Sony’s highly anticipated hero shooter, Concord from FireWalk Studios, was supposed to disrupt the team-based FPS genre. Instead, it appeared and vanished in an instant—so quickly that the developers were left issuing refunds and taking down servers mere weeks after its release. You probably blinked and missed it altogether. But the actual takeaway isn’t that Concord failed so much as why it failed, and what that reveals about how essential character design has become for modern hero shooters.
Let’s begin with the most obvious thing: the hero shooter genre is chock-full. Overwatch 2, Valorant, Marvel Rivals, Star Wars: Hunters—they all compete for eyeballs in the same arena. So when Concord debuted to Sony’s entire weight behind it and a big budget, everyone expected big things. Even with that much support, however, the game tanked big time. Why? Because despite everything, it didn’t have the one thing that makes players stick with a genre as crowded as this: memorable, engaging characters.
As writer Blake at Letters from the Arcade noted, the failure of Concord wasn’t the result of internet “hate” or bad luck—it was a lack of creative design. In games such as Call of Duty or FIFA, generic avatars are acceptable because the gameplay is the focus. But in fighting games and hero shooters, the characters are the game. They set the game’s identity, enable fan art and cosplay, and sell the fantasy players desire to live.
Concord’s cast, unfortunately, fell short on all fronts. Consider Emari, the “big body” tank character. Instead of commanding respect, she appeared cumbersome and lackluster. Her armor seemed to be an unsuccessful prototype for a bomb suit, and the strange flag on her attire was for nothing. Nothing about her appearance gave off the impression of power, clarity of role, or personality. Put that up against Overwatch’s Reinhardt or Street Fighter’s Zangief—characters whose shapes, color palette, and vigor immediately tell us who they are without having to say a word.
Then there’s It-Z, the alleged trickster of the team. Her appearance—crop top, torn denim shorts, and red leather belt—was something thrown together in a character creator instead of a professionally designed hero. No indication of her abilities, history, or even the tone of the game. In a series where distinctive visuals are paramount, she hardly registered.
Even the main character, Teo, failed as a “default” hero. Meant to be the everyman, Concord’s Ryu equivalent, he merely appeared as “generic soldier dude” with the stereotypical gun-and-grenade combo. No special move, no unique animations, no defining characteristics. Contrast this with Ryu’s celebrated stance or Terry Bogard’s showy flair—both rudimentary but immediately iconic.
What’s more irritating is that Concord actually had a solid visual idea—retro sci-fi. But rather than run with that idea, the art style wandered. The outcome? Characters that appeared gangly, plastic, and personality-less. If the developers had gone all in on the campy, B-movie feel with bright colors and exaggerated details, Concord could have carved out its own niche. Instead, it sat squarely between forgettable and perplexed.
The larger lesson here is crystal clear: in hero shooters, character design isn’t secondary—it’s the soul of the experience. It drives player attachment, community buzz, and long-term success. Concord’s collapse proves that even with solid gameplay and major studio support, bland or incoherent design will sink you.
For creators looking to join the hero shooter arena in 2025 and beyond, Concord is essential reading. Visual simplicity, solid silhouettes, and personality come through aren’t mere matters of visual design—they’re what transform a game from being another release into a cultural phenomenon. A handful of confident design choices can serve to differentiate between an unremarkable failure and the next Overwatch.