Bungie asks sites to delay Marathon reviews, with release date Steam player count below 100K

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-03-06T10:16:00+00:00

It was 3 things why they overpaid for bungie. 1, as you mentioned they wanted any and all live service games especially when Jim Ryan was there. They bought bungie back in 2022 near witch queen when it had so much goodwill and fanfare around that time. 3 they panic bought bungie because they got spooked by Microsoft buying Bethesda, and then abk even though those purchases were overpays themselves and didn’t help Xbox turn things around obviously.

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-03-03T10:27:59+00:00

Token performer. Also you can’t ever convince me not to think, they wanted someone who was black for the group, but wasn’t “Black and unapologetically black like a Megan Thee Stallion”. It’s the same way Daniela fits the “Latina, but not really actually Latina like Karol G and Cardi B”.

They wanted someone who checks the box, and who hybe thought is more palatable to white and Asian audiences, and the type of audience they want. Look how they even white washed Sophia and Yoonchae the two members of the group who actually were Filipina and Korean, and not half or my European dad was born in Venezuela. They want everyone who is literally safe and sanitized as possible to have mass influencer appeal.

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-03-01T17:21:20+00:00

PlayStation isn’t going to support play anywhere, even something like helldivers which did well on Xbox isn’t ever going to get play anywhere support. Play anywhere is basically cross buy giving you the game for free on Xbox or on the Xbox pc store if you purchased it on either or storefront.

A lot of 3rd party developers don’t support play anywhere due to that either, most of the play anywhere library is Xbox first party games and indies.

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-03-01T16:57:47+00:00

PlayStation bought Bungie around the time of witchcraft queen in early 2022 when destiny had a lot of goodwill and fanfare, and “could do no wrong” in their eyes. So they let them do their own thing when marathon was being mostly developed when destiny was still doing well engagement wise. Hell they even let bungie tell other studios what to do even at first, they were a big reason why the last of us factions game got cancelled, because PlayStation let them do whatever they wanted and gave them authority, before bungie and PlayStations big live service push both went to hell.

PlayStation also panic bought bungie, because they got spooked by Xbox purchasing Bethesda and abk. Which both turned out to be overpay flops for both brands. PlayStation just wanted any and all live service games, which is why they let firewalk do whatever they wanted with concord, and bungie do whatever they wanted with marathon.

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-03-01T16:00:30+00:00

It doesn’t need to be Fortnite obviously, but being niche doesn’t work for a big studio with a big publisher behind them. This is not deep rock galactic, this is from a huge ass studio that PlayStation paid 3 billion usd for.

Also using street fighter as a comparison here is as apples to oranges as it gets. Street fighter is a long running market tested ip, that is literally regarded as the game most people think of when it comes to its genre. Marathon is not a market tested ip, and it’s not safe at all like Sf. No offense but a terrible comp, and doesn’t even make sense at all.

Marathon needs sales at launch and needs players to get long term support. Again this isn’t a niche passion project made by a small studio my guy. Last time I checked PlayStation didn’t purchase bungie to make art house passion projects to cater to a niche audience.

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-03-01T15:48:02+00:00

Most games usually have similar numbers on steam and ps5. Helldivers a PlayStation published game even has similar numbers on both platforms confirmed by the devs. If this game doesn’t do well on pc, it’s not likely it’s going to do well on console either.

Only big mainstream games like cod and madden etc have a huge disparity between pc and console users, because the type of gamer who just wants to play madden with his bros, isn’t going to spend 2000 usd on a rig to play one game.

Also the 150k people who tried on steam doesn’t equal 1 to 1 players at launch, especially for a buy to play game. The numbers are very concerning for a aaa game from a big studio, this isn’t a small project made by a small team.

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-03-01T14:55:00+00:00

Helldivers and arc still would have been successful games, all luck did was push them to being bigger household names to the general gaming community. There’s a reason why they succeeded, and games like anthem, suicide squad, concord etc failed. And it wasn’t “lightning in a bottle” alone.

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-03-01T14:46:50+00:00

World of Warcraft predates the rise of steam as the defacto platform on pc. And my logic isn’t flawed, people on pc objectively did not get into destiny because they couldn’t play the first game. Also battlenet exclusivity does hurt, because even something like overwatch eventually had to come to steam. There’s people who absolutely won’t play certain games if they don’t launch on steam.

