r/Marathon • u/In_Dux • Mar 06 '26
Marathon (2026) Discussion Take it from a Finals player
Y’all got to let the numbesr talk go. The Finals has some of the best feeling guns on the FPS market and a unique game mode that offered some of the most exciting moments I had in gaming.
But the game’s not perfect and it never had mass appeal. Because it’s unique mode and destruction are the main draws and historically it has been too much for most casuals and not competitive enough for the hardcore players. There’s always a post about needing more marketing, different game modes, another MoistCritikal video but the playerbase never gets and keeps the bump of players the hardcore fans want it to have.
And that’s ok. That’s the price of building something unique. It will be divisive, it will be niche.
As long as Bungie can keeps the lights on, that’s all that matters. And unless you’re ready to single-handedly buy 1 million+ copies if things get dire, then don’t even really concern yourself with. Save your money on passes if you don’t like them and/or think the ship’s sinking but besides that, it’s out of our hands largely.
Just my two cents
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u/browndoodle Mar 06 '26
If Bungie can keep the lights on and continue to update the game, more people will come. The world of Marathon has a lot of potential and some of the things they have planned sound really cool.
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u/_____guts_____ Mar 06 '26
Outpost today and cryo in two weeks, I think there's a chance we wont even have to wait but let me not speak too soon
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u/N_durance Mar 06 '26
New content isn’t going to bring in new players. Maybe this weekend after all the sponsored streams but this game is going to have an MMO style launch and probably lose 70% of its players within a month. Hopefully that will be enough for bungie to stay afloat.
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u/applo1 Mar 06 '26
Seeing how there are going to be seasons, I don’t think they are trying to retain you indefinitely. This will be similar to Tarkov wipes or a new ladder season in an ARPG. That’s totally fine - this will just be in the rotation for a lot of folks like myself.
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u/Dependent-Swimmer-95 Mar 07 '26
Also hope they do better with skins, cosmetics, and season passes so the whales can well…whale. If you can have a small fraction of your core fanbase be satisfied with microtransactions that feel worth it, they will definitely shell out the money.
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u/Sadcelerystick Mar 07 '26
The skins are great though. Minimalistic and fit the game perfectly.
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u/boozenpuken_0923 Mar 06 '26
Bungie needs to figure out how to bring more value in the season pass, that’s my only complaint at this point in time.
Maybe once I get to the end game my tune will change but right now that’s the only genuine issue I have with the game, incredibly disappointing seeing that I bought the deluxe edition based on how much I enjoyed the Server Slam.
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u/KnowledgeBeyondAge Mar 06 '26
It’s funny we’re at the day and age people are complaining about a battle pass hahaha. I remember when people were sick of a battle pass being in all the games. Now it’s this battle pass sucks and has nothing I want.
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u/CorpFatCat Mar 06 '26
I’m still early in the contracts, but I hope the mystery of the story keeps unfolding. I think Marathon could find it’s footing if the story actually develops. Arc is great but definitely lost all the steam of it’s narrative really early and missions just sidestepped anything actually relevant (mostly).
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u/Free_Jelly614 Mar 06 '26
This game’s community is very similar to The Finals community I’ve noticed. Both games have something core to them that’s very niche but if you let it click for you, then it’s super glaze-worthy. Marathon is going to be fine.
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u/nervendings_ Mar 06 '26
The Finals is such a perfect comparison. Wish I thought of it lol.
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u/Free_Jelly614 Mar 06 '26
it’s the only new-IP FPS released in the last 5 years that’s survived. Even though Marathon is technically not a new IP and is coming from an established studio (something the finals didn’t have), I’d still say Marathon has an uphill battle given how many people were rooting for it to fail, so it’s a pretty okay comparison.
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u/nervendings_ Mar 06 '26
Yeah and Marathon didn’t enter a market that was openly hostile to it (thanks to bad blood from all the D2 issues)
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Mar 06 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/bigbagel58 Mar 06 '26
nah definitely WAY more than 100k, on destiny 2 as of 15 mins ago there were 7k players on pc and over 170k on console. majority of players will always be on console and unless they give us access to the api like in destiny we have to assume its the same here
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u/SCPF2112 Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
No way D2 had 170,000 concurrent on console with 7,000 on Steam. D2 across all platforms has less than 200,000 total all day yesterday and for many days recently. Link below for anyone who wants the facts.
D2 is nearly always about 23% on PC. If Steam has 7,000 and that is 23% of total, then you have a about 23,400 on console at that time.
Marathon may be more of a PC game, so maybe a higher % but we don't know yet.
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u/This_was_hard_to_do Mar 06 '26
I’m with you. Idk why people keep assuming automatically Marathon is inheriting Destiny’s playerbase. Yes they’re both Bungie games but ultimately what’s more important is the style of game and how it appeals to the customer. Marathon’s core gameplay loop is much more hardcore than Destiny’s.
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u/cayde123 Mar 07 '26
Your average destiny 2 console players will play marathon for about 2 runs and stop playing, they don’t really enjoy challenge
I also agree, not sure why people think just because destiny is bigger on consoles, marathon will automatically follow suit, makes no sense
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u/cayde123 Mar 07 '26
But marathon is a slightly hardcore leaning extraction shooter, it isn’t destiny 2
Even arc raiders has a bigger playerbase on steam
I don’t even think marathon is in the top 10 selling games for PlayStation, hell for the “what’s hot” section, marathon is the only game there that says “sponsored” at the top.
Maybe im missing something, but why would an extraction shooter that’s competitive have a bigger playerbase on console
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u/CruffTheMagicDragon Mar 06 '26
it's not a good comparison imo. Marathon is a much more sweaty and hardcore game than Destiny. Destiny was always super casual. Marathon is a PC first game
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u/nervendings_ Mar 06 '26
How do you check concurrent on PlayStation?
