The Concordverse - Highguard, Marathon, Horizon Hunter's Gathering and other Flopbusters - How Many Times Do We Have To Teach You This Lesson, Old Man?

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All Marathon 2026 has done for me is get me interested in the original trilogy. Does anyone here know if the free steam ports by Aleph One are any good?
I never played the Mac originals but the ports seem to work pretty solidly. I mean, they are free, and they won't damage your computer, what have you got to lose, really?
 
If Steel Hunters took the easy way out, Mecha Break is going full on humiliation ritual. One of the creative developers mentioned something around the lines of "we're going to stick to our creative vision" when addressing MB's balancing issue, that has persisted in multiple seasons, on a game that has only 1k players, and backtracked around the 3rd Season.
Heh, if you know anything about Mecha Break's developer, then things have been very bad for them. Their gacha game, Snowbreak has its fair share of controversies.
Basically, Snowbreak was once of those dozens of gacha games that was struggling. It had an identity as a post apocalyptic shooter with girls... which is pretty generic. So they started upping the waifu factor by releasing lewd characters, and it worked! Except well, they decided that wasn't enough. They started removing male NPCs entirely, genderbending some supporting characters, and went full pandering to self inserts. But of course this turned off VAs who didn't want to do such lewd content. Both English and Chinese VAs had to be replaced at some point. Still, this made them a lot of money, so they were fine for a while. Even if the start of the game didn't vibe with the rest and wasn't rewritten.
China eventually took notice of some costumes and had them censored. This pissed off the community, and the devs tried to placate them with in-game currency. Didn't fully work
Then when hiring cosplayers to promote the game, the Chinese community found she had some "feminist" comments in her history, and demanded the devs fire her. They did, and didn't hire any more cosplayers for promotion.
During this one event, this one character named Yao acted "OOC", and distant from the self insert. She also got insulted by an NPC who had one stepped on a male soldier.
Boom, many in Chinese said this was feminism again, and the writers had to apologize, fire the people responsible, and rewrite the story.
Right now they're undergoing Indefinite Maintenance because of a partnership with China Post to release character-themed stamps. China Post is a state-owned enterprise, and the people who hate this game argued the game’s 18+ adult content was unsuitable for association with a state-owned entity.
 
I've gone through the thread so far. List of Potential Concords given to be researched and considered:
  • Battleborn
  • Lawbreakers - the shenanigans of Cliffy B seem promising.
  • Brink
  • ME: Andromeda - Primarily Single Player game so I'm not sure it counts.
  • Agents of Mayhem
  • Saint's Row Reboot - will make the list, but only if there's not better options.
  • Steel Hunters
  • Evolve
  • Back 4 Blood
  • Radical Heights - Shut Down 34 Days After Release, maybe a joint mention with Lawbreakers.
  • Redfall
  • Titanfall 1
  • Payday (Presumably Payday 3? @Lasagna4Dead you need to provide more info on which titles you mean)
  • Fallout (Presumably Fallout 76 - Another Strong Contender)
  • Mindseye
List of Potential Concords pre-disqualified due to personal knowledge/:
  • TLOU2: Financially Successful and completely Single-player.
  • SWTOR: Clawed back to financial success and still ongoing.
For those curious about our current concord contender, Marathon: Things do not bode well.

With a couple of days on the calendar, we can start to understand what the ebb and flow of marathon's playercount will look like on a standard day; unsurprisingly, it's an echo of Destiny 2's cycle. In UTC Times, both games have a spike at around 2-5am, and another at around 8-11pm. If it continues following Destiny's pattern, it's likely that the peak of the week going forward will be the 8-11pm UTC this sunday night.
1772957053391.png 1772957075919.png
The problem is that so far, the signs bode very poorly. Marathon's playercount has been drifting down day by day, despite the fact that the general weekly cycle of all games has them trending up over the weekend. Compare with the most direct competitor release-date-wise, Slay the Spire 2:
1772957122670.png
This means that while Marathon's numbers look steady, it's actually losing far more players than it seems, they're just being masked by the weekend influx to look slightly bad rather than catastrophic. If I'm reading right, tonight in UTC time is basically the game's last chance to beat it's launch day peak of 88k; after that this game's about to drop like a stone as the weekend reaches it's own end.

TL:DR, Marathon's playercount is about to drop like a turd and it's still getting mogged by an early-access indie roguelike.
 