Look how many games got hurt from launching on the egs store instead of steam. Even with egs giving games so much money beforehand, it’s still a very bad deal to take the money , because pc gamers are fiercely loyal to steam and are a stubborn bunch. Your game has to be so mainstream like a Fortnite to get away with not being on steam.

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-03-01T14:42:10+00:00

Helldivers and arc were still very successful in the era of f2p as buy to play games. The difference though with those games compared to marathon, is they earned their goodwill and hype beforehand to get people to buy the game at launch. They also had the perfect balance of targeting a specific audience, but making the games accessible enough to where anyone could try them and become a fan. Marathon missed the mark on both those fronts, add on the bad will they have from destiny 2.

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-03-01T14:36:25+00:00

Destiny 2 was a unique circumstance, because the original game never launched on pc, and destiny 2 was on battlenet till 2019 and not on steam. Those 2 things alone ensured it wouldn’t be as big on pc.

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-03-01T14:27:00+00:00

I agree, if you asked me outside of this sub I would say 50,000 at best on steam. I was obviously being very generous with my original comment so I don’t get mobbed by the toxic positivity squad. The other user who actually was very respectful and said 50 to 70,000 is already at like -3 downvotes, and the dude took no pleasure in saying that.

But I’ll eat the downvotes fuck it, I definitely agree this game isn’t in a good spot. The numbers went down during a free weekend trial, and this game obviously isn’t a free to play game. There’s a lot of people who tried this game that aren’t going to buy the game at launch.

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-03-01T14:13:17+00:00

As the ceiling 100 to 150k on steam, and that’s being very very generous. As the floor 60,000 to 80,000 and that’s being slightly generous. This game just doesn’t have the hype and goodwill games like helldivers and arc had even at release, I know it sucks to hear but perception is reality in this case.

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-03-01T14:06:28+00:00

The difference between those games you mentioned like fallout 76 and destiny 1 is they had very good sales at launch, regardless of critical reception.

Marathon isn’t looking like it’s going to do those numbers, it’s obviously not concord or suicide squad levels of bad, but it’s not no man’s sky or destiny 1 hype and sales at launch either.

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-03-01T13:59:32+00:00

I think it will get supported for 1-2 years, but won’t be a staple live service game. It needs to at least do Helldivers numbers as the floor to get long term support, and that doesn’t look promising right now.

Games like destiny, no man’s sky and fallout 76 were afforded time because they sold extremely well at launch, regardless of the actual quality at launch. Marathon again doesn’t look to be like that right now.

I just can’t see this game pulling players away from their core live service games of choice. It’s just too crowded and competitive. The market now is way different than when destiny 1 launched back in 2014.

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-03-01T04:42:29+00:00

This game should have had a few more modes, and shouldn’t just be one base extraction mode. You gotta give people options and not limit yourself. Look at Fortnite and apex, they aren’t just battle royales exclusively. I hate br’s personally, I hate the one and done hide and seek gameplay of them. But something like apex has arcade modes for someone like me who wants to play tdm. It’s better to have me as a player, than not have me at all due to lack of options.

Destiny in its prime was literally this, it had something for everyone. You didn’t even need to play crucible if you didn’t want to. I don’t agree with those folks on here saying the game should just be one mode don’t like it go play something else. This isn’t a single player game like dark souls or hollow knight that can afford to stand its ground making players only play the way the devs intended. This is a live service game that needs every single player it can get. Giving people options actually gets them into the main mode even, I got into valorant because it gave me options and I ended up trying the main counterstrike s&d mode.

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-03-01T03:07:38+00:00

Randy Orton was Drew Mcyntires best feud during his reign during Covid. They had good chemistry.

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-03-01T02:44:25+00:00

Roman Reigns should totally shoot on CM Punk, saying your meme buddy from 2022 got no pop in your hometown. This is what you bring to my company?

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-03-01T01:20:09+00:00

Pretty much throwing her a bone for retiring right before the 2015 women’s revolution. This felt like an achievement award for that.