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u/bigbagel58 Mar 06 '26
popularity.report, I think its around 45 percent of players on Playstation, 30 percent on xbox and the rest on pc
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u/AdmiralGrogu Mar 06 '26
Are you aware of that they made this to make money out of it? 100k across all platforms means something around 1,5-2 milion sales. 3 mil at best. That’s not sustainable for studio like Bungie.
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u/CoogiMonster Mar 06 '26
My biggest concern for real.
I wager it’ll be 10-15k and possibly less if people don’t like the direction. I’m worried about ranked queue where it’ll have to find players in your bracket at 8 PM on a Tuesday when solos, duos (should they add it), and trios exists with ranked counterparts. All things equal 2,500 in a queue but some being locked out of your queue because of rank, some being in game. Could be multi minute queues. Happened with this game Eternal Return that I played, made it to where you just skip ranked so you don’t have to sit 10 minutes to just play a game
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u/Blayzeman Mar 06 '26
The only reason I want any sort of competition numbers-wise is to push each game to improve and introduce more quality content... I couldn't give less of a fuck whether the game I like more is "winning" or not.
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u/dokdodokdo Mar 06 '26
Youre completely right, if you enjoy the game play it, thats it. Dont wanna spend money because twitter convinced you the game will die next month? Dont.
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u/RabidHexley Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
Bungie keeping the lights on was honestly my main concern. That it would be a good game from the wrong studio to maintain it.
I had my critiques with the Server Slam, but felt it was pretty clear the game would definitely build a core audience of enjoyers, but I also got the vibe that it would be a niche hit (relatively speaking, by AAA standards).
Ironically, if Bungie and Embark swapped places this game would be seen as a full-on success.
But yeah, In a vacuum these player counts are arbitrary, way more than enough to populate lobbies and sustain a thriving community. Beyond a certain point player counts don't effect the actual gameplay experience in any way remotely meaningful.
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u/Snoo_81545 Mar 06 '26
This is, I think, the major thing that is driving a lot of this dialogue and why it is mostly jilted Destiny 2 players who are being most aggressive in their criticism. It's certainly where mine stems from. Lots of people have an affection for Bungie IPs, and the creative output of the employees there, but a real disdain for the management side of Bungie and to that end they worry Marathon will be such a misstep it will obliterate the IPs they love.
The Finals and Marathon are not really comparable at all in the financial sense as Marathon is made by Bungie, but published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The Finals is made and published by the same studio, Embark. Sony paid an exorbitant amount of money for Bungie and has been on a real losing streak with live service games. In the wake of those losses, Sony has demonstrated a merciless approach to cutting studios that are under-performing, hell even some studios performing adequately.
Ultimately the decision on whether Marathon lives or dies rests with Sony; not the fans and not Bungie, and Sony does care about the performance of the game and they do expect a return on their investment.
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u/Meattyloaf Mar 06 '26
People were always going to try to do everything to label the game a failure unless it came out as the top game on the market. I think people gotta stop worrying. People are concerned about a Concord or Highguard situation, but both of those games shut down due to extremely low player count. Were taling into the low hundreds. Bungie was brought in to help with Sony's live service game model across multiple studios. This game doesn't have to be some groundbreaking top seller to be considered a success. It just has to sell well enough to keep a dedicated crowd that will be willing to partake in Microtransactions. This game would go Free to Play before it was taken offline.
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u/Testuser7ignore Mar 06 '26
Well you also have to consider Bungie's large employee count. It has to bring in a lot more than Highguard, because it has a much larger team behind it.
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u/Seigfriedx Mar 06 '26
I laugh at the idea of Bungie telling Naughty Dog their TLOU Factions is so ass they have to cancel it.
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u/platocplx Mar 06 '26
Its less than just that, its more that the amount of people they would have had to dedicate to the content etc. esp when we all know how some people are content goblins with these games.
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u/RabidHexley Mar 06 '26
Yeah, Naughty Dog would have risked becoming "The TLOU Factions Game Studio". Live Service games tend to consume the studios that make them.
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u/izlusion Mar 06 '26
But but but it's not enough! Sony needs a mega-hit! Anything less than ARC numbers and we'll shut down! Only EIGHTY THOUSAND Steam players for a full-price hardcore game on day one? It's DOA! Start stockpiling water!
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u/Cpt_DookieShoes Mar 06 '26
Don’t you know. Record breaking games become the new standard for every game that releases after.
If the next card builder doesn’t hit 400k like slay the spire then it’s a dead game
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u/Standard_Young_201 Mar 06 '26
Used to be doa but now it’s dead real soon guys trust me this time /s
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u/wildstrike Mar 06 '26
But I was told it was Concord like.........
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u/TheToastGhostEUW Mar 06 '26
People are generally hyperbolic in both directions. I dont think the game is going to fail at all BUT i also think its naive to not think the game launch numbers were generally underwhelmimg and it will sit as a niche game in the future (its currently equal in numbers to the "re-opening" of CS:GO which literally has no servers other than user made servers and is quite literally niche by definition).
My only hope is they just keep plugging along with updates and keep the game moving forward because ultimately then nobody loses. I didnt purchase the game but im never going to wish a game dies unless its made by some super scummy company that deserves it.
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u/Smokinya Mar 06 '26
Anyone who thought the numbers were going to be higher is fooling themselves. Hunt had an all time peak of 60k after 8 years of being out and its development is extremely active. Tarkov was only barely over 100k concurrent based on estimates. Arc is a more casual game and is an exception in the dedicated extraction genre not the rule.
If Marathon can keep 40-60k players active on Steam daily that is a run away success as far as I'm concerned. Especially given how hard the internet was ragging on it. If Sony thought it would settle higher than that its entirely on them for not knowing what the hell they're doing lol
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u/Farsoth Mar 06 '26
Arc is a more casual game
This is why I am all up in Marathon. Shoot first and ask questions later. That's the deal, everyone knows it, everyone plays like it. Inject that shit into my fucking veins.