  • Evolve
  • Back 4 Blood
  • Titanfall 1
  • Payday (Presumably Payday 3?
I think calling anything that had a middling release a concord-like kinda dilutes the term. I feel like you need something that was inherently unappealing that ended up having little to no real fans regardless of its actual quality, as Concord was actually pretty competent, very fucking ugly and generic, but competent. A quick shutdown is a plus, too. Some of these games just had incompetent launches or ended up being painfully mediocre. Not really failing because of having incredibly revolting or bad artstyles combined with the middling gameplay
Battleborn and Lawbreakers for me kinda count and I'd agree on them being proto concord likes. Brink too but it was even more proto and more attached to TF2's thunder than modern hero shooters (although, iirc its P2P so still playable)
Titanfall 1 was successful enough to get a sequel. No qualms on Redfall being mentioned, it even killed the studio that made it and made some Xbox retard apologize same with Steel Hunters since that shit didn't even leave beta, although its glaring issue was a complete and utter lack of advertising more than shitty reception. I think Payday 3 was more of a failure due to how shit it was and still is at release mechanics wise, same with Fallout 76, Evolve and B4B I had initial qualms but they kinda do count. They just had the mercy of not being immediately shut down
 
List of Potential Concords given to be researched and considered:
  • Battleborn
  • Lawbreakers - the shenanigans of Cliffy B seem promising.
  • Brink
  • ME: Andromeda - Primarily Single Player game so I'm not sure it counts.
  • Agents of Mayhem
  • Saint's Row Reboot - will make the list, but only if there's not better options.
  • Steel Hunters
  • Evolve
  • Back 4 Blood
  • Radical Heights - Shut Down 34 Days After Release, maybe a joint mention with Lawbreakers.
  • Redfall
  • Titanfall 1
  • Payday (Presumably Payday 3? @Lasagna4Dead you need to provide more info on which titles you mean)
  • Fallout (Presumably Fallout 76 - Another Strong Contender)
  • Mindseye
I feel like a lot of these don't qualify. At least to my mind, much like the defining feature of a lolcow is their inability to stop oversharing, the defining feature of a cordlike is that it's always something nobody asked for, at least nobody in the gaming community, and that goes on to be proven by the phenomenon of nobody outside the industry giving a shit.

Conversely, I was around for the announcement of Titanfall and people were fucking hyped for it; it had a consistently active playerbase for at least a couple years; and to this day there are still fans who are annoyed that the devs abandoned the franchise in favor of the multiplayer online battle royale arena extraction hero looter shooter genre in the form of Apex. It was a good game that ran its course. Similarly, while Back 4 Blood was a flop for reasons I'm not qualified to speak on, it was if nothing else something that people had at one point been asking for -- a new L4D. If Valve released Half-Life 3 and it was GaaS horseshit, we still wouldn't call it a cordlike because it's not an inherently bad idea nobody cares about, it's a highly anticipated good idea done poorly to widespread disappointment. For that reason I'd go so far as to say probably most of the entries from larger franchises don't really qualify, but that's just my worthless opinion.

I think a lot of people are eager to contribute their pet thing, but the thread and concept benefit from having tight criteria or else it will just balloon to include everything that has ever been a widespread disappointment. There's a world of difference between devs fucking up promising IPs with a proven audience versus going all-in on a bad idea nobody's interested in.
 
Battleborn would be an interesting entry as a good chunk of its poor performance was lingering resentment from Gearbox fucking up Aliens: Colonial Marines and not just the studio overestimating the final product. Randy putting Battleborn's release around the same time Overwatch was doing a free beta, and astroturfing a R34 subreddit he allegedly created certainly count though.
 
I think calling anything that had a middling release a concord-like kinda dilutes the term. I feel like you need something that was inherently unappealing that ended up having little to no real fans regardless of its actual quality, as Concord was actually pretty competent, very fucking ugly and generic, but competent. A quick shutdown is a plus, too. Some of these games just had incompetent launches or ended up being painfully mediocre. Not really failing because of having incredibly revolting or bad artstyles combined with the middling gameplay
Battleborn and Lawbreakers for me kinda count and I'd agree on them being proto concord likes. Brink too but it was even more proto and more attached to TF2's thunder than modern hero shooters (although, iirc its P2P so still playable)
Titanfall 1 was successful enough to get a sequel. No qualms on Redfall being mentioned, it even killed the studio that made it and made some Xbox retard apologize same with Steel Hunters since that shit didn't even leave beta, although its glaring issue was a complete and utter lack of advertising more than shitty reception. I think Payday 3 was more of a failure due to how shit it was and still is at release mechanics wise, same with Fallout 76, Evolve and B4B I had initial qualms but they kinda do count. They just had the mercy of not being immediately shut down
I agree with you, and I think there's a least a few suggestions here that only make the longlist because we judge them as failures looking back, rather than them actually failing at the time. My gut feeling is that this whole list probably has like 3-5 true contenders, tops.
 
