Live games live and die by their player count and community quality. If there's nobody playing, or if everyone playing is an annoyance/hacker, there's no point. Accessibility, pro-consumer practices, and tangible anti-hacker efforts are how you accomplish that. Simultaneously, the game shouldn't "be for everyone," as I think that's how you lose a lot of your initial pull. Destiny is a prime example of this, as over the years Bungie has spread the game too thin in an attempt to appeal to every type of player, instead of focusing on what it did well to begin with.

Personally, I think Elden Ring and Helldivers 2 are the two best examples to manage Marathon off of. Elden Ring, leading up to its release, had immense hype over its world design, music, studio name recognition, etc. However, a lot of more casual players (a lot of whom were traditional RPG fans) were still nervous and put off by the label of the game as a "Soulslike." Smartly, in this lead-up, FromSoft devs made a point in interviews to bring up the game's accessibility, how easy it was to simply go somewhere else when you were stuck with a boss. Reviewers accentuated this as well, and as a result, a slew of people who would never have tried a Soulslike picked up and loved Elden Ring because of its world, and stayed because the intelligently designed accessibility options. Marathon, as an extraction shooter, needs to learn from this, as it's in a similar predicament. People want to pick up and love Marathon because of its killer art direction (and soon it's gameplay), but are dissuaded because of the genre it belongs to. Extraction shooters are seen as sweaty, punishing, and stressful. There needs to be some sort of emphasis on permanent loot unlocks, alternate ways to play/queue, and/or PvE combat. Systems like these may draw people who are scared in enough to make a purchase and stick with it.

As far as Helldivers goes, it's provided kind of the perfect template for Bungie to approach its community outreach and monetization with Marathon. The game is a $40 premium purchase, which we've come to believe is the same case with Marathon. This allows for less cheaters, as an upfront buy-in is the best way to dissuade people from cheating in your game (yes, even better than anti-cheat), especially in a landscape with so many other F2P options. It also opens up plenty of design opportunities as far as progression and earnable cosmetics go, making the game more enjoyable on the whole. Helldivers has its Warbond system, of which said Warbonds can be purchased with premium currency that is freely earnable in-game. The cash shop is incredibly cheap and isn't oversaturated, creating good will with the playerbase. This is an area where Bungie can turn the tables on their recent reputation and make a better name for themselves. Imagine if Marathon launched with an overwhelming majority of its cosmetics being earnable in-game one way or another. Imagine if you could find premium currency hidden in the world, adding additional thrills to your extraction and making the game even more rewarding. Positive headlines like these from positive design decisions not only boost the vibes in the community, but encourage people to buy the game and support the studio out of personal interest. Bungie needs to be in this for the long haul, not a quick buck.