Tim Miller's latest anthology series,Secret Level, has made it to Prime Video, with the first eight episodes readily available to stream. The show showcases various tales from popular video games, but one IP has many scratching their heads—Concord. The game is no longer available after PlayStation pulled the plug and apparently, the episode dedicated towards the title is still going to be released. According to the Love, Death & Robotscreator, there is a perfect explanation.
In an interview with Variety, Miller shared his empathy towards those involved in creating the 2024 first-person shooter after hearing the news about the game being removed and how it didn't affect his show at all. He stated that there was no discussion about pulling the episode because there are other episodes based on existing games that either "haven't come out yet" or "were published in the past." In addition, he wants to showcase the hard work people put into making this episode and he didn't want to add insult to injury to those who were actually looking forward to the episode.
“First of all, we have other episodes that don’t have existing games out there, either because they haven’t come out yet, or because they came out in the past and are not currently published. So I didn’t feel weird about that. But also, why? Hundreds of artists and animators and lighters and modelers worked on this episode, and it’s great. The characters are cool. It’s funny. It’s a really interesting episode. So why add insult to injury and not have all that hard work be shown to the world? It’s a great episode, regardless of whatever happened.”
The show's executive producer, Dave Willson, also noted how the episode is a prequel to Concord's main story, so it wouldn't affect what Sony Interactive had in store for this game's future development. The episode was meant to leave room for open interpretation, yet it's an approved story from Firewalk Studios.
“One of the precarious things about creating an episode in conjunction with a game being created is that they’re still developing their characters and their lore. If we took their core characters and created a story with them, we would be locking them into those events and that lore.”
What Happened To 'Concord?'
Concord is a first-person shooter that was released for PlayStation 5 and Windows on August 23, 2024. According to Forbes, the game had a reported budget of $400 million but only had less than 700 registered players on Steam during its launch. IGN reported that around 25,000 copies of PC and PS5 were sold. To put that into perspective, Concord sold double the amount when compared to the fictional video game, Sword Art Online, from the anime,Sword Art Online, which sold 10,000 copies during its launch. For a real-life comparison, the infamous E.T.: The Ectra-Terrestrialgame for the Atari sold 1 million copies and, according to Kotaku, the unsold cartridges were buried in a landfill in New Mexico.
Two weeks after launch, PlayStation announced that it would be ceasing sales the game would be pulled from Steam and the PlayStation store, and players will receive a full refund. It noted that the "initial launch didn't land" the way the company had intended, which led to the decision to pull the game.
Concord's failure sets off a series of domino effects following its shutdown. GameRant reported that two months after the incident, Sony announced the closure of Firewalk Studios, just a year after it was acquired by the company. Two months after its shutdown, Sony's President and CFO, Hiroki Totoki, commented on the game's failure during a Q&A session during an earnings call, according to VGC. There are no plans to bring Concord back to life nor will there be another installment of that failed video game.
The first eight episodes of Secret Level are available to stream on Prime Video.
An anthology series featuring 15 stories, each set within iconic video game worlds, follows unique narratives that delve into a variety of genres. From action-packed adventures to nostalgic reimaginings, the episodes connect through vibrant animation and imaginative storytelling, offering a fresh take on beloved games like Pac-Man, Dungeons & Dragons, and Mega Man.
Release Date December 10, 2024
CastKeanu Reeves , Parry Shen , Ping Wu , Lydia Look , Nelson Lee , Feodor Chin , Rae Lim , Erin Yvette , Temuera Morrison , Patrick Schwarzenegger , Steve Blum , Noah Manzoor , Madeleine Knight , Laura Wohlwend , Delroy Atkinson , Umulisa Gahiga , Paul Ridley , Rita Estevanovich , Tracy Wiles , Arnold Schwarzenegger , Steven Pacey , Gabriel Luna , Arazou Baker
Seasons 1
Character(s) Pilot , MC (young) , MC (Old) , Li , Sean , Thug , MC (Child) , The Voice , Old Salt , The Kid , Dispatch / Mechanic , Solon , Mora , Tally , Luzum , Ahokal , Oriel , Tiamat , King Aelstrom , Scaevola , King Zimah , Urda
Creator(s) Tim Miller
Production Company Blur Studio, Amazon MGM Studios
Image via Prime Video
English (US) ·