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Marathon approaching 15k CCU low (sponsored by coachmcguirk91 - still having a blast)
diffusionx
Gold Member
With this and Concord it just shows Sony does not understand their core audience anymore. Huge problem moving forward.
Mengy
wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
No, you see Subnautica 2 is basically an extraction shooter as well, and thats why its selling so good. You drop in to the world, you search for crafting mats, you battle with enemies, and then you extract off the planet. Just like an extraction shooter! I mean sure its a little bit different, but its basically the same omega genre formula!!!
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
It's $4B by now for Bungie considering there's no doubt annual losses since 2022. Then add in Concord and all the failed GAAS tomfoolery projects that never released they had and it's surely $5B+ by now.
Assuming Sony's big SP games range from $100-300M (let's say Ghosts at $100M and ND/Insomniac games at $300M), Sony could had literally focused on funding maybe 5 games at $200M each on avg. $1B.
Sony could had 5 good SP games and still keep $4B.
Even just looking at Bungie's buy price at $3.6B, that alone is equivalent to 12 $300M top budget SP games. Out of the $3.6B, employee retention was $1.2B. So never mind them working on extra projects or anything. Just to keep them is the same as funding 4 $300M games.
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Saber
Newd Member
Before was that they either don't understand or have their personnal reasons(and political) to not care. Nowadays is clearly towering to the later.
Fake
Member
When they have money, is very hard to accept this matter.
GaaS and Woke games damage over and over Sony, but third party and the base PS5 keep them with money to double down their mission.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
When companies got money, they are wasteful and do dumb things with it. One part idiocy, one part thinking they can bulldoze the market with sheer money and branding power. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt.
In my experience, the best companies with the most efficient costs and negotiation arent the top dogs. Youd think Walmarts of the world have the best skilled people at head office. Nope. They are giant are happy getting to a certain cost. Then they coast.
It's the second or third tier kind of business that often gets the best cost. That's because they arent that big and closer to survival mode (not technically in terms of bankruptcy, but just way smaller) and know how to run a business well with what they got in terms of less money, fewer people, and fewer stores.
I see gaming the same. The giant studios and game companies tossing money at anything hoping it sticks is because they got the cash to waste on dumb things and barely blink. When it comes to earnings report time, those big mistakes might actually be so small it's a rounding error. But for a small studio could mean shut down time.
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diffusionx
Gold Member
I've been saying on this forum that PS5 clearly underperformed. They got short term profits this gen because they put in a bunch of bean counters with MBAs who know how to strip mine a company for short term profits. When shills of a company are saying "but look how much PROFIT they're making", while their product is objectively more dogshit, beware.
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Hollywood Hitman
Gold Member
So that's a new character? Lol wtf is that
SnapShot
Member
Think it's meant to be this guy from this trailer except they changed his look a little somehow, not much info about him but could be he's wearing a skin
So that's a new character? Lol wtf is that
MayauMiao
Member
So that's a new character? Lol wtf is that
I can't tell if that is really a new skin or just a recolor of the old one. Nothing about the design will make gamers turn heads, or open their wallets.
Hollywood Hitman
Gold Member
MayauMiao
Member
Look at this... Lol I mean wow...
That is hideous
So is this a new "hat" for microtransaction?
BigBeauford
Member
So that's a new character? Lol wtf is that
Did you not run around as a kid pretending to be a Rorschach-o-lantern?
Zacfoldor
Gold Member
I want to redesign all the shells in the "Redesign Unattractive or Unappealing Video Game Characters" thread.
Angry_Megalodon
Member
What it shows is that these games are not made for an actual audience. Their "audience" is those living in their same bubble: access media, Headquarters, focus groups, business stakeholders.
Gamers, actual customers, are just an inconvenience.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Makes sense.
So is this a new "hat" for microtransaction?
If you played the game you'd want to plug your head into a wall socket too..... Zap!
Chuck Berry
Gold Member
So that's a new character? Lol wtf is that
Bungie management - "How can we make this game more hideous?"