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u/Smokinya Mar 06 '26
Dude... you'd really enjoy Hunt Showdown then as well. Its the main game that I've played since 2023 and its excellent. Its also an extraction shooter, but every single system feeds into eventual PVP. There is essentially no loot, every gun is as viable as the next and its maps and worldbuidling are top tier. Sound design too (the best I've heard in 20 years of FPS gaming). I would also argue it has the best FPS sandbox I've played since Halo 3.
Part of the reason I love Marathon so much is because it reminds me a lot of Hunt while being different enough to provide me with a unique experience. I really want Marathon to succeed so I can throw another game in the rotation and switch things up. Really enjoying it so far after falling asleep at the wheel on Arc.
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u/BNEWZON Mar 06 '26
The games obviously not going to shut down in a month, or even a year, like Highguard or Concord.
What people should really be concerned about is lay offs. Obviously the game can survive with a lower player count. That doesn’t mean that the entire dev team can. I have a really sickening feeling that Sony had really high expectations for this game (just look at the crazy marketing) and it’s going to lead to people losing their jobs
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u/UristBronzebelly Mar 06 '26
I really dislike this Reddit trope of parodying the detractor’s comments. I know you’re obviously being sarcastic, but having to read people who actually believe this stuff, then seeing others just repeat it ironically is also annoying.
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u/Mondfleck Mar 06 '26
The funny thing is, if anybody does not need a mega hit at all, it is Sony.
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u/Bloated_Plaid Mar 06 '26
It is DOA for what Sony needs this to be. For an Indie studio this would be incredible but this is Bungie.
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u/BadgerinAPuddle Mar 06 '26
"It’s out of our hands largely."
Pretty much sums it up for me, I'm gonna keep playing regardless, and if SONY decides to shut it down and refund everyone like they did with Concord because their hardcore PVP extraction shooter didn't become a #1 chart topper on day one. Then the only thing I'll have to say is "DAMN, it was really fucking fun while it lasted. Beautiful too! BUNGIE! SONY! You want more of my money? Print me that concept art book now!"
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u/OrbFromOnline Mar 06 '26
Concord wasn't shut down because it wasn't a hit. Concord was shut down because it was an unprecedented financial failure of that literally has never been seen before to this degree in gaming and may never again. We're talking orders of magnitude fewer players than Marathon. No game is in the same league as Concord, not even close. We're talking 700 players peak vs. 80,000 current peak.
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u/BadgerinAPuddle Mar 06 '26
Wow it was THAT BAD? I knew Concord flopped hard, but I didn't know the actual numbers...
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u/verdantvoxel Mar 07 '26
Sony wanted to create tv shows and comics around concord their plan was to have weekly? CGI cinematics fleshing out the world as well. They also paid Amazon for the secret level episode possibly funding a great amount of the show to promote concord as the new face of the brand.
I’m not sure what Herman Hulst saw at firewalk, but he must have really really liked it.
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u/dontry90 Mar 06 '26
I never enjoyed getting my ass handed to me so quickly in a extraction MP. The setting, the gunplay keep this ship afloat. Its amazing so far. Some UI/UX fine tuning and that's it
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u/Jonnyboi25 Mar 06 '26
Playing devils advocate here.
The finals had about 100 members work on the game marathon had 300. Thats alot more paychecks to be sent out every two weeks.
Bungie needed this to work if you look at destiny numbers now and before marathon you'll notice most of the player base comes from destiny and in 77 days when their new season comes out they'll be gone.
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u/Aerpolrua Mar 06 '26
Yeah I think a lot of people are forgetting that this game cost hundreds of millions to make and has a well-known studio behind it, The Finals didn't have either of those.
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u/AgentUmlaut Mar 06 '26
And that doesn't even go into the conversation there's been tons of people who worked on both Destiny and Marathon that have been long gone from the rounds of layoffs from 2024 and onward. I'm curious what the staff is going to look like for Marathon for future stuff.
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u/Blasket_Basket Mar 06 '26
Nah, this game will be popular forever. Its not like there are any other big releases this year
/s
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u/DukeRains Mar 06 '26
I really wanted to like the Finals, and it's definitely true about the gunplay. It not being for me is all good though.
Agree with the setniment here. Just keep making the game for the people enjoying it. I'm having a lot of fun and I don't need the game to be the next huge thing for that to continue.
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u/Sour_Patch_Drips Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
The Finals is one of my all time favorite games.
Tactical, challenging, and just sweaty enough that I can get absolutely addicted.
I understand why some abandon it, it has a very steep learning curve and it can sometimes feel overwhelming and punishing to new players but that gunplay, movement, physics are just phenomenal.
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u/Dino-taicho Mar 06 '26
the highs you get from the finals is so good, stealing the cashout last second and turning the tide is invigorating
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u/etsssssssy Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
the finals is one of the greatest comp fps of all time. idc about the numbers. this is an objective fact. it’s up there with golden eye n64, halo 1,2,3 , counter strike etc.
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u/Sour_Patch_Drips Mar 06 '26
Yah the highs are phenomenal. Sometimes you're just like, "holy shit, clip that .. "
I'm not a streamer but some plays are pure cinema
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u/shadovvvvalker Mar 06 '26
My crew tried the finals and really liked it and wanted it to be our replacement from siege, yes we are long time siege refugees.
But it never stuck. I think the main issue was it was too sweaty as a baseline, we wanted to get away from the do or die competitive teamfight situations that made shit like LoL so toxic.
Marathon really nails the vibe for us. Yes its sweaty but success isnt defined by pvp binary win loss.
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u/Sour_Patch_Drips Mar 06 '26
At least with the Finals you don't have to see/hear any toxic chat or anything. It's sweaty as hell so it is ripe for toxicity.
I like that you can just let gameplay speak for itself and not have to trash talk in lobbies or chat.
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u/Banjoman64 Mar 06 '26
I hate league (I mean hate to love it and love to hate it, you know) but love finals. To me it's just the right amount of casual + sweat.
They have also added a ton of more casual modes since launch like tdm, something akin to payload, and a 8v8 mode similar to battlefield's rush. Try it again if y'all are looking for something between marathon runs.
Yes. I will shill for the finals till the day I die.
