7 Things That Survived Concord

Ah, Treaty. The latest evidence of the state of the increasingly corporatized gaming industry. Life was short. Shorter than the lifespan of your average housefly. And a lot of other things, really, so here are a few that survived Sony’s failed AAA shooter.

7. The average housefly

Everyone under the sun has had a housefly on their head, sometimes for days. And those days can often be up to 30, which is twice as long as Treaty‘s short-lived existence.

6. Liz Truss as Prime Minister

Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister lasted a good deal longer than Sony’s sad gunman. She resigned on the fiftieth day of her term, making her service to the Crown four times longer than Treaty‘s time on the market. The only thing similar between the two is how much money each costs their respective backers.

5. National Anthem

Just as Sony probably believed that Treaty would be the next big breakthrough, just like Bioware and EA when they developed and launched it National AnthemThe 2019 multiplayer action RPG was criticized upon launch, and despite Bioware’s attempts to reshape the game during its short lifespan, all development ceased in early 2021. That would give the title roughly two full years of uptime, or 50 times more than Treaty (it’s still online, but no longer developed).

4. Lawbreakers

Another title that tried and failed to serve an already oversaturated market. Lawbreakers was launched in 2017 and received pretty good reviews. However, despite its appeal to critics and players, the game sold poorly, eventually leading to its untimely death and closure in 2018. However, the title went far beyond what Concord managed to achieve and should have served as an example to developers to prevent the same thing from happening again.

3. A cellar spider

These small, angular, multi-legged creatures can live up to two years under ideal conditions, making their lifespan exponentially longer than that of TreatyUnlike Sony’s failed title, cellar spiders are very useful and will catch all sorts of critters that make their way into your home.

Well, I think so Treaty has its uses too. For example, it’s a great source of memes and can serve as a big red flag to the industry about what not to do when making a game.

2. The fruit in my fridge

A large piece of fruit can be stored for up to three weeks at a low temperature in the refrigerator, which is about a week longer than Treaty stayed on the shelves. I would even bet that there are probably a few fruits and vegetables that can stay on the shelves longer than Treaty did, which puts the huge blunder into perspective.

1. Every title it tried to compete with

Treaty‘s primary target was the hero shooter genre, which is currently dominated by Overwatch2 And Teamfort 2. Both games are alive and kicking, while Treaty Rotting in a shallow grave behind Sony Interactive’s headquarters, the latter even having more players despite its decade and a half existence. Imagine: TF2 has been running for 17 years while Treaty pulled a measly 14 to dawnValve’s hero shooter was also a paid title at launch, but even then it attracted tens of thousands of players.

So why did Treaty failing and losing to titles old enough to go to school? It had nothing new. Both of its main competitors, which are likely to be around for years to come, brought new things to the table when they launched. Even Overwatch2 is struggling these days because it has failed to innovate from its predecessor and has failed to deliver on its promises. When you take all that into account, it becomes crystal clear that Treaty never had a chance.