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Marathon releases to 87,000 players on Steam and 87% Positive Reviews (sponsored by coachmcguirk91)

Hollywood Hitman said:
I think in similar fashion I can adapt that a bit that I'm not unemployed enough to play a game where theoretically you could log in and just get fucked endlessly for a few hours if things go bad nonstop and basically come home empty handed.

Life for example and not sure who else played trials in destiny but there's a reason it was the weekend only because while I loved It, it was sweaty as fuck and I wouldn't want my whole gaming experience in destiny being trials.

I got the lighthouse many many times, I enjoyed the sweat but it had to be in doses and Marathon sounds like 24/7 trials... No thanks lol
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I gave up on competitive gaming when my bowling alley got rid of the Hard Drivin' machine with my leaderboard domination on it. I don't know who the hell TNK was, but he can fuck off and eat my dust.
 
Hollywood Hitman said:
I haven't stepped foot in that thread to post, I've read some comments but at the end of the day I'm happy to just fuck around in this thread because I deep down have no desire to go in there and piss on their game, because it's just not they deep... I've had fun in this thread but it's all for shits and giggles.
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You aren't going in there because you would be banned for fucking around in the OT, not by choice. Anyhow I've made my point and as you said we "just not they deep", so I'll leave it at that.

What are the concurrent users at now?
 
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Guardian Monkey said:
You aren't going in there because you would be banned for fucking around in the OT, not by choice. Anyhow I've made my point and as you said we "just not they deep", so I'll leave it at that.

What are the concurrent users at now?
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Most participants in this thread would 100% be shitting up the OT if they could. We may be seething in impotent rage over there, but here is no different :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 
Guardian Monkey said:
I literally said why in my post you quoted.
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Oh... so you're just interested in performance, yet you're defending and antagonizing posters in the thread, so which is it? Just admit you don't like people making fun of your game, and you wish it had special treatment where no criticism could be made against it.

In case you haven't noticed, EVERYTHING on this board gets made fun of. Most of the people shitting on something haven't bought what they're shitting on. What kind of crazy requirement would that be?
 
Guardian Monkey said:
You aren't going in there because you would be banned for fucking around in the OT, not by choice. Anyhow I've made my point and as you said we "just not they deep", so I'll leave it at that.

What are the concurrent users at now?
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I'm not in there because I have no desire to bust the balls on a game I'm not playing when dudes want to talk about it for gameplay talk, I fuck around but I'm not a dick like that, sorry to disappoint.
 
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Hollywood Hitman said:
Man hard drivin haha that is going back my friend that's for sure
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iu


We really had it all man.
 
Negotiator101 said:
Again is this normal? In terms of player retention? Is it liable to stabilise soon at not lose too much more IYO?
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Depends on the game. GAAS games goes like this:

A tiny number of games actually go up over time. For example, CS, Dead by Daylight, Rust, Warframe have been around a long time and their CCU goes UP on Steam. These are abnormal. Over time you'd think they fizzle out, but they keep going up.

But you can get very successful games which start out hot, even creep up for weeks or months setting new highs, then start to die down and stabilize at a decent number.

Then you got many games like Marathon. They peak on day one, then immediately go down. Even the weekend didnt increase Marathon peak CCU. On the Saturday/Sunday, it went down vs launch day which was the Thursday right before it. This is the worst trend to have especially if the game doesnt have a gigantic starting number. Marathon's 88k launch peak is ok but nothing special given it's Bungie and the budget spent.

For SP games, it's different because they start hot and probably all of them trend down since gamers beat the game in the first month or get sick of it and it trends down.

All games typically get spikes on weekends, when there's a bargain sale, content update, it goes from paid to F2P etc...

In terms of stabilizing, just about all games do. It just depends how low the core gamers are for that game. A crap game like Highguard immediately tanked and it looks like right to the end (game ends March 12), the core fans still playing it tanked to about 300 when it's launch peak was 97k. So for this game it's stabilized at a low of 300. But for another game it might be 3,000 or 30,000.

We dont know what Marathon's stable rate is because its still a new game and dropping 10% daily. But if it's doing -10% lately, its suddenly not going to be flat tomorrow. Trending in things in business typically smooth out and not jump 10% the next day. So unless there's something that boosts the CCU like the content update people are talking about or a popular streamer with millions of followers tells everyone to buy it, it'll likely be -9%... -7%... -5%.... and weed down to a plateau as even really old games always seems to have a core group of gamers keeping it alive.
 
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Lots of repeated talking points, but given that this thread has grown a lot, it's probably worth it.

My theory on the player count for Marathon is that it had public test weekends, especially the Server Slam, giving lots of people the chance to demo the game and decide whether to go in or not at launch. This could have been key to why the game did not sail over that 100k CCU on launch day.

The other part to that theory is that the game isn't a looker. If anything its visually off putting to the average gamer so they're not even going to want to give it a shot.
 
The amount of anger that seems to have exploded in here is concerning.

The discussion is whether or not the game will trend up or continue it's downward trend.

