Concord Cost $400 Million - Luke Reacts

00:27:32
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83_DPEc3ANA

Summary

TLDRThe video discusses the unexpected high cost of developing the video game "Concord," which exceeded $400 million, sparking controversy over potential mismanagement or fraudulent activities. Despite being backed by Sony and key executives who touted it as a centerpiece of PlayStation’s future, the game turned out to be a financial disaster. The video further critiques the executives’ decision-making process, highlighting failures in project management, oversight, and an environment lacking constructive feedback. Reflecting on the poor judgment calls and the massive losses, the video's commentator, Colin Moriarty, shares insider information and suggests upcoming Sony projects could face similar hurdles if this pattern of mismanagement continues. The video highlights the dangers of reckless financial investment in games without tangible community or market feedback, forewarning that Sony's troubles might intensify before any improvement is seen.

Takeaways

  • 🔍 Concord's development cost reached a staggering $400 million, raising eyebrows.
  • 🕵️ Colin Moriarty reveals insider sources alleging financial and management problems.
  • ⚠️ The project was backed by key Sony executives despite glaring issues.
  • 💥 Concord was considered a failure, costing more than popular titles like The Last of Us.
  • 🤔 Sony saw Concord as the future of PlayStation, leading to high expectations.
  • 🚨 Concerns prevail about toxic positivity and lack of critical feedback during development.
  • 🚧 Mismanagement and inflated spending questioned, hinting at possible financial misconduct.
  • 📉 Sony's enormous financial loss prompts questions on executive decision-making competence.
  • 🔮 Predictions suggest more problematic projects may arise for PlayStation.
  • 💬 The video calls out the dangers of unchecked ambition in game development.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The video discusses breaking news about Colin Moriarty, a known commentator in gaming, who has insider details on the costly failure of the game Concord. Moriarty claims Concord's development cost approximately $400 million, surpassing initial reports of $100-$200 million. The exorbitant budget raises suspicions of potential mismanagement or even wrongdoing, as the game, described as an 'Overwatch ripoff,' underdelivered despite the massive expenditure.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    Concord reportedly reached an alpha state in early 2023, by which time $200 million had already been spent. The game was associated with Sony's collaboration with ProbablyMonsters and Firewalk studios since 2020/2021. Despite contractual investments, the assertion is that Sony acquired the studio without any prior public exposure to the game, investing heavily despite its incomplete and underwhelming state.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    Sony invested an additional $200 million to bring Concord to minimum viable product status after seeing its state in early 2023. The game required significant outsourcing due to two major missing features: onboarding and monetization systems. Discord's initial development was expensive and unproductive, leading Sony to pursue securing the game's minimum completion with added costly interventions.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    The Concord project was perceived internally by Sony as a major future franchise despite its disastrous alpha demonstration. It was internally marketed as a cultural flagship for PlayStation, akin to renowned series like Star Wars. Notably, the game was developed in an environment where critical feedback was unwelcome, suggesting the management's blind optimism significantly hindered productive changes and forecasts.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:27:32

    The video concludes by emphasizing that the Concord incident uncovers a worrying trend in Sony's strategic failures, potentially linked to executive oversight issues. It indicates ongoing skepticism about future releases, reflecting a systemic problem rooted in overconfident and misaligned corporate ambitions. The video forecasts potential further failures due to delayed impacts of poor decisions made in prior years.

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Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • What game is the video focused on?

    The video focuses on the game "Concord."

  • Who is the commentator in the video?

    The commentator is Colin Moriarty.

  • Why is the cost of Concord development shocking?

    The development cost of Concord reached $400 million, which is excessive and raises concerns of mismanagement or other issues.

  • What was Sony's view on Concord?

    Sony viewed "Concord" as a significant part of the future of PlayStation and invested heavily in it.

  • What was the outcome of the investment in Concord?

    The investment led to a massive loss without any significant return, leading to criticism of Sony's decision-making.

  • Who reportedly championed the development at Sony?

    Hermen Hulst, a key executive, reportedly championed the game's development.

  • What genre is Concord associated with?

    Concord is associated with the live-service game genre.

  • What realization about corporate decision-making does the video suggest?

    The video suggests that executives' decision regarding Concord was poorly judged, insulated from reality, and over-optimistic.

  • What does the cost include for Concord?

    Concord's costs include both initial development and significant additional expenditure post-acquisition by Sony.

  • What does the video say about future PlayStation games?

    The video expresses concern that more poor decisions affecting upcoming PlayStation games may be revealed soon.