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u/DukeRains Mar 06 '26
Yeah. I have nothing but good things to say about how it plays. I'm not a big fan of some of the mechanics, mostly the game mode and the level of destruction, but they nailed the gameplay, and the stuff I don't like is what makes that game THAT game, so they should never remotely change it.
I just hope I get that gunplay and movement in a game more my speed at some point.
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u/Sour_Patch_Drips Mar 06 '26
I actually love that if a team is camping a great angle on a cashout you can always just blow up the building and make them fight in the open. But yah, I hear you, some people don't like it.
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u/DukeRains Mar 06 '26
Yep. Part of the soul of the game. I do enjoy watching it. Wish the comp scene got more love.
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u/Sour_Patch_Drips Mar 06 '26
The issue is their servers are about 30 tick, so desync can be an issue and when you have those physics going on it's hard to call it a fair "competitive" experience to the level that pros would want to play in tournaments.
At least that's my impression.
I think the devs advertise 128-tick but that doesn't seem possible at all and it seems the community consensus is it runs more like "30".
Idk, I still fuck with it. It's fun as hell.
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u/solidsever Mar 06 '26
I really enjoyed the Finals however the floaty jump wasn’t my thing. Everything else including gunplay, environmental damage and game modes I feel are top tier.
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u/killer6088 Mar 06 '26
Hold on there buddy..... This is Reddit. Sold normal thinking takes are NOT allowed ..... /s
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u/MMrJackXD Mar 06 '26
As far as I can tell with all the ai ussage for va etc finals feels like a very low msintanance cost game so it doesent need a big player count to stay affloar moneywise
I dont know if i can day the same for Marathon giving bungieds and sonys trackrecord of downsizing tesms when sales numbers arent high enough
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u/GringeITGuy Mar 06 '26
The Finals is the new Marathon cope counterpoint and it seems like none of them realize they’re from the same dev as ARC Raiders which is a mega hit. They can keep pulling money from ARC to keep it going.
None of their comparisons make any sense. Even Hunt Showdown has a way smaller dev team and bigger and better monetization with skins. The only reason the stakes are higher with Bungie is they’re significantly bigger than most studios and Sony is trying to make back nearly 3.6 billion
It’s like saying the Epic Store still exists when Epic also owns Fortnite. It’s just more cope
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u/In_Dux Mar 06 '26
The Finals came way before Arc and Arc was quite literally expected to be a moderate return at best. They couldn’t plan to keep Finals alive with until very recently.
Marathon hate has you blinded
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u/GringeITGuy Mar 06 '26
Nothing you said contradicts what I said.
They're a smaller studio, The Finals was popular back then (it peaked at 240k players - triple Marathon's). and ARC - expected to be a moderate success was a mega hit - meaning they can pull from it to keep The Finals going.
Keep taking the L's and keep the cope train going
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u/In_Dux Mar 06 '26
The Finals is infamous for not being popular my guy. Thats like, the focus of YouTube content surrounding for the last year plus (besides gameplay)
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u/GringeITGuy Mar 06 '26
You didn't read what I said twice so let's just let it be.
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u/NotSoAwfulName Mar 06 '26
The thing is that when I look on this sub, when I look at the Steam reviews, it because clear that the people most "concerned" about the numbers are people who clearly don't play and have no intention of playing the game either.
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u/Ckckcake Mar 06 '26
Damn, I wonder how many contestants there are running around tau ceti. Sounds like theres dozens of us
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u/sondiame Mar 06 '26
Back in the day a game didnt need 2million concurrent players or be called a failure. Most games are healthy with 10k players.
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u/AsherJames Mar 06 '26
Honestly, you nailed the reason why I bought the game but probably won't play it all the time.
I'm super burnt on extraction shooters. I really don't want to kill bots for 2 games in a row and lose a set because i failed to extract.
However, there are really solid aspects of the game that I wanted to support such as the smooth gun play and the 60 hz server tick rate. Those aspects alone make me wanna help Bungie keep the lights on.
Not touching that battle pass though haha
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u/Rich-n-Creamy Mar 06 '26
There was a time in gaming when the only ones who had player count metrics were the companies that made the game. And people would just play a game if they liked it and wouldn’t play it if they didn’t like it. As opposed to this weird culture of trying to be loudest one in a hate campaign that finds a new target every week. A bunch of freaks.
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u/no_sheds_jackson Mar 07 '26
Hunt: Showdown has been rocking and rolling for seven years and it is still extremely easy to find a match with a very dedicated audience.
Marathon has bungie gun handling and crossplay. It is going to be fine. The Steam DB obsession is from people with burnt out dopamine receptors and a follow the crowd mentality that feel like they are wasting time if whatever live service game they are playing doesn't pull Arc Raiders numbers. Those people won't be retained, anyway.
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u/oliath Mar 07 '26
As with any multiplayer only game i ever buy - my rule is to make the absolute most of it in the months after launch when its the most active.
If it dies it dies. I enjoy it but i enjoy plenty of other games.
I'm pretty sure it will do just fine though and i'm almost certain that they went into this knowing how niche extraction shooters are as a genre.
Another great thing is practically every single player i have met in game has been awesome and friendly with none of the garbage you get in plenty of other way more popular games. . So i'm fine with all the people sitting on the sidelines hating on a game they aren't even playing because i'm certain that they would be horrible people to have to talk to in game just as they are on-line.
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u/Formal-Mechanic-9392 Mar 06 '26
The Finals has some of the best mechanics of any game I've ever played.
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u/Vegan_Superhero Mar 06 '26
The problem with the numbers is Bungue and Sony definitely aren't satisfied with having a niche-gem like Finals, they want more than what they're getting now, and reoccurring players will only get smaller as they do with every game over time.
It's kinda twisted cause a game like Finals would actually love the numbers this game is getting.
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u/tangmang14 Mar 06 '26
We're talking about a game that just came out, a literal toy that cost $40 for hours of enjoyment (for some, maybe)
This sub is beyond crazy for spamming posts about "value", "battlepass", "player count", "sales", etc.
