated menus with many unnecessary options, which mostly have nothing to do with gameplay. It becomes a mission to figure out how to start a match.

I was also a fan of the overall look and use of colors. The animated cutscenes that will continuously be updated are fine, but also very Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy-like. The heroes 1-Off and Starchild are very dry and literal, like Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer. It feels very inspired by the writing of the Guardians movies, but since those are only there as short sketches to add some lore to the game (and are skippable), that seems fine.

I started the weekend choosing a different hero after each death, which meant I wasn’t really getting familiar with any of them past their main weapons. Each hero comes with two rechargeable abilities, some passive skills, and most of them have the ability to run, double jump, and dodge. Spamming hero abilities without actually understanding them will get you nowhere — both in Concord and Overwatch 2.

Once I started to focus on learning to play specific heroes my runs lasted longer, I got more kills, and my team even won a few rounds. If I get back into Concord once the game is released, I see myself starting out with Teo and Duchess. Teo is the classic military hero in a sci-fi game, with a machine gun, side-arm, frag and smoke grenade. He’s here to entice the military shooter fans (Call of Duty and APEX Legends). Duchess also wields a machine gun-like weapon, but with supernatural abilities (like creating walls out of nothing).

I found some other heroes I enjoyed playing, but I need to spend more time with them. As always, there are heroes I’m not very good with, but would love to get better at. Some feature rocket launchers, hand guns, one even uses throwing knives as her main weapon.

There’s a lot going on in the way of progression in Concord. First, there’s the roster of “main heroes,” but I also noticed a few alternate heroes. It seems as more heroes are introduced players will be able to build their custom squads of heroes to choose from.

At one point I unlocked an upgraded version (Version II) of Lennox, one of the main heroes. He sported a new look and a different passive ability, but other than that were the same character. Variant I was able to reload while dodging, white Variant II came with extra ammo for both of his handguns.

There are different ways to upgrade your heroes and earn new perks, accessories, and skills. With so many weekly, seasonal, and periodic tasks to perform, the game features many avenues for gaining extra XP (experience points). Playing with specific heroes will also level them up and unlock more bonuses.

The Decision

So, now that the Free Beta weekend has come to an end, is Concord going to be a game for me, or was it just a shiny new toy to test drive for a weekend? As I said in the beginning I love the look and design, and the overall simplicity of the user experience in Concord.

It wasn’t until my final hour (of three) with Concord that I really started to understand certain heroes, their abilities, and other parts of the game. Dodging is something I didn’t learn until an hour or so in, and that really helped my game. The main question here is, will Concord draw a big enough audience to keep the game alive.

As I previously stated, a good percentage of my matches were uneven (in team size). I had to go up against five players by myself for almost a full match. I also saw it from the other side, where five of us easily took down a team of two. This was especially a problem once I leveled up and unlocked the extra battle modes.

The problem with entering the gaming scene as a new live service game is that you don’t only have to be a good game. You have to be enticing enough to pull focus off of whatever else people are playing. I hope Concord has a good release, and I think I will get back to it at some point. Maybe not right away. I will wait and see how things go.

For now, this weekend has also got me excited about getting back into Overwatch 2. I don’t think I’m at the point of buying a Battle Pass, but I might get a few rounds in, here and there.

---

Did you play the Concord Beta (Closed or Open)? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below…