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Subtitles
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  • 00:00:00
    well everyone I am still traveling in a
  • 00:00:03
    mysterious place that I'm not going to
  • 00:00:05
    tell you about but there is still
  • 00:00:07
    breaking news including some news that I
  • 00:00:10
    find quite shocking you see Colin Mor
  • 00:00:14
    arti who uh runs like Last Stand media
  • 00:00:17
    he is uh like an OG of games journalism
  • 00:00:22
    though as you'll see in this clip he
  • 00:00:23
    doesn't claim to do a lot of like
  • 00:00:26
    journalistic reporting nowadays he's
  • 00:00:27
    more of a commentator and that type of
  • 00:00:29
    thing which is totally fine that's
  • 00:00:30
    probably closer to what I do but he has
  • 00:00:33
    been speaking with at least one person
  • 00:00:35
    involved in the development of Concord
  • 00:00:38
    and he has some like insane things to
  • 00:00:41
    say basically the sentiment is though
  • 00:00:44
    that uh concord's failure is like way
  • 00:00:48
    worse than anybody realizes like there
  • 00:00:52
    was initial reporting you know I was
  • 00:00:54
    saying that I had inferred through
  • 00:00:57
    things and heard through the grap Vine
  • 00:00:59
    This was maybe like
  • 00:01:00
    a $200 million blunder after that there
  • 00:01:03
    were some like bigger news outlets that
  • 00:01:06
    were saying it's definitely like a100
  • 00:01:08
    million blunder so it's not as bad as
  • 00:01:10
    like suicide squad well Colin is saying
  • 00:01:13
    his source that he's verified is saying
  • 00:01:16
    that it cost around
  • 00:01:19
    $400
  • 00:01:25
    million I like that is so much money for
  • 00:01:30
    a game like this at that point like I'm
  • 00:01:34
    starting to wonder if there's like money
  • 00:01:37
    laundering or like criminal activity
  • 00:01:40
    involved because like to spend $400
  • 00:01:42
    million to make a lackluster OverWatch
  • 00:01:46
    ripoff that took almost a decade I don't
  • 00:01:48
    know how you could reach that number
  • 00:01:50
    without just paying everybody in the
  • 00:01:52
    studio
  • 00:01:53
    $250,000 a year letting them work triple
  • 00:01:57
    overtime and Bill it all to the company
  • 00:01:59
    like there's no way to cut this other
  • 00:02:01
    than it being horribly mismanaged at the
  • 00:02:05
    end of the day I I don't know how else
  • 00:02:07
    you could you could conclude um so I
  • 00:02:11
    want to go through this clip because
  • 00:02:13
    it's fascinating and we're going to do a
  • 00:02:16
    good old school style uh react to it
  • 00:02:20
    because again this is crazy this is
  • 00:02:21
    taken from the secret symbols podcast
  • 00:02:24
    that Colin runs with a couple of other
  • 00:02:26
    Bloks and my understanding is it's
  • 00:02:29
    primarily a discussion over PlayStation
  • 00:02:31
    games but uh without further Ado let's
  • 00:02:33
    hear what Colin has to say about Concord
  • 00:02:36
    I want to talk about Concord I wasn't
  • 00:02:37
    going to ever talk about this game again
  • 00:02:41
    because who really gives a however
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    and I don't do journalism really anymore
  • 00:02:46
    as you guys know and we talk about this
  • 00:02:47
    a lot I was a journalist at one time and
  • 00:02:49
    I used to break a lot of stories and
  • 00:02:51
    these days I don't really grind like
  • 00:02:52
    that so the stories that I break these
  • 00:02:54
    days are usually people always not
  • 00:02:56
    usually always people coming to
  • 00:02:58
    me and someone who worked on
  • 00:03:01
    Concord um reached out to me and I
  • 00:03:05
    verified who this person was and went
  • 00:03:06
    through all that and talked to this
  • 00:03:07
    person extensively and I I'll say that
  • 00:03:10
    this actually happens more than you
  • 00:03:11
    might realize some people might be
  • 00:03:13
    weirded out at the idea of like a game
  • 00:03:15
    developer reaching out to a YouTuber or
  • 00:03:17
    streamer or podcaster and offering
  • 00:03:20
    information but it actually does happen
  • 00:03:22
    a good amount because like shocker a lot
  • 00:03:25
    of the developers on these games they
  • 00:03:28
    know that this isn't going work or they
  • 00:03:30
    know people aren't going to like it or
  • 00:03:32
    it's not going to sell well or they have
  • 00:03:34
    problems with the direction of some of
  • 00:03:37
    these these
  • 00:03:39
    choices um I I was speaking to another
  • 00:03:42
    developer on a pretty big game recently
  • 00:03:45
    and they were expressing how they were
  • 00:03:46
    not happy with the final product but it
  • 00:03:49
    was out of their control so they could
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    just like they could only do so much
  • 00:03:53
    they could only do their part of the
  • 00:03:56
