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[Guardian Monkey]

this
wo things 1 fans hate that games as a service is taking over the single player sector 2 Blue Point died for this kind of slop

Marathon was in development before Sony bought Bungie and even before Bluepoint was bought by Sony. Saying Bluepoint died for this is disingenuous at best. They were mismanaged by Sony. There are plenty of single player games, more than ever. Good ones still thrive.

Sony knows where a good amount of their income is generated. It would be negligent for them not to pursue part of this category. You don't have to like GAAS but current Sony needs them to survive in current form. Times have changed move on with it or keep yelling at clouds.

 

[falconhoof]

For Steamdb (I might be wrong), but I think what happens is when the chart updates for an hour (let's say 6 pm est as an example), that number wont be final until 7 pm or so passes. Then the site will adjust 6 pm hour with a final number.

If you look at the 6 pm number at 6:20 pm, that 6 pm number in the graph is not locked and loaded. It's there for now, but will do a final adjustment when 7 pm comes around.

I think that's how it works, but not sure. I thought once an hour passes, Steamdb immediately takes a snapshot to put in the graph, but maybe not.

I'm not 100% clear, but the on the hour on the graph trails behind realtime it seems. When looking at the hours before and after to get a bigger picture my read is that things are still a bit below yesterday. No drastic fall off, but no climb either.

I'm not clear how Bungie turn this around. As I've said before, the game is there for people that like it, but it seems that they're struggling to get people to even try. This new short CG they've put out and this talk of a fourth map I just don't see moving the needle. I don't think this game is stopping people playing because it has three maps.

If you need this mythical 10 hours for the game to click, then make sure that 10 hours is compelling enough to get people to stick around. Adding a 4th map for the people already burned out on 3 isn't going to increase the player base.

 

[Guardian Monkey]

I'm not 100% clear, but the on the hour on the graph trails behind realtime it seems. When looking at the hours before and after to get a bigger picture my read is that things are still a bit below yesterday. No drastic fall off, but no climb either.

I'm not clear how Bungie turn this around. As I've said before, the game is there for people that like it, but it seems that they're struggling to get people to even try. This new short CG they've put out and this talk of a fourth map I just don't see moving the needle. I don't think this game is stopping people playing because it has three maps.

If you need this mythical 10 hours for the game to click, then make sure that 10 hours is compelling enough to get people to stick around. Adding a 4th map for the people already burned out on 3 isn't going to increase the player base.

They don't in one big swoop. The game will have its core player base where the number ends up settling at. Support and updates claim how the game progresses just like any game.

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

DEI cost a huge amount of money. I don't want to get too political, but was a hearing this week about wasting tax money for make country maps 'more gay'. I can't even think how is that possible, but there is.

Pastel colors?

 

[falconhoof]

They don't in one big swoop. The game will have its core player base where the number ends up settling at. Support and updates claim how the game progresses just like any game.

This isn't just like any game. It's an expensive AAA game with an under-performing player count from a premier developer. Support and updates help retain players, a requirement for GAAS. This game needs to get off the launch pad.

There would be fuck all wrong with these numbers or anything else, if this was a product from a smaller team, built on a smaller budget. The numbers could probably sustain that size of company and give them breathing room to slowly grow and mature their product.

 

[Negotiator101]

This isn't just like any game. It's an expensive AAA game with an under-performing player count from a premier developer. Support and updates help retain players, a requirement for GAAS. This game needs to get off the launch pad.

There would be fuck all wrong with these numbers or anything else, if this was a product from a smaller team, built on a smaller budget. The numbers could probably sustain that size of company and give them breathing room to slowly grow and mature their product.

It's not going in for that guy unfortunately, I don't think he gets it. Layoffs are almost certainly in Bungie's future unfortunately but the even more frightening question is what numbers will this be doing 2 months after release?

 

[Guardian Monkey]

This isn't just like any game. It's an expensive AAA game with an under-performing player count from a premier developer. Support and updates help retain players, a requirement for GAAS. This game needs to get off the launch pad.