You know digging deep that there must be something from the 90s during the initial online boom that could be an interesting tale, a proto proto Concord. Granted even then a lot of the other issues around these games flat out weren't a thing. Back during the MMO boom for instance you just had games that were too expensive or lacked funding like Kingdom Under Fire 2 or that one Curt Schilling game. Those days seem kind of quaint as its easier to understand games failing because they didn't work, were too expensive to maintain or they didn't have the funding.

Here's Cliff Bleszinski talking about how he thinks the age of consent should be 14, and how 12 year olds "know what they're doing".
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I remember it was either a Gears of War or Gears of War 2 behind the scenes doc and they specifically showed off him and his quite very younger girlfriend (keep in mind he wasnt really that old, but they drew attention to the age gap). Kind of Sus CliffyB. Kinda sus
 
I agree that the title of "Concord-like" should not be given lightly. The game can't just be bad, the criteria should be way more strict that than that.

I believe any Concord-like needs to fulfill at least these conditions:
  • live service - when it dies it can no longer be played
  • ridiculous budget - OG Concord devoured $50-$400 million USD depending on who you listen to
  • failed to find an audience - OG Concord had 697 players at its' peak (source)
  • quick shutdown - OG Concord lasted two weeks
I don't really see any point of putting Back 4 Blood on the list for example. Not only it is still up 5 years later but it's also currently doing better than Highguard (source).
 
I agree that the title of "Concord-like" should not be given lightly. The game can't just be bad, the criteria should be way more strict that than that.

I believe any Concord-like needs to fulfill at least these conditions:
  • live service - when it dies it can no longer be played
  • ridiculous budget - OG Concord devoured $50-$400 million USD depending on who you listen to
  • failed to find an audience - OG Concord had 697 players at its' peak (source)
  • quick shutdown - OG Concord lasted two weeks
I don't really see any point of putting Back 4 Blood on the list for example. Not only it is still up 5 years later but it's also currently doing better than Highguard (source).
The list I made in the OP is largely similar in reasoning, though deliberately a bit vaguer on the details (e.g. I just say that the game receives a lot of resources rather than a ridiculous budget specifically, and I generalise it's a quickly obvious flop rather than specifically a quick shutdown)

The only case where they're not similar is that I added one condition specifically that the reason for the flop is them not reading the room on what the audience actually wants. And even that's a pretty close tie to failing to find an audience.

If you asked me to give any of the games discussed in this thread the label of Concord that doesn't generally get a specific number, it'd be Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League, and even that only got an honourable mention.
 
You know digging deep that there must be something from the 90s during the initial online boom that could be an interesting tale, a proto proto Concord. Granted even then a lot of the other issues around these games flat out weren't a thing. Back during the MMO boom for instance you just had games that were too expensive or lacked funding like Kingdom Under Fire 2 or that one Curt Schilling game. Those days seem kind of quaint as its easier to understand games failing because they didn't work, were too expensive to maintain or they didn't have the funding.
Daikatana would kinda fit the bill.
 
I agree that the title of "Concord-like" should not be given lightly. The game can't just be bad, the criteria should be way more strict that than that.

I believe any Concord-like needs to fulfill at least these conditions:
  • live service - when it dies it can no longer be played
  • ridiculous budget - OG Concord devoured $50-$400 million USD depending on who you listen to
  • failed to find an audience - OG Concord had 697 players at its' peak (source)
  • quick shutdown - OG Concord lasted two weeks
I don't really see any point of putting Back 4 Blood on the list for example. Not only it is still up 5 years later but it's also currently doing better than Highguard (source).
“Quick shutdown” isn’t always a feature of a Concordlike. Some of these flops like Evolve and Battleborn had their servers online for years after the initial release before the devs quietly pulled the plug.
 
  • Fallout (Presumably Fallout 76 - Another Strong Contender)
A few people have commented on some of these but I will throw in my two cents on part of this list, unfortunately despite everything that happened at launch, and for like a year after launch, Fallout 76 has bounced back similarly to SWTOR and sadly has a healthy player base. Starfield would almost qualify as a candidate given its reception and the fact that its 24 hour peak on steamdb aren't even a fifth of Fallout 76's but it was still sadly a financial success.
 
Sold well enough to get a sequel so doesn't count.
Had an active player base for a while. Still sees some play today.
Had an active player base for a few months. It was just badly balanced. It's more like Dead by daylight than concord.
Fallout (Presumably Fallout 76 - Another Strong Contender)
Didn't fail. Just had a.. normal Bethesda launch.
Payday (Presumably Payday 3? @Lasagna4Dead you need to provide more info on which titles you mean)
Isn't a concord like game supposed to be a new IP that's woke as shit and utterly flops? Or it's an inactive IP they bring back and wokeify. The core elements of a Concord title is it's a game made for no one, with very left wingideology slopped all over it. Something like Pay day doesn't fit because it's a successful series. Marathon only fits because it's a new studio skinwalking as an old studio using an ancient name. So it's effectively a full reboot and new game.