The revelation that the majority of sales have been on PC(and not consoles) coupled with a peak of only 88k on launch day, after which launch weekend failed to equal or exceed that.

We also have the news that the game will not have it's first real endgame content for at least 2-3 weeks, when a game like this really needs that extra content for retention. Borderlands 4 also suffered this issue.

The next major update isn't until April(when is unknown in the month). That's a long time to keep your playerbase engaged, if I'm honest.

I've long said the game looks to be establishing itself as quitr niche with a small, but fairly consistent and reasonably dedicated playerbase.

My thing is I don't think that is what Sony and Bungie were hoping for, in my opinion.
 
This is some relevant info

Server Slam started at 143k and ended at 55k

There's going to be some drop off in there due to people not enjoying, or maybe deciding they want to hold off for the full release given that progression was not saved, but it ended at 55k which is kinda close to the numbers we're seeing now.


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falconhoof said:
Lots of repeated talking points, but given that this thread has grown a lot, it's probably worth it.

My theory on the player count for Marathon is that it had public test weekends, especially the Server Slam, giving lots of people the chance to demo the game and decide whether to go in or not at launch. This could have been key to why the game did not sail over that 100k CCU on launch day.

The other part to that theory is that the game isn't a looker. If anything its visually off putting to the average gamer so they're not even going to want to give it a shot.
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Agreed.

The gamers who are into it giving it chance and doing the beta knows by launch time whether it's a yea or nay.

A gamer who didnt bother with the beta (or didnt even know about it) will likely not be a big fan of the neon art. Some will like it. But when you got a crazy looking shooter many people wont bother. But then you look at all the people who play WWII or brown/grey modern shooter games for 25 years and for the millions and millions they sell I dont think the typical gamer has to play a demo to determine if they like it or not (at least the aesthetics). They take one look at the game's graphics and if it looks good and gritty that might be good enough to buy. If it's wacky, likely not.

The factor it's extraction is a key thing too. Not the typical shooter mode a lot of gamers want to play even for gamers who follow news and all the popular shooters out there. ARC had done great, but probably helped it's acceptance with gamers being the first big promoted extraction game (Tarkov and Hunt were never this hyped up) and it still has a cool grounded look to it even though it has giant spider robots and characters carrying gigantic backpacks like they're a mule.

Now combine crazy neon look + extraction and it'll be a tough sell for many shooter gamers even if the gunplay and netcode are good.
 
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ShadyAcshuns said:
Oh... so you're just interested in performance, yet you're defending and antagonizing posters in the thread, so which is it? Just admit you don't like people making fun of your game, and you wish it had special treatment where no criticism could be made against it.

In case you haven't noticed, EVERYTHING on this board gets made fun of. Most of the people shitting on something haven't bought what they're shitting on. What kind of crazy requirement would that be?
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😂 My guy, I'm asking why such time and effort to hate on a game that they don't care about? Now that's considered antagonizing posters? How about coming up with a reasonable response. I have no problem if some people don't like Marathon, said myself in the first beta last April on the this board that the game isn't for everyone. Being able to constructively critique a game is different than throwing anything at a wall continuously.
 
simpatico said:
So if Marathon does poorly overall, but better on PC than PS5, what does that do for Herm's plans to move away from PC?
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Well, the theory pushed around is exclusives sell consoles. So for future GAAS games they should go PS exclusive so that all the PC gamers will sell their rig and buy a PS5. This would prop up the PS5 ecosystem making more money as those PC gamers buy the Sony game on PSN instead of Steam or GOG.
 
simpatico said:
So if Marathon does poorly overall, but better on PC than PS5, what does that do for Herm's plans to move away from PC?
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The logical thing would be stop charging people for online experiences. That way people would only need to pay for the game. It wouldn't make for an explosive change though, but it would equal experiences with PC.
But we are talking about Hermen. This guy is more preocupated with his sexual fantasies about Horizon than anything.
 
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simpatico said:
So if Marathon does poorly overall, but better on PC than PS5, what does that do for Herm's plans to move away from PC?
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It's kind of a dumb strategy and just leaving money on the table.

Imagine if Marathon ONLY launched on PS5 or if the next Destiny (if it comes out) becomes a PS5 exclusive and skips PC altogether. That 3.6B purchase is several magnitudes of Concords in terms of money lost.
Edit: I think that Bungie has the say on multiplatform releases, but that was before they severely underperformed with the last Destiny 2 dlc
 
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falconhoof said:
Lots of repeated talking points, but given that this thread has grown a lot, it's probably worth it.

My theory on the player count for Marathon is that it had public test weekends, especially the Server Slam, giving lots of people the chance to demo the game and decide whether to go in or not at launch. This could have been key to why the game did not sail over that 100k CCU on launch day.

The other part to that theory is that the game isn't a looker. If anything its visually off putting to the average gamer so they're not even going to want to give it a shot.
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I disagree... having played the game, the learning curve is extremely high and the UI is bizarre.