There would be fuck all wrong with these numbers or anything else, if this was a product from a smaller team, built on a smaller budget. The numbers could probably sustain that size of company and give them breathing room to slowly grow and mature their product.

I'm not saying that it isn't underperforming, as it seemly is. But the dev team isn't Bungie as a whole. Majority hash/have been on Destiny series.

 

[Guardian Monkey]

It's not going in for that guy unfortunately, I don't think he gets it. Layoffs are almost certainly in Bungie's future unfortunately but the even more frightening question is what numbers will this be doing 2 months after release?

See above, let me at least get a second to respond before putting words in my mouth.

 

[Negotiator101]

See above, let me at least get a second to respond before putting words in my mouth.

Apologies, however I find your comment about the majority of Bungie are working on Destiny as a stretch to say the least. One would imagine that the majority are working on the current new game out, that's generally how it works right?

 

[ByWatterson]

Looks like CCU caught up.

The 1 pm adjusted. Looks like the 1 pm number I took at about 1:15 pm still adjusted on Steamdb. It adjusted from 37k to 40k.

I'm positive I did the comparison right, but it looks like today's 1 pm is +1% vs yesterday. At 2 pm (18:00 UST), still +1%.

Maybe Steamdb adjusts the hourly number on their graphs for a bit until it locks. So maybe dont use a past hourly number until an hour or so has passed.

If the trend holds, it should be similar to yesterday's peak of 62-63k.

It updates the current hour in real-time, but lists it as the hour, not the present moment.

So you have to wait until after each hour is completed for accurate comparisons.

And for most recent completed hours?:

1800 UTC 3/11: 43,907
1800 UTC 3/10: 42,313

+1,594

ABSOLUTE DOMINATION

 

[falconhoof]

I'm not saying that it isn't underperforming, as it seemly is. But the dev team isn't Bungie as a whole. Majority hash/have been on Destiny series.

Bungie as a whole is a giant company. Saying that this dev team isn't the majority could still mean over 500 people.

Look at the credits:

https://www.mobygames.com/game/245427/marathon/credits/windows/?autoplatform=true

Here's the thing, AAA studios that have been building big games for a long time do not know how to make small games on small budgets. It takes an absolute whip cracking leader to prevent a product at a large studio from bloating up into something massive, even if that wasn't the intent of it at the start (I'm sounding specific here, maybe because I know of more than projects that did this across multiple AAA studios).

Marathon wasn't a skunk works project. Its Bungie's supposed cash cow right now whilst Destiny 2 is slowly plodding along.

 

[Guardian Monkey]

Apologies, however I find your comment about the majority of Bungie are working on Destiny as a stretch to say the least. One would imagine that the majority are working on the current new game out, that's generally how it works right?

Bungie as a whole is a giant company. Saying that this dev team isn't the majority could still mean over 500 people.

Look at the credits:

https://www.mobygames.com/game/245427/marathon/credits/windows/?autoplatform=true

Here's the thing, AAA studios that have been building big games for a long time do not know how to make small games on small budgets. It takes an absolute whip cracking leader to prevent a product at a large studio from bloating up into something massive, even if that wasn't the intent of it at the start (I'm sounding specific here, maybe because I know of more than projects that did this across multiple AAA studios).

Marathon wasn't a skunk works project. It's Bungie's supposed cash cow right now whilst Destiny 2 is slowly plodding along.

Closer to 300.

Marathon (2026 video game) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Also posting Mobygames would lead you to think Silksong was made by a 90 person team.

 

[Bernardougf]

Alright, I'll admit it.

I was wrong.

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

Apologies, however I find your comment about the majority of Bungie are working on Destiny as a stretch to say the least. One would imagine that the majority are working on the current new game out, that's generally how it works right?

That's exactly right because it's why destiny has fallen by the wayside, they put the bulk especially the pvp crew on marathon which everyone agreed was the gamble bungie made and looks like they made the wrong gamble.

I would've given destiny another 5 7 8 years easily etc.

 

[The_hunter]

Alright, I'll admit it.

I was wrong.

Runners, are we cooked?

 

[falconhoof]

Closer to 300.