    broader project but they weren't happy
  • 00:03:59
    with a lot of the voices I've even heard
  • 00:04:01
    from from people that have worked on uh
  • 00:04:03
    some pretty sizable flops that everybody
  • 00:04:06
    in the studio knew that that was coming
  • 00:04:08
    and it didn't come as a surprise what
  • 00:04:10
    makes Concord so special is that they
  • 00:04:12
    apparently didn't see it coming and they
  • 00:04:14
    really thought this was going to pop off
  • 00:04:15
    which he'll get to in a second like a
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    for a long time and uh got some I think
  • 00:04:20
    interesting information that I can share
  • 00:04:22
    about
  • 00:04:23
    Concord um and uh I think people will be
  • 00:04:27
    interested about it the reason that I
  • 00:04:29
    wanted to talk about about it is because
  • 00:04:30
    some of the assumptions that I had made
  • 00:04:32
    about the game were dead wrong as far as
  • 00:04:34
    how much it cost and how much Sony
  • 00:04:36
    really lost on it so the big thing that
  • 00:04:38
    you really need to know here like when I
  • 00:04:40
    heard him say that I thought oh they
  • 00:04:42
    spent like way less this isn't that big
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    of a deal I think uh I think I think
  • 00:04:47
    it's Dustin or Dustin DUS Dustin maybe
  • 00:04:50
    I'm not sure the the individual on the
  • 00:04:52
    bottom of the screen seems to know
  • 00:04:53
    what's coming about this is that um
  • 00:04:57
    Concord cost about $400 million to make
  • 00:05:00
    oh my God and
  • 00:05:04
    um The Story Goes that
  • 00:05:08
    Concord by the time
  • 00:05:10
    Concord was so in the first quarter of
  • 00:05:13
    2023 Concord had basically entered an
  • 00:05:15
    alpha State this was before Sony had
  • 00:05:17
    even purchased the team um but Sony had
  • 00:05:20
    been working with um probably monsters
  • 00:05:22
    and which was the original owner of
  • 00:05:24
    firewalk and firewalk um probably since
  • 00:05:26
    late 2020 maybe 2021 at the latest I
  • 00:05:29
    mean if if anything the takeaway is that
  • 00:05:31
    probably monsters brilliant they figured
  • 00:05:34
    out you don't actually have to make a
  • 00:05:35
    successful live service game you just
  • 00:05:37
    have to make a live service game
  • 00:05:39
    developer who's working on a project and
  • 00:05:43
    then convince big corporations that
  • 00:05:45
    they're going to make billions off of
  • 00:05:47
    the uh the franchise which they
  • 00:05:49
    apparently did because again Sony bought
  • 00:05:51
    this game before anybody had seen it
  • 00:05:54
    like I I was trying to figure out if
  • 00:05:56
    other content creators had like
  • 00:05:58
    consulted on this or tried it years ago
  • 00:06:01
    cuz that happened sometimes there's been
  • 00:06:02
    rumors that like Marathon for example
  • 00:06:05
    has been contacting streamers to like
  • 00:06:08
    try it and give feedback and stuff and
  • 00:06:10
    that happens all the time with like Call
  • 00:06:11
    of Duty they talk to Pros all the time
  • 00:06:14
    and I was wondering if they did
  • 00:06:15
    something like that with Concord but I
  • 00:06:17
    have not been able to come up with
  • 00:06:18
    anybody even speaking like totally
  • 00:06:20
    anonymously not wanting to have their
  • 00:06:22
    name out there obviously nobody
  • 00:06:25
    apparently had seen this game publicly
  • 00:06:27
    it was only behind closed doors
  • 00:06:30
    that Concord was was being talked about
  • 00:06:34
    and Sony was willing to buy out the
  • 00:06:36
    studio it's
  • 00:06:37
    insane uh that they looked at an alpha
  • 00:06:41
    of what we eventually got and thought
  • 00:06:43
    this is ready for prime time like this
  • 00:06:44
    is Big Money stuff I I cannot believe it
  • 00:06:48
    really makes you wonder if the
  • 00:06:50
    executives that made that decision um
  • 00:06:52
    were competent but then again I think
  • 00:06:54
    most of the executives who made that
  • 00:06:56
    decision are no longer at playst
  • 00:07:00
    so that's probably a giveway on Concord
  • 00:07:03
    the game was in development before that
  • 00:07:05
    up to the point that the game went into
  • 00:07:08
    Alpha State um they had already spent
  • 00:07:11
    about $200 million on
  • 00:07:14
    it oh my god dude so part of what makes
  • 00:07:17
    this worse than it sounds already and
  • 00:07:20
    just to hear that like they spent 200
  • 00:07:23
    million to reach Alpha that's like
  • 00:07:26
    levels you would expect to see from like
  • 00:07:28
    uh uh Rock rockar game or like a huge
  • 00:07:32
    AAA multiplatform title you know to
  • 00:07:37
    reach that expense level is impressive
  • 00:07:40
    but it's all the more impressive preco
  • 00:07:43
    like they're saying Alpha was hit
  • 00:07:47
    2023 like early q1 2023 to spend $200
  • 00:07:51
