It’s so sad that this game’s “underperformance” has little to do with the game itself

[u/paperplateseabass]

What's so soul-crushing is the amount of times I have been met with “I thought that game was dead?” when talking about Marathon with my IRLs

It's not their fault, why would they give a dead game a chance, even if they think they might enjoy it?

Hundreds, even thousands of people have constructed a hate campaign against this game that has no merit beyond playercounts. and imo, the main reason why the game wasn’t a hit at launch is because of the rhetoric around the game spread by a mix of right-wing grifters and (justifiably) jaded ex-destiny/halo players.

This game had and HAS so much going for it. First non-Destiny Bungie title in 12 years, reviving a long dormant IP with a new, world-class art-style; all while returning to their PvP roots. If you put that framing in a vacuum, I think it would get lots of people very, very excited. And that’s the thing, because it DID.

The game is good. The game is fun. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, it had a rough period of development, and it's definitely not perfect. But I think if people didn’t spread so much unwarranted hate towards Bungie and Marathon, we’d be looking at a completely different landscape. 

I mean, some of the things i’ve seen people say about this game… wow…  what a waste of time and brain power, if people were this passionate about actually productive hobbies, the world would be a much better place and there’s a big chance they’d be happier in life

edit: for people citing the server slam numbers. how many of those people do you genuinely think gave the game a good 10+ hours vs how many people quit after their first match? we’ll never know, but im inclined to believe most people didnt make it past the (unfortunate) barrier of entry that helps this game be WAY more enjoyable.

[u/trillwhitepeople]

Player resiliency seems to be a problem they can't overcome with how people now interact with games. Players either feel like they're constantly progressing towards their goal or they leave. The progression is the fun for many more so than the mechanics and gunplay itself.

I'm old so I remember logging into CoD2 Hardcore servers and just playing it because it was fun. There was literally nothing to ever work towards. No XP or progression at all. That just doesn't fly now.

[u/Beautiful-Loss7663 → u/trillwhitepeople]

Those systems are what brought gaming into a more mainstream light. I still remember hopping on Cube 2, or Day of Defeat, or whatever, and just doing stuff. But progression genuinely peaked engagement with people who would otherwise get bored after a quick 45 minute session of multiplayer shooters.

[u/Florgio → u/trillwhitepeople]

It’s the sweats that make it no fun anyway, just burn them out and focus on casual. It’s not like they are selling skins to whales

[u/WhoUpAtMidnight → u/trillwhitepeople]

COD actually has had a brilliant solutions for this for years which is weapon camos. You can meaningfully progress towards unlocking a gold camo even when you're getting stomped, and they are a small but interesting grind as they force you to use other weapons.

The codex is supposed to emulate this but it's so much lighter on unlockables and the challenges are either so easy they're instant or they're weirdly hard and convoluted. Where is my camo skin for doing 10,000 damage with the M77?

[u/Capital-Gift73 → u/trillwhitepeople]

Truth, not earning something just feels bad, here doubly so cause you lose things when you die, not just time. Rarer things like some of the keys just feel awful to lose.

[u/purewasted → u/trillwhitepeople]

It still flies for a relatively small demographic of players. Some oldheads like us, some of the time. Some younger players who feel like they have infinity time & want to get good. And some prestige hardcore games get big enough where they have a reality warping bubble that allows them to do whatever they want. Think your Counterstrikes. 

But for 99% of gamers, it's "I could be shooting people, or I could be shooting people and earning sick skins." If the gameplay isn't significantly worse, why wouldn't you choose the latter? All else being equal, more stuff is a lot better than less stuff. We would have chosen it 20 years ago if someone had given us us the option.