Marathon (2026 video game) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Also posting Mobygames would lead you to think Silksong was made by a 90 person team.

I didn't post the link to just read the number, more just to show the breadth of the team. Game credits are funny. I'll admit it's kinda irksome spending years of your life crunching on a game only to see your name in a giant list of people you've never heard of. I've enjoyed a few cathartic rants about random names, asking where they were at 4am as we were trying to repair a broken build.

Anyway, that 300 people claim on Wikipedia used the video as citation. It's worth a watch to get an idea of the mindset around the game. Also, I might have missed it, but no where did I see the claim of 300 people in it. Either I just missed it or Wikipedia bullshit strikes again.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Runners, are we cooked?

We might be. I thought for sure we'd be getting better retention numbers by now.

I'm still really enjoying the game but people are leaving for a reason. That Cryo Archive map makes it feel like 4th down and 12 to go. It's not over but it isn't looking good.

 

[Guardian Monkey]

I didn't post the link to just read the number, more just to show the breadth of the team. Game credits are funny. I'll admit it's kinda irksome spending years of your life crunching on a game only to see your name in a giant list of people you've never heard of. I've enjoyed a few cathartic rants about random names, asking where they were at 4am as we were trying to repair a broken build.

Anyway, that 300 people claim on Wikipedia used the video as citation. It's worth a watch to get an idea of the mindset around the game. Also, I might have missed it, but no where did I see the claim of 300 people in it. Either I just missed it or Wikipedia bullshit strikes again.

Bungie mentioned around this number of 300 themselves within the last year or so in a twab or whatever they call them now when differentiating between continued support of Destiny and development of Marathon.

 

[PeteBull]

We might be. I thought for sure we'd be getting better retention numbers by now.

I'm still really enjoying the game but people are leaving for a reason. That Cryo Archive map makes it feel like 4th down and 12 to go. It's not over but it isn't looking good.

Dont lose hope bro, there is still many months left to 600lbs horizon gaas launch, u gotta keep marathon afloat somehow, at any price.
Keep ur mental armor pristine

We got genuine chance for todays 24h ccu peak to break 65k, and tomorrow aka full week after launch 60k still

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Dont lose hope bro, there is still many months left to 600lbs horizon gaas launch, u gotta keep marathon afloat somehow, at any price.
Keep ur mental armor pristine

We got genuine chance for todays 24h ccu peak to break 65k, and tomorrow aka full week after launch 60k still

An angel loses its wings every time a (great) GAAS game dies... Live Marathon! Live damn you!

 

[Zannegan]

We might be. I thought for sure we'd be getting better retention numbers by now.

I'm still really enjoying the game but people are leaving for a reason. That Cryo Archive map makes it feel like 4th down and 12 to go. It's not over but it isn't looking good.

Dammit. I was enjoying the drama from the sidelines, but now you're doing to make me root for Marathon.

 

[ByWatterson]

We might be. I thought for sure we'd be getting better retention numbers by now.

I'm still really enjoying the game but people are leaving for a reason. That Cryo Archive map makes it feel like 4th down and 12 to go. It's not over but it isn't looking good.

I mean they're not leaving at all. The numbers each day are nearly identical, and today is overall *slightly* higher than yesterday (so far). It has found an audience. They now need to do the Bungie thing of adapting and expanding.

I think we're forgetting that they kept Destiny 2 on a "Back From the Dead" cycle for NINE YEARS.

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

I mean they're not leaving at all. The numbers each day are nearly identical, and today is overall *slightly* higher than yesterday (so far). It has found an audience. They now need to do the Bungie thing of adapting and expanding.

I think we're forgetting that they kept Destiny 2 on a "Back From the Dead" cycle for NINE YEARS.

They're still on a downward trend every day. If this game would've spiked to 375k and grounded off around 80-100k and fluctuated up and down I'd say that'd been decent but this is not good, I absolutely feel the layoffs announcement will be coming soon.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

I mean they're not leaving at all. The numbers each day are nearly identical, and today is overall *slightly* higher than yesterday (so far).

