Concord Dev Lashes Out at Critics, Calling Them 'Talentless Freaks'"
Don't you miss the days of developers who had passion for bringing great pieces of work to the masses and enriching the industry? Welp... Those days are long gone, and in it's place we have an alphabet army of lunatics attacking the very gamers they need to support their careers.
It's a bold strategy, and one that doesn't look too promising to last long term....
In the world of gaming, where every single title is supposed to matter, Firewalk Studios' latest catastrophe, Concord, was meant to shine. However, the hero shooter's been received with less enthusiasm than the dev team had anticipated... and the reactions from one of its own developers only proves how out of touch they really were.
Christine Rose Schermerhorn, portraying Emari, and Derek Mears as Star Child, tried their best to bring life to the visually captivating world of Concord. Yes, I'll give it that much, the graphics look great... The character models, are a whole different story. Despite the stellar cast and years of development, the game's reception has been lukewarm at best.
Gamers have been vocal, and the controversy escalated when Xander Farrell (Animated Twitter Profile Pic shown below), a 'view model animator' for Concord, responded to the game's critics with a tantrum that ended him blocking, protecting, and retreating to his safe space....
Tell me - have you heard this one before?
He begins with congratulatory post on the game's launch, where Farrell expressed immense pride in the team's accomplishment.
In a now-deleted tweet, Farrell dismissed any honest feedback, stating:
"It was a huge labour from a lot of insanely talented people making an awesome game. Why would I care about a bunch of talentless freaks hating on it?"
The initial positivity quickly soured as Farrell's follow-up comments did little to ingratiate the team with any gamers and critics alike. He initially devolved into some serious coping by hiding replies and charging people to view them:
When that didn't work out financially, he then went into protected mode - but not before first preemptively blocking me, even though I'd never once interacted. Apparently... my reputation proceeds me these days...
The backlash to Farrell's remarks has been swift, creating even more of a PR nightmare for a game that had already struggled to captivate an audience. Anywho... let's talk about those paltry numbers!
With a peak player count of just under 700 people within the first 24 hours post-release, according to Steam DB, it's clear that Concord needs all the support it can muster... Fact is, me thinks these folks see the writing on the wall already, and this is raw coping, in real-time. Hell the game had better numbers during the open Beta (below) than the launch day - Yikes:
In an industry that had historically thrived on community engagement and player feedback, dismissing critics—no matter how harsh they may seem—is never a wise move. The road ahead for Concord is almost certain, with imminent failure and shut down incoming. Even with a company as massive as Sony, they can't keep shoveling money into the fire. For those daring enough, Concord is available on PlayStation 5 and PC for USD $39.99, offering a glimpse into a game that promised much but has yet to deliver fully... Or, you know, there's always Black Myth Wukong, and even an opportunity for some to finally get to that unending backlog!
Farewell, Concord. You will be forgotten, not missed.
~Smash