    million before we've like really felt
  • 00:07:55
    the effects of Co and the high inflation
  • 00:07:58
    rates and and and uh everything that's
  • 00:08:00
    come along with you know initially very
  • 00:08:03
    low interest rates and then the FED
  • 00:08:05
    Rising the rates like that's very
  • 00:08:09
    difficult to do to spend
  • 00:08:11
    $200
  • 00:08:13
    million in the late 201s to early 2020s
  • 00:08:18
    it's like you almost have to try to
  • 00:08:20
    waste money to reach that level to have
  • 00:08:22
    an alpha again for a game that had
  • 00:08:25
    basically nothing like it it was a 5v5
  • 00:08:28
    hero shooter with a couple of little
  • 00:08:30
    bitty modes and that's it where did that
  • 00:08:33
    money go I I genuinely don't know how
  • 00:08:35
    this game could possibly cost that much
  • 00:08:38
    and it's unclear how much of that money
  • 00:08:40
    is from probably monsters and the
  • 00:08:41
    original investors into the game and how
  • 00:08:43
    much of that money was from Sony um
  • 00:08:46
    there's this term in in product
  • 00:08:49
    development uh not only with games but
  • 00:08:51
    really with everything you can like
  • 00:08:52
    manufacture a Shashi you guys might have
  • 00:08:54
    heard of it it's called minimum minimum
  • 00:08:56
    viability or a minimal minimum viable
  • 00:08:58
    product
  • 00:08:59
    the idea behind this or MVP the the idea
  • 00:09:03
    behind this is that this is like what
  • 00:09:05
    you're trying to achieve and it's like
  • 00:09:07
    once you cross this barrier you feel
  • 00:09:08
    comfortable selling it it's not that
  • 00:09:11
    it's the best it can be or that it's
  • 00:09:12
    what it's going to be by the time you
  • 00:09:14
    launch it because there's all sorts of
  • 00:09:15
    extra stuff you do to it but like this
  • 00:09:16
    is the minimum viability that makes me
  • 00:09:18
    think of like apple with these new
  • 00:09:20
    iPhones where like they have these AI
  • 00:09:23
    features they've promised but none of
  • 00:09:24
    them are actually ready so I think for
  • 00:09:27
    the Pro Models they're coming day one
  • 00:09:30
    maybe but I think there's still a bunch
  • 00:09:31
    of them that are locked behind betas and
  • 00:09:33
    they'll come next year but it's like
  • 00:09:36
    it's viable they can sell the phone
  • 00:09:38
    based off of that because they at least
  • 00:09:40
    have something to show but it's it's not
  • 00:09:42
    like done they're basically selling you
  • 00:09:45
    a beta of of a product they promise will
  • 00:09:47
    be better in the future that's what that
  • 00:09:49
    makes me think of of the product um when
  • 00:09:51
    the game had already had $200 million
  • 00:09:54
    spent on it and was basically in an
  • 00:09:55
    alpha form quarter one of 2023 from that
  • 00:09:59
    point until the game launched Sony spent
  • 00:10:01
    another $200 million on it the
  • 00:10:05
    scuttlebutt behind the scenes about
  • 00:10:07
    Concord is that the game was in a
  • 00:10:10
    laughable
  • 00:10:11
    shape um when it was shown and ready
  • 00:10:16
    basically like when the alpha was ready
  • 00:10:18
    to go and they were kind of being like
  • 00:10:20
    you know we're ready to kind of get
  • 00:10:22
    moving towards getting this thing out in
  • 00:10:24
    the next year or two it was in such
  • 00:10:27
    horrible shape that Sony felt felt like
  • 00:10:29
    they needed to spend that much money
  • 00:10:30
    again so you know 200 plus 200 to get
  • 00:10:33
    the the game to to the MVP status not to
  • 00:10:36
    the status of it being like a great game
  • 00:10:39
    to get it to just viability presumably
  • 00:10:42
    I'm assuming with like Sony Engineers
  • 00:10:44
    going out because Sony has these things
  • 00:10:46
    I've heard some people refer to them as
  • 00:10:47
    like strike teams but basically it's
  • 00:10:50
    teams of like software Engineers that
  • 00:10:51
    they'll send out to help with
  • 00:10:52
    optimization or ports and stuff because
  • 00:10:55
    they want games to run great on
  • 00:10:57
    PlayStation 5 so they send these teams
  • 00:10:59
    out to help Studios polish and refine
  • 00:11:02
    there were stories of them helping with
  • 00:11:03
    like Hogwarts Legacy they sent teams out
  • 00:11:05
    to help with the port there um so maybe
  • 00:11:08
    that's what he's referring to is that
  • 00:11:09
    they sent a ton of Engineers out to the
  • 00:11:12
    studio at firewalk to help polish and
  • 00:11:16
    refine but again it begs a question if
  • 00:11:18
    it was in a according to a developer if
  • 00:11:20
    it was in a laughable State why did Sony
  • 00:11:24
    buy them for like theoretically 100 $200
  • 00:11:28
    million they bought out all the other
  • 00:11:30
    investors who were $200 million deep and
  • 00:11:34
    based on all of this I don't think they
  • 00:11:36