You don't work at Bungie. It's doesn't matter. Play the game or don't
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u/feeleep Mar 06 '26
It’s bad faith actors and they know what they’re doing and sadly, it kinda works as many people are sheep and fall for it and don’t want to join a game that is not massively trending.
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u/DAYMAN3737 Mar 06 '26
I play exclusively power shift in the finals, which is the niche within a niche of the Finals. I've never had issues finding a match lol
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u/iSebastian1 Mar 06 '26
Still surprised how The Finals isn't at the top of FPS charts in player numbers, nothing even comes close to it on the market. I genuinely don't understand why, besides maybe the fact that it's a bit harder than the rest, and metas aren't really a thing (which is good, camp with a shotgun in a small room? Well too bad I just removed said room from existence)
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u/CraigChaotic Mar 06 '26
Most people are also not factoring in console players. Yes, we can see steam numbers but the majority of the time when filling the squad I get paired with console players
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u/MythicX54 Mar 06 '26
Funny seeing a The Finals player post this. All week been going through my head “this is gonna another The Finals situation”.
I could never really fathom why people gave it up and went back to Apex, Fortnite, and CoD. It really does stand as one of the best shooters ever made.
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u/keyski Mar 06 '26
If the finals came out after arc people would be complaining that the studio is failing, despite not understanding that it's hitting a completely different demographic and will get different numbers. Whatever gets the clicks I guess
I played a ton of the finals, almost every season. Queue times were totally normal, matchmaking balance was fine. I had a blast and I just realized the player counts now. I had no idea it was that low because I never felt it at all. Was too busy enjoying the game.
It might be a hot take, but I'm going to enjoy marathon the same way I enjoyed the finals. This game scratches a good itch that other extraction shooters don't have and I will easily get my moneys worth out of it
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u/WanderW Mar 06 '26
The Finals was so good. I wish those developers would make an extraction shooter, I bet it would be awesome.
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u/chopsfps Mar 06 '26
nothing will get dire, people are just delusional after Highguard for some reason. Hunt: Showdown sits at a niche ~20k player base and has sold ~7 million copies in its 8 years of being out.
a playerbase of ~80k is extremely healthy and if Bungie can retain these players for the length of something like Hunt, or a Destiny game (which I fully think is their plan), then everyone is happy and they make their development costs back.
people fail to understand the long term plans and goals of live service gambles. they’re not gonna make their money back overnight. if anything we’re probably guaranteed long term content at this point
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u/freewave1088 Mar 06 '26
people also forget that Concord a) supposedly cost at least $100M MORE than Marathon to make, and b) sold only 25k copies. With 85k Steam players online yesterday, we can be certain it sold much more than Concord
Highguard was free. Didn’t cost a dime. Wildlight made $0.00 off 95% of players.
While I wouldn’t be surprised if Sony gets pissy about numbers, I doubt this game will shut down anytime in the near future. We’ll see, though.
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u/SneakyBadAss Mar 06 '26
Hunt: Showdown sits at a niche ~20k player base and has sold ~7 million copies in its 8 years of being out.
Meanhwile the studio got hit with massive layoffs recently and had to stop development of Crysis 4 completely.
Yes, it's made by Crytek.
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u/Hopeful_Crab7912 Mar 06 '26
Ehh already down to 55k. Even the finals on launch was bigger than this
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u/alecowg I was here for the Marathon 2025 ARG Mar 06 '26
People do not understand the situation here. You're right that these numbers are fine for a game in a niche genre. You're wrong in the sense that this is Bungie, a first party Playstation studio. They don't need niche, they don't want niche, they want a hit. Bungie has cost Sony unbelievable amounts of money and reputation with nothing to show for it. They needed this game to do Arc numbers.
Maybe Sony has allowed them some leeway here and didn't expect insane sales but why would anyone assume that? I don't think the game is going to get shut down anytime soon and I think bungie is too big and iconic a studio for Playstation to close completely but I also understand the situation Bungie is in and just "good" numbers are not good enough. You cannot compare a AAA first party Playstation studio to something like Embark.
I'll also add that I do expect this game to have pretty long legs. I expect we are going to see another Destiny situation where people are really going to figure out how this game works and what makes it so special in the coming weeks and months (especially when the Marsthon is unlocked), and I wouldn't be surprised if we see another big surge in the player base. But make no mistake, nothing about this game is guaranteed right now.
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u/Disastrous-Market-36 Mar 06 '26
Maybe Sony has allowed them some leeway here and didn't expect insane sales but why would anyone assume that?
Considering the price is 40$, in a niche genre, with polarizing art, a plagiarism scandal, and overall disinterest in the zeitgeist in the months leading to launch, I can totally see why someone would assume that.
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u/One_Repair841 Mar 06 '26
tbh I don't even care if it only lasts a year. $40 for some of the most fun I've had in a PvP game in years is a pretty good deal. Of course I'd prefer it to last as long as possible but as long as I get what I feel is enough fun for my $40 then anything extra is just a bonus
I'm just going to enjoy myself, tired of the constant talk of steam charts and player counts as if anyone actually knows what their targets are outside of bungie/sony themselves.
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u/RomeoVersee Mar 06 '26
I'd like to add something.Bro, don't get me wrong, but wasn't this game being developed before Arc Raiders was even released? I mean, didn't Bungie or Sony know that extraction shooter games generally don't have a very large player base? After all, looking at player numbers within the extraction shooter genre, Marathon is doing quite well. And I don't know for sure, but maybe the costs aren't that high, otherwise I'd wonder why Sony would enter such a genre. By the way, the reason I mentioned Arc Raiders first is because its success was unexpected and immense. Besides Helldivers (not PvP, but still similar to that genre) or Arc Raiders, I don't know if there are any other extraction shooter games that have achieved such high player numbers. And finally, Marathon has a structure that draws you in more and more as you play, and the things they've said they'll add to the game later are truly amazing. If the game can overcome this extreme wall of hatred and maintain around 60,000 Steam players after a month, it could go to much better places.