 
I've gone through the thread so far. List of Potential Concords given to be researched and considered:
I think Concord stands out so much because it's such a perfect storm like I posted about yesterday, so it takes a certain caliber of disaster to stand up to it. The whole reason this thread works is because it's shockingly unprecedented that we have so many enormous disasters that are all similar, and all imploding in such similar ways. All the stars aligned just right for so many of these to happen, and they happened when the DEI money was flowing like water, and countless obnoxious retards climbed the ranks in the industry, despite caring nothing about games at all.

Nevertheless, that's a fun list of trainwrecks, so here's what I have on them:

Battleborn's discs had a middle finger on them.
1772983499597.png
If you install it and launch the game, it'll softlock you at a "Thank you for playing" message after the title screen. If you disconnect your internet and try to play from the disc only, it'll just insist you update. The middle finger was prophetic.

Brink wasn't even a bad game. It had sloppy art direction and ugly characters, but the formula itself was alright. Nice music, too. It's also still playable, despite releasing 15 years ago. They also listed it for free, and you can still claim it today. Of course, its community died quickly, but you can play with bots. https://store.steampowered.com/app/22350/BRINK/

Lawbreakers - the shenanigans of Cliffy B seem promising.
I never played it, though I know Lawbreakers had a physical copy sold by Limited Run. The irony is delightful, considering Limited Run's entire declared reason for existence is to help preserve games by offering hard copies. Lawbreakers is tied to a now-defunct server, so even hard copies can't be played. Oops!

Here's that picture of a ton of copies showing up at a Goodwill shortly after launch:

Mass Effect Andromeda on sale.jpg

Saint's Row Reboot - will make the list, but only if there's not better options.
I posted a lot in that game's thread here when it launched. It's a perfect example of get woke go broke. The unabashed hubris in its marketing juxtaposed with it directly causing Volition to close certainly makes it a precursor to Concord, but it's a smaller name, and it is still available and playable. Not that you'd want to play it.

This is probably the closest one to Concord on the list, what with it being a flop right out of the gate that killed an established studio and was pushed as the Next Big Thing. I didn't even hear much about it. Just as well, Arcane was circling the drain anyway.

Payday (Presumably Payday 3?
The Payday games are their own clusterfuck of problems. The developers and the playerbase hate each other. Their publisher's CEO was literally a convicted felon himself. Payday 2 seemed to be a giant stroke of luck with how that game turned out decently well, despite having a million DLCs and a sordid history with lootboxes and stupid updates. Also, partnering with Ethan & Hila Klein, the infamous lolcows from h3h3productions. Someone could write a thread with an OP just as long as this thread's about the many many problems of the Payday series alone. But Payday 3 itself isn't all that interesting, it's just a plain ol' bad game. Starbreeze Studios were already notorious before Payday 3 launched, so if you bought it and wound up disappointed, that's on you.
 
  • Battleborn
  • Lawbreakers - the shenanigans of Cliffy B seem promising.
  • Brink
  • ME: Andromeda - Primarily Single Player game so I'm not sure it counts.
  • Agents of Mayhem
  • Saint's Row Reboot - will make the list, but only if there's not better options.
  • Steel Hunters
  • Evolve
  • Back 4 Blood
  • Radical Heights - Shut Down 34 Days After Release, maybe a joint mention with Lawbreakers.
  • Redfall
  • Titanfall 1
  • Payday (Presumably Payday 3? @Lasagna4Dead you need to provide more info on which titles you mean)
  • Fallout (Presumably Fallout 76 - Another Strong Contender)
  • Mindseye
This is just turning into a thread about "games I don't like". Stick to live service games that died shortly after, what the hell is Andromeda or Fallout 76(which is still sadly around) doing here? What about Muttseye? Titanfall 1 can also still be played, I am pretty sure(even tho it is pretty dead and filled with hackers from what I heard).
 
This is just turning into a thread about "games I don't like". Stick to live service games that died shortly after, what the hell is Andromeda or Fallout 76(which is still sadly around) doing here? What about Muttseye? Titanfall 1 can also still be played, I am pretty sure(even tho it is pretty dead and filled with hackers from what I heard).
I am going to drop nearly all of these as a rule. This is just every suggestion people have given for things that should be here.

I think what becomes clear from this is that everyone agrees more or less what the core concords are, but when you go looking back some people think a concord is “any game I don’t like”.
 
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