I think it's a good game, unironically, and I also think the graphics are great. But first impressions are NOT good. I think it turns off a lot of people in the first couple hours. Something tells me Bungie knew this.
 
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diffusionx said:
I disagree... having played the game, the learning curve is extremely high and the UI is bizarre.

I think it's a good game, unironically, and I also think the graphics are great. But first impressions are NOT good. I think it turns off a lot of people in the first couple hours. Something tells me Bungie knew this.
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Not sure how that disagrees with what I said. Bizarre UI is all part of the off putting weird art style.

And extremely high learning curve might also be part of why people bounced off it during the Server Slam.
 
simpatico said:
So if Marathon does poorly overall, but better on PC than PS5, what does that do for Herm's plans to move away from PC?
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The strategy is keeping gaas multiplat because it A needs all the players it can get and B has a larger audience on PC than single player games as proved by Helldivers...

Dont know why some people ignore that they have different strategies for gaas and sp to strawman a moot point
 
I honestly think the art style, while striking, is divisive and put off a lot of ppl on the game b/c by all accounts the gameplay is pretty good but ppl can't get past the art style to give it a chance.
 
Pokedot said:
I honestly think the art style, while striking, is divisive and put off a lot of ppl on the game b/c by all accounts the gameplay is pretty good but ppl can't get past the art style to give it a chance.
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This big time, nothing looks cool in this... Skins, guns, characters, nothing calls to me. But I also think arc looks bad as well with their skins and characters, but it's more appealing than marathon.
 
Probably the ugliest game I have ever seen. I would rather play a pixel game. Just yuck. What are these guys smoking? And they were hoping it would be a hit? Seriously? Did anybody tell them how awful it looks? I guess not.
 
^ Bungie going after the crazy neon look hoping zoomers catch on and turn the game into a mtx fest with memes to promote the game. You never see Bungie even
really talk about the gameplay itself except show really flashy pics.

Cant really do that with more boring and grounded WWII or modern warfare solider dudes in a drab green uniform.
 
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Moondoggy said:
While I agree with the Destiny 2 criticisms, I'd still play that anyday over Marathon, at least D2 has actual PvE modes and let's me keep the gear I spend my limited amount of gaming time acquiring, and doesn't just take it away at the end of a season, assuming other players haven't done that already.
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off topic but the only real gripe people had with Destiny universally is that they would Vault content for no reason at all.
 
Guardian Monkey said:
😂 My guy, I'm asking why such time and effort to hate on a game that they don't care about? Now that's considered antagonizing posters? How about coming up with a reasonable response. I have no problem if some people don't like Marathon, said myself in the first beta last April on the this board that the game isn't for everyone. Being able to constructively critique a game is different than throwing anything at a wall continuously.
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For me, it's not about the game, it's about the genre and the developer. I want them both to fail. I don't like seeing time and resources wasted on GaaS. I want Bungie and their like to leave the industry, along with their philosophy and activism. I'm quite surprised by the lack of disgust from the players who will continuously accept and defend anything they do: pull content, re-use assets again and again while calling it "new" , raise the price of battle passes constantly, lock other content behind expensive "deluxe expansions" like dungeon keys with armor that has extra skill slots not available to those who don't pay the extra nickel and dime.

They're just really awful to the players in general with their greed and political activism.
 
Pokedot said:
I honestly think the art style, while striking, is divisive and put off a lot of ppl on the game b/c by all accounts the gameplay is pretty good but ppl can't get past the art style to give it a chance.
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It feels like they were trying to get the Fortnite (colorful) and Roblox (blocky characters) crowd with the art design lol.

I like the art style and I think it does have potential though.
 
Moridianae said:
The amount of anger that seems to have exploded in here is concerning.

The discussion is whether or not the game will trend up or continue it's downward trend.

The revelation that the majority of sales have been on PC(and not consoles) coupled with a peak of only 88k on launch day, after which launch weekend failed to equal or exceed that.

We also have the news that the game will not have it's first real endgame content for at least 2-3 weeks, when a game like this really needs that extra content for retention. Borderlands 4 also suffered this issue.

The next major update isn't until April(when is unknown in the month). That's a long time to keep your playerbase engaged, if I'm honest.

I've long said the game looks to be establishing itself as quitr niche with a small, but fairly consistent and reasonably dedicated playerbase.

My thing is I don't think that is what Sony and Bungie were hoping for, in my opinion.
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I am not too worried about near term retention. It will probably settle down to 35-45k daily peaks on Steam. There is so much content in the game that very few players will have their skill trees completed by the time the end game level is even available in a few weeks. And the end game will hopefully retain enough players through the April update

Regardless, where Marathon was 10 months ago in the Alpha is night and day. I am pretty confident Sony and Bungie will fully invest at least a year of substantial updates to get it in a good place

The negativity around the game will fade away soon enough. The people that play it for more than a few hours really like it. Over time, good word of mouth should bring more players in. The April update will be the major test. Will that surpass initial launch numbers? A very good sign if it does
 
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