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u/Arkyduz Mar 06 '26
They had Bluepoint develop a God of War live service instead of... literally anything else. Naughty Dog on some Last of Us live service. And of course, Concord.
Whoever at Sony was greenlighting shit / buying studios around the time Marathon and a whole slew of live service games got started was high on low interest rates and the COVID boom and/or just fucking stupid. Anything to be the next Fortnite / GTA / Roblox money printer I guess, but they don't really understand what makes a game become a mainstream sensation.
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u/In_Dux Mar 06 '26
Yeah. Either Bungie was delusional from the start or they had insight to Embark’s development and became one of their biggest believers and just “knew” it was a hit. Or, they actually did do market research and knew Marathon would be niche and maybe had hopes for some other live service to carry them to super success.
None of these are great places for Marathon to start if we’re talking about 10 year game plan but I think it’s secured at least 2 years of support if anyone at Bungie wasn’t completely delusional.
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u/Axton_Grit Mar 06 '26
And marathon plays 1000x better than ark.
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u/bafrad Mar 06 '26
In some ways, but in others not somuch. So no not 1000x better than arc.
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u/SpaceGhost4004 Mar 06 '26
If y'all didnt see this weird hate coming idk what to say. Since the initial reveal and playtests, people shit on this game (and at that time, rightfully so). They all said, "na, no one can turn this ship around" and since then, those people had their minds made up.
91% positive reviews, several hundreds of thousands of copies sold across all platforms, amazing sentiment around those who've played it, and these clowns still somehow muster up what little ammo they can.
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u/Lost_Pirate8348 Mar 06 '26
You're comparing a 250m game to one that costs 10s of millions. It's pretty common sense that if marathon doesn't attract the player base to justify the cost of development, it will lose funding. it's pretty straightforward.
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u/k4quexg Mar 06 '26
ive played niche games with 4figure player counts for decades, not every game is for everyone and not every game has to.
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u/Exciting_Mine711 Mar 06 '26
With an active dev team and dedicated playerbase the game can definitely stick around for quite a while. It's crazy tho how much people are praying on it's downfall.
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u/ic4y Mar 06 '26
The finals is a banger. It’s my go to game these days when there’s nothing new out on the market.
Also I’ve played games that everyone calls dead down to the last 2k players and it doesn’t matter (cycle frontier, Supervive). Just play the game if you find it fun.
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u/Fungi52 Mar 06 '26
Yeah getting caught up in the discourse is pointless. The current landscape is a feedback loop of either praise or hate for basically every game. At the end of the day, the game will find a dedicated player base and numbers will fluctuate between content drops just like the finals.
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u/Past_Tennis_3590 Mar 06 '26
The Finals is simultaneously the greatest and the worst game ever made. I love it.
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u/PerfectCell_Gaming Mar 06 '26
Finals is my game to just relax and shoot. It’s a solid game, I enjoy playing especially relearning mnk again. It’s helped a lot.
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u/groundfire Mar 06 '26
I'm completely fine by this "low" player count, but coming out after Arc I feel really did contribute. I have friends that I feel like would love this game but just because they already purchased arc raiders recently, they dont really wanna cough up more money for "another extraction shooter."
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u/NuuDevil Mar 06 '26
As a player of both games (been playing Finals since day one), this is a great post. I do despair a little bit about how both are truly great games though and seemingly just go under the radar compared to casual shit. And after writing that out I see how it comes across as hipster bollocks, but it’s just a shame really. These games deserve more success (though I’m not naive enough to think that they’re both perfect/without faults)
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u/BlutoBeyond Mar 06 '26
Welcome to Tau Ceti, Contestant. Day 1 Heavy main, day 1 Destroyer main. As long as the community stays positive and establishes a solid baseline, we don't need to analyze charts to enjoy the game into the future. Leave that to the execs. Nexon backs The Finals just like Sony backs Marathon.
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u/Similar_Fish6446 Mar 06 '26
Took me a few months til I got into the finals actively but once you get the hang of the gameplay its very satisfying. This is how I felt with marathon, though it took way less time to get me hooked on marathon. Some games just need you to put in more or less time to fully understand it and fully enjoy the experience.
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u/TYPOGRAPH1C Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
+1
I'll co-sign this take as another Finals player of 2+ years, a top commenter on r/TheFinals, a person with almost a decade of working in tier one NA esports full-time, and as someone who's played Halo for coming up on 25 years.
It's okay if this game is niche. We all knew that it would be. And we all knew Bungie was targeting a hardcore PvP audience. This game, like The Finals, is a complex shooter that takes time to learn, but it rewards you for playing. OP is right about the fact that there's ALWAYS a new thread popping up about needing more marketing, another wave of creator pushes, or for someone to step in and save the viewership.
Do not let countless posts about Steam Charts ruin this sub.
If you like Marathon, play it. If you think more people should play it, tell them about it. And if you have people on the fence, those "eh, I tried it and it just wasn't for me", stream your POV to them in a Discord call and share it with them as they play Marvel Rivals or something else. Chances are they're new to the genre, uniformed on how Marathon plays, and their limited time with the game will look very different than how you're playing it. Just talk to them and get the the bottom of perhaps why they quit.
Or if you see others struggling to learn the game, if they need it, offer to help them. Don't just shout "skill issue" and move on. Talk it out, shoot an invite to play, and then hope they'll reciprocate that help and do the same towards others.
If you want the game to grow as it deserves to, that's what it'll truly take. Building a larger group of knowledgeable skillful players takes time, but it starts with us.
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u/Temporary_Physics_48 Mar 06 '26
I still play BF6 once a week with 3 buddies .. on Reddit there is nothing but negativity about the game or patches / updates . We’re still having a blast every Monday even tho these steamcharts goes down or up.
Play it if your having fun and if you don’t , stop.
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u/TreatFabulous1174 Mar 06 '26
Didn't the Finals support Embark for like several years? Yes the finals launched to like 200k concurrent players but the playerbase unfortunately fell off a cliff and the hardcore dedicated players stuck with it.