    were getting a bargain like I
  • 00:11:38
    I across the board it's just bafflingly
  • 00:11:42
    stupid it's unbelievable and that at
  • 00:11:46
    that time in quarter 1 2023 there was
  • 00:11:48
    such there was nothing
  • 00:11:50
    done like a major expense was having to
  • 00:11:54
    urgently Outsource much of the game to
  • 00:11:57
    other Studios to finish
  • 00:12:00
    building the game out and that two
  • 00:12:02
    fundamental things were not worked on at
  • 00:12:04
    all up to the point in which the game
  • 00:12:06
    was shown in Alpha on
  • 00:12:09
    boarding nothing about that no like
  • 00:12:12
    there was nothing about how players get
  • 00:12:13
    on like how they make their character
  • 00:12:14
    all that kind of stuff or you know
  • 00:12:15
    choose their character and get there and
  • 00:12:17
    monetization two very expensive very
  • 00:12:20
    specific and boutique things that happen
  • 00:12:21
    to games like this um and so that's the
  • 00:12:26
    first thing that I wanted to say is that
  • 00:12:28
    it's not only about the going cost which
  • 00:12:29
    would be in the millions to keep the
  • 00:12:31
    game going per month but that the game
  • 00:12:33
    cost about $400 million to make Soup To
  • 00:12:36
    Nuts Sony put most of that money in and
  • 00:12:40
    um it is not only so because we had kind
  • 00:12:43
    of said like this must be Sony's biggest
  • 00:12:44
    loss ever on a game and it is it's the
  • 00:12:47
    biggest game Sony's ever released from a
  • 00:12:49
    budgetary standpoint from the first
  • 00:12:50
    party or second party just let that sink
  • 00:12:53
    in cuz he's right if this game cost $400
  • 00:12:57
    million to make we know for from the
  • 00:12:59
    Insomniac leaks roughly what or was it
  • 00:13:02
    the Insomniac leak or the FTC releases
  • 00:13:05
    either way we know from some releases of
  • 00:13:07
    documents how much like God of War
  • 00:13:09
    Ragnarok cost we know how much
  • 00:13:11
    Spider-Man 2 cost we know how much the
  • 00:13:13
    Last of Us cost and those were all in
  • 00:13:15
    like the $2 to $300 million range this
  • 00:13:18
    game cost twice what The Last of Us Part
  • 00:13:20
    Two made or
  • 00:13:22
    cost which whether you love The Last of
  • 00:13:24
    Us Part Two or not I mean it doesn't
  • 00:13:26
    really matter for this point the point
  • 00:13:27
    is that was an expensive game to make
  • 00:13:30
    that was a game made by Naughty Dog who
  • 00:13:32
    are industry veterans who have uh you
  • 00:13:34
    know world class Talent with Cutting
  • 00:13:37
    Edge Graphics that still hold up you
  • 00:13:39
    know even in this new generation of
  • 00:13:42
    consoles and Concord costs twice what
  • 00:13:44
    that game cost to make you know it's
  • 00:13:46
    this is why like the danger with live
  • 00:13:48
    service stuff is it just turns these
  • 00:13:51
    Executives brains into jelly like they
  • 00:13:53
    just stop thinking critically like does
  • 00:13:56
    this even make sense because they just
  • 00:13:57
    see the dollar sign
  • 00:13:59
    and the potential for it you know with
  • 00:14:03
    like the Scrooge McDuck dollar sign eyes
  • 00:14:06
    it's just unbelievable because this is a
  • 00:14:09
    series of comical errors that should
  • 00:14:11
    have never taken place and it's purely
  • 00:14:15
    based on the the desire for quick and
  • 00:14:17
    easy cash it's this like greedy
  • 00:14:21
    Pursuit which is part of the reason
  • 00:14:23
    people are kind of celebrating its death
  • 00:14:25
    because they're like yeah this type of
  • 00:14:26
    mindset should be punished you shouldn't
  • 00:14:28
    be rewarded for wasting $400 million on
  • 00:14:33
    a game that any one of us could have
  • 00:14:35
    told you was going to flop from day one
  • 00:14:37
    so let that sink in it's crazy and it's
  • 00:14:40
    totally
  • 00:14:42
    unintuitive there are more there are
  • 00:14:44
    games that are in development right now
  • 00:14:45
    it's Sony first and second party that
  • 00:14:46
    are more expensive than this but as of
  • 00:14:49
    the games that have come out so far so
  • 00:14:51
    think about like Spider-Man 2 and so on
  • 00:14:53
    and so forth we know the Last of Us Part
  • 00:14:54
    Two cost $220 million Spider-Man 3 is
  • 00:14:57
    going to cost about $350 million this I
  • 00:14:59
    should have just let this play he's
  • 00:15:01
    saying everything I said more than
  • 00:15:04
    that and they lost all of it because
  • 00:15:07
    they made no money they made about a
  • 00:15:08
    million dollars gross revenue and then
  • 00:15:11
    they gave it all back so this is a huge
  • 00:15:13
    multiple hundreds of millions of dollar
  • 00:15:15
    loss now the question is why why did
  • 00:15:19
    this
  • 00:15:20
    happen this game was heavily championed
  • 00:15:24
    behind the scenes now we know this
  • 00:15:26
