A small community of gamers have done the impossible. They brought Concord back from the dead.
Yes, this is the game that was blasted for being one of the worst releases in recent memory. Yet there were still people who genuinely liked Concord and wanted to keep it alive. So, they decided to rebuild the whole thing themselves.
How Fans Made Concord Playable Again
Three community developers, known as Red, open_wizard, and gwog, helped lead the Concord Delta project. They spent months dissecting the game’s network code and backend systems to understand how everything functioned originally.
They reverse engineered the way Concord’s servers talked to the client. Rebuilt those protocols from scratch. They created their own custom servers. They also reconstructed the backend API so players could connect, choose characters and match make.
Right now, the revival only works for people who have the PC copy of the game because the PlayStation version is harder to work with. The custom servers are still in development, but testers are able to play full matches. That hasn’t happened since Sony shut the game down on September 6, 2024.
Sony Is Not Happy About This Revival
Sony noticed the project and they are NOT pleased. The company has started issuing DMCA takedown requests to gameplay videos on YouTube. Even if Sony has abandoned the game itself, they still own the server APIs and the assets the Concord Delta project recreated.
So far, Sony hasn’t publicly threatened any legal action against the indie developers behind Concord’s revival.
Still, the people behind the project are keeping a low profile. Red wrote on Discord that they’ve paused invites to their server due to “worrying legal action.”
Where This Fits Into the Stop Killing Games Movement
This situation is happening while gamers rally around the Stop Killing Games movement.
The whole point of the movement is to give players the option to preserve access to online-only games after they’re shut down. Players argue once a studio takes away access to something you paid for, fans should be free to preserve it themselves.
The Concord Delta project brought the game back because they believe it deserves to exist for anyone who still wants it. Sony’s response also reflects the industry’s stance. That publishers maintain total ownership and control, even after a product has been abandoned.
Do Players Have the Right to Keep a Game Alive?
I believe that after a publisher shuts down a game, players should be able to work out a deal that lets them maintain legally.
That doesn’t mean taking the IP or distributing the entire game without permission. Fans should be able to host their own custom servers. That way studios aren’t forced to support a game it no longer wants to run. Instead, they can pass the game down to someone who’s passionate enough to give it a second life.
The Concord community has proven that game preservation is possible for live-service games. The real issue now is deciding whether they should be allowed to do it.
Sooner or later, this industry will have to choose between protecting IP and preserving the games people love. If companies keep killing games, fans will keep trying to revive them.