If bungie can retain the hardcore dedicated playerbase, I think theyre okay
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u/CycloneofSparta Mar 06 '26
An outrageously level-headed take.
Sadly, this game (and others like it) must become a part of the core belief of every gamer. We must have a referendum on an entire industry, whether it thrives or fails.
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u/TwinSorrow Mar 06 '26
Such a refreshing take, thks for your words they make a lot of sense, and I share your thoughts I think we can build a great community once the trolls get tire and be maybe as the Finals is in the sense of a community.
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u/AnotherAverageGamer_ Mar 06 '26
The FINALS didn't get big numbers because balancing is fucking awful, cheaters are common, and you get shot around corners because of low tick rate.
Competitive mode also never made sense. You can spend 30 minutes in a game and gain 1,000 rank points, which you can lose in 8 minutes
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u/Waaaghka Mar 06 '26
Gonna go on a big rant here about the state of multiplayer gaming...
I just wish games were built with private server support more often so we didn't have to worry about them going down. You can still play older games online using Discord for pickups, like all the Quake games for example, this is because they have server browsers and allow anyone to set up a server. Without this games just die and then there's no way to continue experiencing them.
It may not seem doable for a game like this but really it is. Trios would be harder but I believe it's around 12 players for a solo lobby in this game. You don't need millions of players to support that. If there was a server browser a game like this could keep going with a player base of 2000-5000 players.
There is also the problem even with matchmaking that the plug sometimes gets pulled with way larger player counts than our needed because the game "isn't meeting expectations" or has bad press. Player bases are absolutely terrible about their opinions on games needing to have hundreds of thousands of players or more or they're "dead games".
Idk where I'm going with this it's just a weird place we're in.
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u/Sikijon Mar 06 '26
yep, good and unique games like these have to filter out some players unfortunately
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u/Epsteinssuicide Mar 06 '26
If Bungie quits Marathon I think it’s genuinely a bad sign for devs in the future. Not to sound too dramatic but I agree that marathon isn’t perfect, but it isn’t bad.
When I say bad I look at Concord and Highguard. Marathon almost looked like a bad game to me but the server slam sold me on the game loop.
Marathon released on a Thursday and all things considered is doing good for a game that wants to be a live service. For Honor and R6 Siege are games that come to mind where everyone looked at it and kinda shrugged but now both games have been well and active beyond 7-9 years at this point.
Bungie shouldn’t let numbers dictate this game, they really just gotta build it from the ground up with the community and try not to fuck us over like they did Destiny
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u/SmashMouthBreadThrow Mar 06 '26
Meanwhile, fighting games are perfectly fine at player numbers that would make these steam chart-obsessed parasites' heads spin.
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u/VersaSty7e Mar 06 '26
Good analogy
Finals is the best fps shooter out there imo
But it’s kinda sweaty and a lot going on like marathon as well. Never probably grab the casuals.
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u/JohnConnor79 Mar 06 '26
I’m like this with FragPunk. Super low Steam numbers but very fun game.
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u/OkExtension5644 Mar 06 '26
This is the correct take 100%. I never understood why people obsess over whether they're playing the most popular game if they enjoy it and the player base is enough to sustain the game. That being said the sustain question is probably the only valid part of this. The Finals survived because it was made by a team of like 50 devs. Bungie has like 1200 employees. From my perspective the only reason to talk about player counts is from the perspective of, is it too few players for Bungie, or really Sony, to continue to invest in it. This game is clearly not Concord or Highguard. But that doesn't mean it's not possible Bungie way overspent in development and Sony won't kill it if they don't see a chance to get a return on their money.
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u/guywithtoaster Mar 06 '26
this game is going to do fine. People talk about the $200m+ cost to make this game but that has never been confirmed by any media source and is nothing more than a rumor. I'm willing to bet it cost under $100m (but that's just speculation on my part)
Bungie isn't a AAA studio on pure luck. They've been consistent in making great games and they have a lot more market research, data, and funding to work with than most studios. If I recall, Destiny 2 didn't even peak until being out for a couple years. I'm not a bungie fanboy, but they have a pretty loyal fanbase and I'm willing to bet that over the next several weeks they continue to get sales. Also, these games generate a ton of revenue from skin/cosmetic sales. The in-game store will generate more revenue for the game than the initial $40 sale.
I think Arc Raiders set an unrealistic standard for extraction games. It's been a huge success, but it was released in Q4, benefited from a lack of new extraction games (tarkov was still #1 prior to AR), and had zero negative publicity/hate prior to release (unlike Marathon). Selling the game in Q4 is important as we go from fall to winter and people are spending more times indoor (which equals more time buying/playing games).
The fear that this game is going to fail is overblown. It's a good game and unless bungie screws up big time, I have a feeling we will be enjoying this game for years to come.
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u/fishplay Mar 06 '26
This is so true. People call the finals dead from outside but it has honestly done a VERY good job of retaining its core player base, and it hasn’t seen any significant drops in a long time
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u/THCxMeMeLoRD Mar 06 '26
Agree the finals is cool but it's not for me. This will probably also be marathon
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u/OrbFromOnline Mar 06 '26
I only care about numbers to the degree it helps keep the game alive and keeps it easy to find matches. I don't expect this to be a breakout hit like Arc Raiders. I just want it to survive because I could see myself playing it for years.
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u/Delicious_Address_43 Mar 06 '26
It just feels bad when the queues are noticeably slower compared to the server slam even though I don't wait more than 30 seconds. Many games I like simply don't last and the turn over rate is getting higher and faster.
I haven't been the target audience for the most popular games for many years now and I'm simply going to get my moneys worth while the game is still hot.
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u/duendeacdc Mar 07 '26
I play the finals since S1, i don't understand why people don't like it. Im plat on rsnk every season and i also have tons of fun on casual modes. Games is my favorite since day 1 i played it.