    because Sony ended up what's funny is
  • 00:15:28
    that the game is presented
  • 00:15:29
    in this in q1 2023 as this you know
  • 00:15:33
    we're kind of getting towards the end
  • 00:15:34
    the game is nowhere near being done it's
  • 00:15:36
    in a horrible position and then Sony
  • 00:15:38
    buys the team the idea behind this was
  • 00:15:43
    and the term apparently verbatim had
  • 00:15:45
    been used that Concord is the future of
  • 00:15:52
    PlayStation
  • 00:15:54
    what like this is again why I am not s
  • 00:15:59
    to see like Jim Ryan go his vision for
  • 00:16:04
    PlayStation was
  • 00:16:06
    Concord the terminology being used under
  • 00:16:09
    his leadership was games like Concord
  • 00:16:12
    were the future of PlayStation that even
  • 00:16:16
    Concord specifically was going to be the
  • 00:16:18
    future because they expected this to
  • 00:16:19
    blow up which is why they paid for it to
  • 00:16:22
    participate in that Anthology series
  • 00:16:24
    that's coming to Amazon Prime later this
  • 00:16:25
    year it's why they invested so heavily
  • 00:16:28
    in the back end of this you know
  • 00:16:30
    spending $200 million just to get it
  • 00:16:33
    functioning you know after purchasing
  • 00:16:35
    the studio for some reason it's it's
  • 00:16:38
    baffling that they had such major
  • 00:16:41
    ambition for this game that it was
  • 00:16:43
    referred to internally as a Star Wars
  • 00:16:45
    like project for Sony that it can be
  • 00:16:48
    repeatedly Revisited over and over and
  • 00:16:51
    over again not only in Cross media but
  • 00:16:52
    in what we were seeing we've already
  • 00:16:54
    kind of seen a little bits of it so the
  • 00:16:56
    weekly story vignettes that they were
  • 00:16:57
    going to release and then of course
  • 00:16:59
    inclusion in Amazon's um secret levels
  • 00:17:02
    Anthology that's like just scratching
  • 00:17:05
    the surface of it ironically the game
  • 00:17:07
    was code named chaos behind the scenes
  • 00:17:11
    and um a major thing about the game is
  • 00:17:16
    that there was and I think we can kind
  • 00:17:18
    of get this vibe from just the nature of
  • 00:17:20
    the people making it and kind of the way
  • 00:17:21
    the game reads and all that a toxic
  • 00:17:24
    positivity Vibe yeah yeah I think it's
  • 00:17:28
    it's one of the damning red flags for a
  • 00:17:31
    lot of games is if they hear like if
  • 00:17:34
    Gamers hear that criticism and critiques
  • 00:17:37
    are not being
  • 00:17:38
    entertained that should cause major
  • 00:17:41
    concern because that's not a
  • 00:17:43
    collaborative environment collaboration
  • 00:17:44
    is like working with somebody who like
  • 00:17:47
    brings the best out of you because
  • 00:17:49
    they're pushing and prodding and pulling
  • 00:17:51
    and pushing like they're helping you see
  • 00:17:53
    things you don't see by being tough and
  • 00:17:56
    being like ah I don't like that I think
  • 00:17:58
    I'd like this instead apparently Concord
  • 00:18:00
    is just like a drum circle where
  • 00:18:03
    everybody's sitting around patting each
  • 00:18:04
    other on the back and it's just a circle
  • 00:18:07
    jerk of positivity and it it's just
  • 00:18:10
    shocker it didn't result in a good game
  • 00:18:12
    it came out with a game that you can
  • 00:18:15
    tell there was no critical feedback
  • 00:18:17
    involved in you weren't allowed to say
  • 00:18:20
    anything apparently internally about
  • 00:18:22
    this game about how like something's
  • 00:18:24
    wrong with it character designs are not
  • 00:18:27
    right um and so on and so forth they
  • 00:18:30
    really truly believe this is Herman Hol
  • 00:18:31
    baby
  • 00:18:34
    apparently okay I didn't know I didn't
  • 00:18:37
    know that um I will say Herman Hol I
  • 00:18:40
    know there are some people that think
  • 00:18:42
    he's like a potential savior of
  • 00:18:44
    PlayStation but Herman host has been
  • 00:18:46
    there through all of this live service
  • 00:18:48
    BS he's been there through the the green
  • 00:18:52
    lighting of of the PlayStation's like
  • 00:18:54
    live service Ambitions through
  • 00:18:56
    greenlighting the the Last of Us online
  • 00:18:59
    project of course Concord the exclusive
  • 00:19:03
    marketing deals for Suicide Squad like
  • 00:19:06
    he's been involved in all that and then
  • 00:19:08
    his Alma mat the this team over at
  • 00:19:11
    Guerilla he of course is rooting pretty
  • 00:19:14
    hard for the big multiplayer game
  • 00:19:16
    they're working on they're working on a
  • 00:19:17
    huge Horizon themed and uh branded
  • 00:19:21
    basically Monster Hunter game with the
  • 00:19:23
    graphics of fortnite and that's like his
  • 00:19:27
    baby too so I don't think Herman Holst
  • 00:19:30
    is like this great savior of of
  • 00:19:32
    PlayStation either I think he's just the
  • 00:19:34
