Concord's return to "disturbing legal action" may be short-lived

The team behind the surprising revival of the fateful shooter, Harmonyhas apparently run into a potential problem with invites being put on hold due to “disturbing legal action”. After attempting a bit of a live service push, Sony has begun to rethink its plans after a number of high-profile failures, with Harmony usually being the poster child for what can really go wrong.

Harmony never seemed to get off on the right foot after a full reveal during a State of Play in May 2024, which showcased a Guardians of the Galaxy-like CG trailer, followed by gameplay that confirmed the title was indeed an online hero shooter. Fans seemed less than enthusiastic about the reveal, while others criticized Harmony for its generic characters. After a beta session and possible launch months later, Harmony failed to land with gamers, forcing Sony to issue refunds and shut down both the game and development studio for good.

Concord Revival Hits DMCA Takedowns

While Harmony remains one of Sony's highest-profile flops, potentially costing the company $400 million and causing other internal projects to be canceled in a domino effect, the game may have resonated with some. Actually one Harmony the player was still active in the game weeks after the servers were officially taken offline. Fast forward to over a year later, when a dedicated group of fans announced their intentions to unofficially bring the game back online.

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The Harmony Revival is still very early in development, with the small team showing off their efforts in a couple of videos, which also showcase more than a few bugs that remain in the current reverse build. However, since the disclosure, the videos have been hit with DMCA takedowns from a group called MarkScan Enforcement, a group usually associated with big companies like Sony, Microsoft and others when removing emulation, mods and similar content. The latest activity has prompted the small team to send out a message indicating that they have paused invites to the current build due to “concerning legal action.” It's unknown what this means for the future of the project, but it seems that Sony has caught wind of what's going on and probably doesn't approve.

Although it is unknown how Harmony revival will eventually play out, Sony has continued to talk about the lessons it's learned from its live-services push. Sony Interactive CEO Hermen Hulst said the company won't make the same mistake again, while praising successful efforts that Helldivers 2. Unfortunately for Sony, it's still deep in uncharted waters like Bungie's Destiny 2 struggles to keep players happy, while many questions remain about the extraction shooter Marathon.

Other live-service efforts have also begun to fall by the wayside as Sony backs away from the live-service risk. Two live service titles were rumored to have been canceled, from Bluepoint Games and Bend Studio, while Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Factions the game ended development in 2023. Fairgamesanother online life service title from Haven Studios, has also seemingly lost more key developers, leading many to wonder if that game will eventually be cancelled.