A good game like Concord just isn’t good enough anymore

Treaty is a competent, well-made game. Or rather, it wasI’m going to struggle with time when it comes to writing about Treatybecause the game has been on indefinite hiatus since September 6, just two weeks after launch. Will it ever come back? Firewalk Studios, which developed the game for Sony, says it will Treaty offline and refund buyers while it “determines the best path forward.” But it’s hard to imagine a healthier future for a game that few people seemed to identify with and that many actively set themselves up to fail.

So many choices were made in the rollout of Treatythat has reportedly been in development for at least six years felt baffling. Sony and Firewalk first revealed the game in early 2023, in the form of a retro-futuristic, synth-soaked teaser trailer that told us almost nothing about the game other than its sense of style. We then learned that Treaty was said to be a “new PvP multiplayer first-person shooter” at launch in 2024, but no unique selling point was promised.

A whole year later, Treaty resurrected. A slick cinematic introduced the alien weirdos, mindless robots, and hardened mercenaries of Firewalk’s sci-fi world. It looked pretty fun, if vaguely familiar. We also got our first look at Treaty‘s gameplay shortly after, which brought a combination of Destiny’s Crucible, Guardians of the Galaxy’s witty misfits, and Overwatch’s hero-focused mechanics. Those are three beloved traits (or they are were once), but Treaty was initially met with a shrug.

No players showed up during two beta test weekends and at launch in late August TreatyThe game’s reception made headlines for its low player count — the PC version peaked at around 700 concurrent players, according to SteamDBa death knell for the game. No one seemed interested in watching other people play Treaty or, with only a a small number of Twitch streamers who stick with the game day after launch.

In theory, Treaty had to appeal to an audience that wanted something original (read: not a sequel) and not the aggressive, battle pass-driven monetization tactics that are ubiquitous in many modern multiplayer games. Firewalk delivered on some level – the game plays well enough – but TreatyThe core ideas simply didn’t match the way people actually play video games like Treaty.

The most compelling twist on Firewalk’s formula is the hero switching mechanic. TreatyPlayers are encouraged to switch between characters, known as Freegunners, when they respawn. This gives the entire team a number of advantages. For example, if you choose a character like the sniper Vale, everyone on the other team will gain increased weapon range. And if you then choose a character like the fungal weirdo Lark, everyone’s reload speed will be increased. These crew buffs stack, making your team more effective over the course of a match.

So character switching is encouraged, which is also evident in the fact that certain Freegunners have deployable tech: Lark can drop buffing Spore Seeds, Duchess can build walls, and Daw can lay down healing pads. These deployable techs persist (assuming the enemy team hasn’t destroyed them) even after you’ve switched to a different character. A smart team can quickly build up a long list of buffs and equip their team by tactically picking and switching characters, leading to some intriguing dynamics.

But this dynamic is subtle and just a little bit boring, just like the rest of Treaty. Worse, this system seemed at odds with how many people play character-driven games, where they focus on a main character or a handful of characters and try to perfect them. Worst of all, they’re not explained very well by the game’s corny tutorial.

The game’s mechanics lacked the kind of personality that could compensate for these shortcomings. Gunplay feels solid, but there are no flashy ultimates or finishing moves to build exciting game moments around, and matches can end in a dull fashion. Rarely in my time with the game over the past two weeks have I experienced the thrill of victory in a close-quarters match. Many matches were blowouts. Most of these matches didn’t force me to re-queue for another round TreatyThe game’s progression system gave me a ton of alternate-color outfits and trinkets to customize my character as I earned XP, but I found few of those cosmetics appealing enough to grind to unlock them.

Part of my apathy for the game comes from the characters, most of whom are pretty bland. Many don’t convey their powers or roles well beyond their silhouette or the weapon they’re holding. I often found myself looking at the heroes’ character loadouts and abilities, confused by their inconsistent combinations of weapons and abilities. I’ve never really had a soft spot for any of the Treaty‘s Freegunners: Some have bland, unattractive designs, some turned me off with their bland, slick poses, and some just don’t feel that interesting to play as. They also have bad, forgettable names (Daw, Lennox, 1-OFF, Vale, etc.) that give no clue as to their roles or what their abilities are.

The artists at Firewalk certainly put a lot of effort and money into creating the world and characters of Treaty interesting. The alien planets look gorgeous. Menus and UI elements are sharply designed. The studio has also released numerous animated character shorts, and the game has weekly cutscenes that advance the story of the misfit Freegunners. There’s also a huge amount of written lore in the game; if you want to spend time soaking it up, there’s an interactive map with textual items detailing the planets, technology, shipping routes, and fuel sources of the game. Treaty‘s universe. I’ve never found any of that redundant story all that compelling, despite there being so much of it. Sony and Firewalk seemed to assume that people would show up and be interested in the characters and the lore, and even the game itself.

The lore, characters, and gameplay of Treaty didn’t appeal to a wide audience. It’s a shame to see an attempt at something original fail completely, and the opponents throw themselves at it, while people’s livelihoods are at stake. But after playing Treaty from the betas to its current state, I understand the collective shrug for the game. It didn’t do enough interesting things to pull me away from Overwatch2a game I play almost daily, and it didn’t seem to differentiate itself from established multiplayer games like Brave, Counterattack 2, Apex Legendsand a dozen others. Treaty‘s competitors have the advantage of being free-to-play, which Firewalk’s game lacked. But the game’s rivals also managed to stand out for many other reasons: likable characters based on familiar heroic archetypes, mature and distinctive gameplay modes, gunplay and character balance honed through years of testing and feedback.

Treaty couldn’t compete. It just didn’t have the charisma or uniqueness of many of the games that came before it. It didn’t have a distinctive enough personality, and it’s mind-boggling to think that Former PlayStation boss Jim Ryan once boasted that it would be “a robust addition to PlayStation Studios’ portfolio.” I’m not sure what he saw in the game that convinced Sony it could break through, or what mismanagement was going on behind the scenes that led to the ultimately failed product.

It’s clear that a lot of passion and effort has gone into this Treaty in an attempt to create something new. And hopefully Firewalk and Sony will find a way to bring the game out of its early grave. At the very least, TreatyThe better ideas of could inspire other games to adopt the game’s few innovations, and serve as a lesson to other developers not to repeat the miscalculations Sony and Firewalk made here.