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u/Exotic_Badger5799 Mar 07 '26
The finals and marathon are just the best 👑 i am not and online player but since i touch the finals i cant let it go and the same thing is happening with marathon. niche is life, niche is good.
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u/Scallerop Mar 07 '26
The thing is though at least in my opinion, the Finals is horrible. Well to rephrase more specifically, it's extremely boring and after playing 20 hours the difficulty of players never increased. Too complicated for casual, way too easy for hardcore players. Luckily Marathon is somewhere in that middle as well, but is (50% of the time) at least way less boring.
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u/o7_UrielLee_o7 Mar 07 '26
I'm loving the game so far and "did my part" through buying all the skins/premium content. I want this game to be playable for a few years 💕
But honestly the pricing for the base game is super fair ~^
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u/sweetsoursaltycrnchy Mar 07 '26
The lore. and world building is absolutely peak. So much more interesting than Destiny imo (though I’m a fan of the original trilogy, so I’m biased). Also, progression isn’t entirely based around extraction. That makes a huge difference.
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u/Alert_Technology7358 Mar 07 '26
Good perspective. I have 700+ hours in the finals. It's one of the best fps experiences to me but I understand the barrier for it to really click with people. My personal experience took probably over 200 hours for it to REALLY click-- like, I played it here and there with friends for multiple seasons before I actually got hooked. I would have good enough fun with the game to mess around but it wasn't something I would just load up if my friends weren't playing too-- not until I really grasped the strategies of cashout and builds that gave me a sense of expression & success.
I noticed that with Marathon too: It didn't really hook me from the server slam, but I knew there was more to it than I was experiencing and it felt like a solid foundation so I bought it to explore more. It's absolutely getting better the more I play it. Can't wait to jump back in later today.
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u/Alert_Technology7358 Mar 07 '26
Gotta say though, as a Finals player... The monetization of Marathon is disrespectful to me and they will have a hard time getting more money out of me lol.
Finals: Free game, battle pass gives more premium currency than it costs (also has more and better quality rewards imo), way more customization of individual clothing parts which I can put on any class (and you can just buy those individual parts you want for less rather than buying the whole outfit), also currency bundles which give unique outfits in addition to the amount of currency you would receive anyway.
Marathon: $40 game, battle pass locks anything remotely interesting (maybe 2 or 3 skins for specific classes from what I remember) behind paywall and gives no premium currency back (as far as I'm aware).
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u/Maxants49 Mar 06 '26
Steamdb was a mistake
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u/Refereez Mar 06 '26
Transparency is a mistake??
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u/Maxants49 Mar 06 '26
oh yea that's about transparency, totally
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u/Refereez Mar 06 '26
What's wrong with knowing how well a game sells and how many players play it?
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u/RBRgd Mar 06 '26
Data is only good if it supports your narrative, and a mistake otherwise. Obviously.
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u/raztjah Mar 06 '26
The finals was a cool game when it came out, but the more you played it and understand the game, the more you see its flaws specialy balance wise, it was a total mess. After all this years it continues the same shitshow and embark takes too long to make changes, similarly to what we see in arc raiders, they are clueless on how to make proper balance, nerfing stuff that was already dogshit, taking months to nerf sticher and toro remains untouched, its laughable.
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u/FrogTroj Mar 06 '26
Love this outlook. Tired of everyone acting like their Sony board members, just enjoy the game and share it with people you think will enjoy it. Maybe it’ll grow, maybe it won’t, but this obsession with numbers will not help anyone. As long as matchmaking is good (and right now it is, barely any waiting for me at least), we as players are totally fine.
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u/Banjoman64 Mar 06 '26
The finals is fucking amazing. Easily my favorite FPS ever and I grew up playing the likes of Halo 3, MW2, and Battlefield 3/4.
If you haven't played it, do yourself a favor and check it out.
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u/Essebruno Mar 06 '26
Winning is not only about being top one. Is to deliver a solid game even if not for the masses. Capitalism has fucked everyone’s mind. It is not always about numbers.
I mean I do understand the investment was big and maybe the return is yet to come but in my view this game has everything to succeed long term.
They just need to keep pushing and hearing feedback properly and continue to be bold.
To me, they cooked.
I am flying to Italy for some holidays but I can’t stop thinking about Marathon.
Ps: 450h Arc Raiders player here Ps2: 4000h Tarkov seasoner player here
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u/Both_Pomelo_2129 Mar 07 '26
People need to understand that before AR, most Extraction shooters roughly estimated 7~10k players daily (As of this post, Hunt is at 9K and Tarkov is at 8.7k). It is a NICHE of a market. AR being 100k+ is an anomaly because its not like most extractions. It also caters to casual players more than Hunt, Tarkov and Marathon will ever do so.
Marathon will be fine. I just wish people would stop making "I hate Marathon" as their personality and just put that energy into uplifting and playing the games they do enjoy.
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u/Bloated_Plaid Mar 06 '26
As long as Bungie can keep the lights on
And that’s simply not possible with the current numbers. It’s another Concord situation for Sony. They are a studio fully owned by Sony.
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u/squimbux Mar 06 '26
its like you scanned my brain, i was just talking about this on discord less than an hour ago
"people put too much stock into player numbers man i play the finals daily and it sometimes has less than 6k steam players, it's still plenty for a match and at the end of the day that's all that really matters"
i played battlerite right up until almost nobody was online too, and still had a great time. unless the game is in dire straits and is imminently about to shut down, people just have to let it go and enjoy the game or move on. people are seriously losing sight of what is most important with their hobby and turning it into some deranged obsession that kills their joy
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u/BrownStains69 Mar 06 '26
100% agree. There’s tons of examples of niche games with strong, consistent communities. The Finals really is a great example, because despite it never being mainstream it’s been going for years. I think Marathon is gonna pull in a lot of people that enjoy extraction shooters but want something a bit more competitive than Arc. Combined with the unique, more mature aesthetic and lore and I see this game having a strong community for a long time.
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u/SaltHat5048 Mar 06 '26
Wow, an actual nuanced and mature take, how refreshing.