With shutdown coming soon, Concord’s few players desperately farm XP for trophies

Concord’s remaining players — not that there were many even two weeks after the PlayStation shooter’s launch — are jumping to their deaths en masse as soon as a match begins. It’s not an act of protest, or otherwise a statement about the doomed game’s abrupt closure. These folks are trying to farm XP for a rare platinum trophy before Concord goes away.

As spied by IGN (and Kotaku, among others), most rounds on PlayStation now begin with everyone heading for the nearest cliff/platform/very high place to take a long walk off it. The match instantly ends, with experience points awarded to winning and losing sides alike. All of this is done in furtherance of the goal of reaching level 100 before the game goes dark, likely permanently, on Sept. 6.

This is literally every match of Rivalry in Concord rn because this is the fastest way to earn XP for the Platinum pic.twitter.com/BZ12OV7lc1

— Radec (@realradec) September 3, 2024

Platinum trophies in PlayStation games, going back to the PlayStation 3’s launch in 2006, are awarded for collecting all of the other trophies that game offers. Concord has 51 trophies other than the platinum, some of which involve tasks like getting 50 eliminations with each of the 16 characters on its roster. Other actions, like leveling up these characters, or healing a certain amount of damage, are typically reached in pursuit of goals more dependent on cumulative playtime.

It’s that Reputation Level 100, though, that takes the longest. One trophy-hunting forum poster estimated it takes 70 hours of gameplay — in a private lobby with everyone working together — to grind to level 100. That is a lot of work (and probably a lot of missed work, in real life) for the ultimate ironic badge on your PlayStation Network profile.

PlayStationTrophies.org counts only two gamers so far unlocking a Platinum, doing so within seven minutes of each other on Tuesday.

Firewalk Studios did not specify what time on Sept. 6 Concord’s multiplayer servers would go dark, but even if that’s 11:59 p.m. Friday, as of writing time that’s 59 hours from now. So if you’re not already a day into this punishing grind, it’s too late.

Why is Concord shutting down after just two weeks online?

Sony Interactive Entertainment-published Concord launched Aug. 23 for PlayStation 5 and Windows PC (via Steam). A pre-release beta and hype cycle left many with a nagging feeling the multiplayer-only hero shooter was a derivative work, at best, about eight years late to a party started by Overwatch, Fortnite, and others. Woeful concurrent-player figures on Steam — never breaching 1,000 — solidified this perception.

There aren’t hard numbers for the game’s performance on PlayStation 5, its lead platform, but the fact PlayStation ordered the plug pulled barely two weeks after release suggests at least they were no great shakes, either.

One analyst guessed the $39.99 game, supposedly PlayStation’s vector into a genre dominated by free-to-play live-service models, sold just 25,000 copies against a production budget believed to be north of $100 million.

The shutdown announcement posted to PlayStation Blog on Tuesday said developer Firewalk Studios, which PlayStation bought in 2023, would “explore options, including those that will better reach our players.” No assurances were made when or even if Concord would return.

Refunds are being automatically issued to buyers through all online marketplaces — the PlayStation Store, Steam, and the Epic Games Store. Once those refunds are made, buyers lose access to the game.

Featured image via Sony Interactive Entertainment

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