Where are you getting your numbers? SteamDB shows today as slightly lower than yesterday which is worrisome because Tuesdays are Steams lowest traffic day of the week.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

 

[Aressa]

They're still on a downward trend every day. If this game would've spiked to 375k and grounded off around 80-100k and fluctuated up and down I'd say that'd been decent but this is not good, I absolutely feel the layoffs announcement will be coming soon.

If this trend continues the game will get sub 10k in a week.

 

[calico]

For Steamdb (I might be wrong), but I think what happens is when the chart updates for an hour (let's say 6 pm est as an example), that number wont be final until 7 pm or so passes. Then the site will adjust 6 pm hour with a final number.

If you look at the 6 pm number at 6:20 pm, that 6 pm number in the graph is not locked and loaded. It's there for now, but will do a final adjustment when 7 pm comes around.

I think that's how it works, but not sure. I thought once an hour passes, Steamdb immediately takes a snapshot to put in the graph, but maybe not.

I reckon what happens is the number that ends up getting recorded for eg. 6pm is whatever the highest number was at any point between 6pm and 7pm.

I would assume this is so if the actual day's peak happens at eg. 9:30pm, 9pm would show the actual peak, rather than both 9pm and 10pm showing numbers lower than the actual peak.

SteamDB shows today as slightly lower than yesterday

Don't use the hour that's still in play, it won't be a fair comparison. 20:00 UTC is up like ~100, the fight back starts here.

 

[ByWatterson]

Where are you getting your numbers? SteamDB shows today as slightly lower than yesterday which is worrisome because Tuesdays are Steams lowest traffic day of the week.

SteamDB, same as you. You have to compare only completed hours.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

SteamDB, same as you. You have to compare only completed hours.

Yup, you are right.

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

If this trend continues the game will get sub 10k in a week.

Yea could be.

People also I don't think understand some of the stuff bungie has been up too, like a few years back the things they did to Lono was pretty bad... Bungie is a fucked up bunch. Maybe not the old bungie but the Bungie as of late is really a bunch of fucking low life losers and it's just hard to root for them at this point. And that's just amongst other things

But I think theyve been so arrogant and narcissistic lately they need knocked on their asses.

 

[falconhoof]

Based on the thin evidence of the Server Slam getting 55k at the end, I'm thinking that this is the area of resistance (+/-5k) that might see fall off slow down.

Then they'll be two main reasons for further fall off:
- Players that jump in fresh to try and nope out
- Players who have had their fill, perhaps deciding to come back once more content arrives. [The new challenge]

Bungie are in a war of two fronts:
- Improve the onboarding and attraction of the game to keep fresh people entering (and paying $40 to do so)
- Get content and improvements out to retain those already in.

Given the amount of public testing this game has done, Bungie might have a good idea of what to do, but the 6 month delay didn't give them time to do it all. So how far back are they from delivering on that now cause time is ticking.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

It's tracking slightly ahead of where it was 24 hours earlier. It sounds like this game isn't for everyone but there are some gamers who really enjoy it.

 

[Alebrije]

So it seems Sony's biggest contribution this Generation is to create a new videogame genre called "concord"

 

[ByWatterson]

So it seems Sony's biggest contribution this Generation is to create a new videogame genre called "concord"

Bro Concord sold twenty-five thousand copies.

Thousand.

 

[Karma_Games]

If this trend continues the game will get sub 10k in a week.

Oh no, that would be...terrible.

 

[StereoVsn]

If this trend continues the game will get sub 10k in a week.

Nah, it's going to take them 2-3 weeks to get there, maybe a month. I feel one week isn't enough, they will probably average like 30K this time next week.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

We might be. I thought for sure we'd be getting better retention numbers by now.

I'm still really enjoying the game but people are leaving for a reason. That Cryo Archive map makes it feel like 4th down and 12 to go. It's not over but it isn't looking good.

in the SteamDB chart itself, there is a dotted line. It implies the bleeding will end soon and Marathon will find its equilibrium

 

[T4keD0wN]

Bro Concord refunded twenty-five thousand copies.

