‘Don’t Be a Dick’ About Concord Coming to TV
If you’ve never heard of Concord, don’t worry, you can’t even play it anymore. The expensive PlayStation game pulled from shelves only two weeks after its August 23 launch. The Substance has been in theaters longer than Concord was online. But the infamous game is getting a small extension of life in the form of an episode in the new video game anthology series Secret Level, set to premiere December 10 on Prime Video.
New York Comic Con warmly received new glimpses of Secret Level on October 19, which previewed original animated shorts based on games like Pac-Man, Armored Core, Sifu, and Unreal Tournament, and tabletop games like Warhammer 40,000 and Dungeons & Dragons. Voice actors include Keanu Reeves, Kevin Hart, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Gabriel Luna. During a Q&A at the end of the panel with Secret Level’s creator Tim Miller (also director of Deadpool and Terminator: Dark Fate) and executive producer/supervising director Dave Wilson – both of Blur Studios – an audience member asked Miller and Wilson why the show is still set to have an episode around Concord.
“Don’t be a dick,” Miller joked at first.
“We start these things three years ago, so you have no idea – games could push that were supposed to come out or get shelved,” he responded. “There’s an inherent risk involved in all of this creative enterprise.”
Concord, a multiplayer sci-fi shooter developed by Firewalk Studios and published by Sony, was intended to become a major IP for the PlayStation brand. Its rumored production budget was an eye-watering $400 million, although some gaming journalists dispute the figure. After receiving mixed reviews from critics and bombing hard in commercial sales – the game reportedly sold only 25,000 units across Steam and PlayStation Store – Sony announced its abrupt closure on September 3, just two weeks after its release.
Look, Miller relates to the developers of Concord. “I feel bad for them, because anybody that creates stuff, you put things out there and you hope that people like it. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t.” In a hushed tone, he name-dropped his divisive Terminator sequel Terminator: Dark Fate.
“I can’t see any reason why it shouldn’t be part of the show,” he answered the question. “I certainly hope the game can get another at-bat. I’m not even going to speak to why it didn’t work, or whether that was right or wrong. I just know the people involved wanted to make a good game and they did the best they possibly could.”
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