    last one standing and I would just say
  • 00:19:36
    like at some
  • 00:19:38
    point if you are uh like every time you
  • 00:19:42
    hop on a ship and the ship sinks and
  • 00:19:45
    then you just hop on another ship and
  • 00:19:47
    then that one sinks at some point you
  • 00:19:49
    should wonder if you're doing something
  • 00:19:50
    to cause the ships to sink and for
  • 00:19:53
    Herman I understand that he's a very
  • 00:19:55
    capable guy he comes from gorilla which
  • 00:19:57
    popped off found a lot of
  • 00:19:59
    success but I I don't think he has the
  • 00:20:02
    vision or I I don't think at the very
  • 00:20:04
    least he understands what makes a
  • 00:20:06
    successful major product for for Sony
  • 00:20:10
    and PlayStation and I think that that's
  • 00:20:12
    pretty clearly evidenced in the projects
  • 00:20:15
    that he's green lit and all this should
  • 00:20:16
    make you all the more concerned about
  • 00:20:19
    like the gorilla project and about fair
  • 00:20:22
    games and all the other stuff that
  • 00:20:24
    they're working on because if this was
  • 00:20:27
    their the level of quality quity in
  • 00:20:29
    their decision Mak with Concord like
  • 00:20:31
    there is no way that their quality of
  • 00:20:34
    decision- making and green lighting was
  • 00:20:36
    better with other Studios randomly you
  • 00:20:39
    know it's in this case there's a lot of
  • 00:20:42
    smoke and I think that indicates there's
  • 00:20:44
    a fire and he internally was was himself
  • 00:20:46
    a massive champion of the game so it's
  • 00:20:50
    not that so the reason I'm telling you
  • 00:20:51
    all of this it's some interesting
  • 00:20:52
    information of course but it's that I
  • 00:20:54
    had said when people like Concord lost
  • 00:20:57
    $200 million now people were pulling
  • 00:20:58
    that money out because that's basically
  • 00:21:00
    how much like some of the first party
  • 00:21:02
    games like go sushima The Last of Us
  • 00:21:04
    Part Two Etc kind of cost in that frame
  • 00:21:07
    and I was like there's no way that it
  • 00:21:08
    costs that much I I was saying like it
  • 00:21:10
    cost nine figures probably like low
  • 00:21:12
    hundred million but there's no way it
  • 00:21:14
    cost $200 million no it cost 400 million
  • 00:21:19
    so and I am totally solid on this Source
  • 00:21:22
    by the way so that's why I'm willing to
  • 00:21:24
    share it with you because again I don't
  • 00:21:25
    I'm not really a journalist so yeah the
  • 00:21:27
    big things to take away $400 million
  • 00:21:29
    loss the game was in horrible shape as
  • 00:21:32
    of 18 months before release not even
  • 00:21:35
    monetization no onboarding most content
  • 00:21:38
    not even there the game was in such bad
  • 00:21:40
    shape at that point that they spent the
  • 00:21:42
    budget of it again in Urgent Outsourcing
  • 00:21:45
    to get the game finished from all these
  • 00:21:48
    different angles over an 18-month
  • 00:21:50
    period internally the game was
  • 00:21:52
    considered part of the future of
  • 00:21:54
    PlayStation with heavy cross media
  • 00:21:56
    references and uh system of toxic
  • 00:21:59
    positivity surrounding it that that
  • 00:22:01
    didn't allow anyone to meaningfully
  • 00:22:03
    change the course of the game because if
  • 00:22:06
    you're if the people at the top truly
  • 00:22:09
    believe in something you're you know
  • 00:22:11
    you're not going to be able to do much
  • 00:22:13
    about that I don't think From The
  • 00:22:14
    Trenches and I think it's to be clear
  • 00:22:17
    like there is a problem with this in the
  • 00:22:19
    industry there's a lot of Studios that
  • 00:22:21
    operate like this but I I also want to
  • 00:22:23
    let you know that there are Studios that
  • 00:22:25
    do
  • 00:22:27
    encourage constructive feedback and even
  • 00:22:29
    look for it and pursue it I mean in
  • 00:22:32
    multiple ways some places will like do
  • 00:22:35
    Early Access stuff like balers Gate 3 to
  • 00:22:39
    get player feedback relatively early on
  • 00:22:41
    so that they can make changes for the
  • 00:22:43
    final game other Studios might you know
  • 00:22:46
    do like uh demos or betas and open betas
  • 00:22:50
    and stuff very early on and
  • 00:22:52
    so like the point is this is not
  • 00:22:55
    something that there's not a solution to
  • 00:22:57
    you know PlayStation could have
  • 00:22:59
    solicited this type of feedback and and
  • 00:23:01
    fixed the game or seen the problems but
  • 00:23:05
    they didn't want to they had their mind
  • 00:23:07
    made up that this was going to be a huge
  • 00:23:10
    success and they were not willing to
  • 00:23:12
    entertain any other possibility or
  • 00:23:15
    consideration to the point where it
  • 00:23:17
    sounds like if you were in PlayStation
  • 00:23:20
    and you said are we sure this is a good
  • 00:23:22
    idea are we sure this is a $400 million