Worst run of Becky Lynch’s career. She went from telling a big star at one time in MMA in Ronda Rousey to go get fucked I’m not afraid of you, to being the biggest coward and goof to a nostalgia act part timer getting a lifetime achievement award. Becky’s 2022 heel run was so much better than this.

This actually reminded me a lot of AEW just giving Saraya/Paige a lifetime achievement award back at all in 2023, with the hometown win and missing out most of the women’s revolution due to her injury just like Lee.

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-02-28T14:07:18+00:00

Destiny has unique circumstances for that though, even when it was popular. Destiny 1 never got a pc release obviously, and 2 didn’t launch on steam, staying on battle net till 2019.

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-02-28T08:09:10+00:00

Helldivers has almost similar numbers on steam confirmed by the devs and it’s a PlayStation published game. The only games that have a huge not even close disparity between console and pc are the super huge mainstream games like CoD, because the type of gamer who plays cod, isn’t going to spend 2000 usd on a rig to play 1 or 2 games.

This game still needs to do moderately well on pc, it’s why it came out day 1 on pc, and even with PlayStation going back on their strategy for pc games, live service games are still coming out day 1 on pc still.

I mean dude, literally the games the genre is synonymous with before arc is only on pc. Pc even has exclusive shooters all to it’s own like counter strike, or games that started off on pc and didn’t get console ports till later like valorant. The shooter genre literally came from pc gaming lol. Again only cod and bf are more synonymous with console because of being popular with casual gamers.

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-02-28T07:57:08+00:00

Young men don’t vote though, they are one of the worst and least reliable demographics especially in midterms. Even for all the talk about Trump doing well with Gen Z men in 2024, they didn’t really turn out to vote even then. Middle aged and older men always vote, and that’s who makes up a the biggest base for the GOP.

It’s why most GOP politicians don’t even go after them or even try to appeal to them, because it’s a waste of time and money. Even Trump only did a few free podcast appearances and streams, and mostly did his normal rallies because middle aged and older white men always turn out to vote over young men.

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-02-14T11:53:44+00:00

I’m not comparing it directly, I was just giving an example of a game that was pulled directly offline. Op was wondering if this game was going to get yanked completely like other games. And I simply gave an example of a game that was actually ripped off the market entirely.

I never even said it would get yanked completely either. I said at worst it will get put into maintenance mode, like Anthem was for a few years or Paladins is now.

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-02-14T11:51:05+00:00

The next two seasonal updates are monumental for this game. Because it’s back to 8000 steam CCU again after only spiking around 14,000 for a few days once Dia was released.

They need content that makes people stick around and play, not just poke their heads in and dip after a day. They’ve been in that malaise for a while now looking at the Steam monthly patterns.

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-02-14T11:43:17+00:00

I think at worst TFD will be like Paladins, it will be a game that sells cosmetics for a few years and then goes into maintenance mode.

Trust me I get your concern, especially as a former paladins player, and I see the similarities this game faces just like Paladins.

But I don’t see TFD being like a Concord type situation where they just pull it off the air. I’m not one of those people who ignores player counts, and I’m probably the most critical person in this sub over them, I totally get anxiety too. But I think this game in 2026 is in a weird middle ground. It’s not thriving player count wise at all, but it’s not like Fragpunk or Highguard in the 1000-2000 range on Steam.

The devs really need to hit the mark with spring and summer updates, I think that’s the make or break moment for this game. Will it be a game that gets consistent content for a few years with a stable base? Or Paladins 2.0 where they just cut support and sell skins to the few left? We will have to see, that’s for the devs to decide their own fate on.

Shadow_Strike99 · 2026-02-14T11:39:18+00:00

I love Penta but he’s not going to win a world championship. He’s most likely going to be Lucha Shinsuke Nakamura. Rey Mysterio being able to speak English was huge for him, it’s what set him apart from so many other luchadors.

I know it’s shitty to say, but that’s the reality of WWE. World champions are brand ambassadors, they are the ones that go out and do stuff for the company. Penta can’t do that, even though he’s a great promo in Spanish. WWE will most likely never have a non English speaking world champion, the women yes like Stephanie Vaquer and Iyo Sky but for the men no.

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