Thousand.

fixed it

 

[DR3AM]

The numbers will drop even more when GTA IIIIII comes out on PC

 

[CrustyBritches]

The numbers will drop even more when GTA IIIIII comes out on PC

I think it will take a hit from Crimson Desert, too. Just like Requiem already did some damage.

 

[EN250]

An angel loses its wings every time a (great) GAAS game dies... Live Marathon! Live damn you!

Lmao, this is you right now:

But it ain't looking good for your game...

 

[coachmcguirk91]

They're still on a downward trend every day. If this game would've spiked to 375k and grounded off around 80-100k and fluctuated up and down I'd say that'd been decent but this is not good, I absolutely feel the layoffs announcement will be coming soon.

Marathon has retained 70% of its Steam peaks 1 week later. I would be much more concerned if it reached 350k and within a week was down to 80k players. The people who bought Marathon are really enjoying it and are sticking with it. Good WOM should spread out over time. The audience should grow as more updates are released

 

[Guilty_AI]

An angel loses its wings every time a (great) GAAS game dies... Live Marathon! Live damn you!

They could live forever if only they werent GaaS. See? We want GaaS gone because WE CARE! MARATHON COULD HAVE BEEN ETERNAL IF ONLY IT SHED ITS FEATHERS AND REALIZED YOU DONT NEED WINGS TO TRAVEL THROUGH SPACE!!! BUT NOW THEY CAN ONLY CATCH ON FIRE AND BURN AS THEY SPEED IN THE ATMOSPHERE

 

[Last Hearth]

And it's fallen behind yesterday again. 56k vs 60k yesterday at the same time. Another 6.7% drop, at this rate it will be at below 20k in about 3 weeks.

 

[Pop]

Marathon has very little international players. Game is being carried hard by America

That will not last

 

[The Mad Draklor]

And it's fallen behind yesterday again. 56k vs 60k yesterday at the same time. Another 6.7% drop, at this rate it will be at below 20k in about 3 weeks.

Death by a thousand cuts unless new map and content really blows people away.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Basically flat. Comparing 7 pm est, it's down about 0.5%.

Peak time on weekdays seems to be the 10 or 11 pm completed hour. On the weekend, peak time is 4 or 5 pm, but weekdays (including launch day and Friday) are also 10 or 11 pm.

 

[OuterLimits]

It's tracking slightly ahead of where it was 24 hours earlier. It sounds like this game isn't for everyone but there are some gamers who really enjoy it.

Absolutely. It will have a decent niche following for quite awhile. That won't be enough to prevent layoffs and Sony taking more control over Bungie though.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I reckon what happens is the number that ends up getting recorded for eg. 6pm is whatever the highest number was at any point between 6pm and 7pm.

I would assume this is so if the actual day's peak happens at eg. 9:30pm, 9pm would show the actual peak, rather than both 9pm and 10pm showing numbers lower than the actual peak.

If Steamdb is choosing the highest number for each hour as the data point per hour, then IMO all Steam CCU tracking is overstated for every game. The 24H and All Time Highs are fine as a single point.

But the hourly number should be an average of every data update during the hour (let's say every minute). Doesnt make sense that the tracking would only show the highest CCU per hour.

If thats the case, it's not CCU, but Highest CCU.

I would had thought the data points would be one of these:

1. Snapshot at that point of time when it happens (right at 3 pm)

2. Wait for hour to be done and that's the clocked in hourly number (the 3 pm number is the last number as it flips from 3 pm to 4 pm)

3. The final 3 pm number is an average of all the data points in the hour.

Makes no sense to me if the final hourly numbers are simply the highest CCU it tracked that hour. But if that's how it does it, then that's their methodology.

 

[rkofan87]

Marathon was in development before Sony bought Bungie and even before Bluepoint was bought by Sony. Saying Bluepoint died for this is disingenuous at best. They were mismanaged by Sony. There are plenty of single player games, more than ever. Good ones still thrive.

Sony knows where a good amount of their income is generated. It would be negligent for them not to pursue part of this category. You don't have to like GAAS but current Sony needs them to survive in current form. Times have changed move on with it or keep yelling at clouds.

the sad part is the only game they are getting cash flow from is helldivers.