  • 00:23:25
    quality game you'd get curb stomped
  • 00:23:28
    because verman the boss loves it and if
  • 00:23:30
    you don't like it then you're just a
  • 00:23:32
    Negative Nancy you know that that's not
  • 00:23:34
    a skeptical Outlook that's not a
  • 00:23:35
    rationed reasoned Outlook uh towards
  • 00:23:38
    business that is a business that is
  • 00:23:41
    overly confident and thinks that they
  • 00:23:44
    can do whatever they want without any
  • 00:23:47
    consequence and I think Concord
  • 00:23:49
    demonstrates that pretty clearly so I
  • 00:23:51
    thought people would be interested in
  • 00:23:52
    that and uh just wanted to throw that
  • 00:23:54
    out there that yeah they re Star Wars
  • 00:23:55
    really apparently or I'm sorry Star Wars
  • 00:23:57
    Sony really saw that as a Star Wars like
  • 00:23:59
    project for them like the potential to
  • 00:24:02
    and now it makes sense not only why they
  • 00:24:05
    spent so much money on it but why they
  • 00:24:06
    bought the team so there are people
  • 00:24:09
    there and to me it's unclear who exactly
  • 00:24:11
    the people are I know some of the names
  • 00:24:13
    I don't want to get too deep into that
  • 00:24:15
    because a lot of the things I learned
  • 00:24:16
    were off the Record but obviously this
  • 00:24:17
    is on background um and it's like yeah
  • 00:24:22
    now it makes a little more sense you
  • 00:24:23
    spent and by the way the $400 million
  • 00:24:25
    not included in how much it cost to buy
  • 00:24:26
    the team
  • 00:24:28
    well to be
  • 00:24:29
    clear I I would assume the $200 million
  • 00:24:34
    initial
  • 00:24:35
    cost was basically built into the price
  • 00:24:38
    of the studio so if they had spent $200
  • 00:24:40
    million developing this game that meant
  • 00:24:43
    this team was like worth the the price
  • 00:24:46
    of the team plus the $200 million
  • 00:24:49
    product that they had developed over the
  • 00:24:52
    course of the last however many years
  • 00:24:53
    while they were developing it so I would
  • 00:24:56
    assume it's included roughly maybe they
  • 00:24:58
    got a discount on it if the whatever
  • 00:25:00
    monsters team wanted to to just get rid
  • 00:25:02
    of it and they didn't want to see the
  • 00:25:04
    game through but I mean there is no way
  • 00:25:07
    to twist it other than this is a
  • 00:25:09
    cataclysmic failure
  • 00:25:12
    and
  • 00:25:14
    it the these types of issues are
  • 00:25:17
    indicative of a a toxic mindset on the
  • 00:25:22
    part of the executives making these
  • 00:25:24
    decisions and I don't think it magically
  • 00:25:27
    changes is just because Jim Ryan left
  • 00:25:30
    Herman
  • 00:25:31
    H is also apparently according to Colin
  • 00:25:35
    Source a champion of this game and if he
  • 00:25:38
    thought this was going to be like the
  • 00:25:40
    future of PlayStation a Star Wars level
  • 00:25:45
    success how
  • 00:25:47
    delusional must he be because everybody
  • 00:25:52
    that saw Concord knew from the moment
  • 00:25:54
    they glanced at it this is going to flop
  • 00:25:58
    anybody with two brain cells to rub
  • 00:26:00
    together knew that so how insulated and
  • 00:26:05
    how much in a bubble are the the people
  • 00:26:07
    making these decisions at PlayStation it
  • 00:26:09
    really worries me for the next few years
  • 00:26:12
    of PlayStation cuz they've made
  • 00:26:13
    consistently horrible decisions and a
  • 00:26:16
    lot of these decisions were made 2 three
  • 00:26:18
    years ago and we're going to see a lot
  • 00:26:19
    more of those decisions come up over the
  • 00:26:22
    next couple years as they kind of flush
  • 00:26:25
    their way through the pipes and through
  • 00:26:26
    the system
  • 00:26:28
    and I think it's going to get worse
  • 00:26:30
    before it gets better frankly so I don't
  • 00:26:33
    think this will be the last absolute
  • 00:26:36
    crap show for PlayStation and I have a
  • 00:26:40
    feeling that the next crap shoot show
  • 00:26:43
    shoot whatever uh is coming sooner than
  • 00:26:47
    people
  • 00:26:48
    may expect but for more on that I'll
  • 00:26:52
    have to do another video or talk about
  • 00:26:54
    it on stream when I get back thanks for
  • 00:26:56
    watching I love you all desperate L
  • 00:26:58
    thanks for making my dreams a reality
  • 00:27:01
    and I'll see you in the next one I'm
  • 00:27:03
    going to head back home tomorrow morning
  • 00:27:05
    and I cannot wait to see you again and
  • 00:27:07
    stream and do stuff like that so much
  • 00:27:09
    love I'll see you soon hugs and kisses
  • 00:27:15
    bye-bye he took my
  • 00:27:17
    [Music]
  • 00:27:25
    thing 16 times the detail oh
  • 00:27:31
    [Music]
Tags
  • Concord
  • Sony
  • PlayStation
  • Game Development
  • Colin Moriarty
  • Failure
  • Financial Loss
  • Mismanagement
  • Live Service Game
  • Hermen Hulst