Bungie team - "Yes"
Shubh_C63
Member
I honestly thought ugly characters would mean they would push skins like crazy but they are bad on both fronts.
So that's a new character? Lol wtf is that
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
They know their SP crowd. But some reason doesn't have a clue about the MP crowd.
You'll don't even have to be a industry vet to know better. Just be a gamer who knows what's popular and right off the bat the job is half done and you can cherry pick what's good from each game and try to make it better.
That's how much business works. Not that many things in life are true innovations. It's mostly just improved iterations of someone else's product
Yet Sony's gaas push goes into distinct directions off the beaten path everyone can see it's going to be a bumpy gravel road.
But they push it through at big costs.
What happens is they are so clueless they just opened up the wallet buying studios assuming they know what they're doing. So let them steer the ship like how Bungie was hired to be MP overseer taking over.
RafterXL
Member
Troonslop. It explains a lot about their audience, though.Look at this... Lol I mean wow...
That is hideous
GermanZepp
Member
Hideous KojimaLook at this... Lol I mean wow...
That is hideous
EDIT: Maybe they/them can star selling wigs. Or maybe unlocking them in the season pass. KEK
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Salmorejo
Member
Does he have a QR on his face?
So that's a new character? Lol wtf is that
Plague Doctor
Member
So that's a new character? Lol wtf is that
The designs on shells are aggressively medicore and colorful nonsense with random sci fi tchotchke placed on just to be scifi.
If a Modern Art museum cross pollinated with Nickokolden 2000s set designs and everyone had Nerf guns, you have Marathon.
I am convinced AI prompts and creative inputs would still be better than this.
I am basically saying this is more forgetable and worse than AI slop by a rando user.
Bungie 2026
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winjer
Gold Member
Look at this... Lol I mean wow...
That is hideous
FFS, the people in the art department is actively trying to kill the game. And maybe the studio.
Rocco Schiavone
Member
I collect VHS tapes
Gold Member
This is so cringe and how I imagine the average marathon gamer but holy fuck lolYou havent had your daily dose of Cringe yet? Well, i got ya bud! This is from your regular Marathon-player on reddit. Like, who the fuck sits down and writes shit like this? WHO???? WHY???
Got convinced to buy an entire console just so I could experience marathon, and I don't even game. Worth every penny.
Marathon (2026) Feedback
I love gaming, but I'm not a gamer. I've never been very good at them, as much as I love them. I ended up growing up backseat spectating my brother's play instead. Honestly, that was enough for me. I get to experience the game without having to worry about toggling any buttons.
Then came marathon. I've watched my partner play lots of different games, but as soon as he got marathon, I was hooked. I started wolfing down the lore, studying strategy and following discussions in the community. I Even listened to the Marathon soundtrack while training at the gym! After a couple months of this, my partner said enough is enough, and we decided I'd get a whole ass Xbox and a headset just to be able to play the game with him. I thought he was insane talking about spending that kind of money. He finally sold me by telling me if I didn't take to it we could always make a return. I figured with how much joy this game has brought me, it was honestly worth it to give it a shot, even if I was super casual, to still be a part of the player base and support it.
It has now be 36 hours. My partner logged off a long time ago. I have not slept. I have grinded 18 levels, had my first massive come up and then lost it all. I felt the rush of finding exciting weapons, the anxiety of whether I can take someone at their word, and the reward trust brings when I end up getting a helping hand from a new friend. The contentment and getting to nerd out over filling my codex. That awesome feeling of getting comfortable on a map and being able to move around strategically. The sorrow of dying when there's two seconds left on the exfil.
"Just one more run, just one more run, just one more run."
Marathon is an amazing experience.
Worth it.
See you all on Tau Ceti !! ✰ ✰ ✰
ValiantInstance
Member
i suspect it may be more than that. If you made all the playable characters human it would become obvious that none of them are based on caucasians. I think they may have seen the reception to Concord and decided to radically change the art style.
That may be conspiratorial yes, but how these people think is so utterly predictable that it's well within the confines of reality.
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Hollywood Hitman
Gold Member
I just went back and looked at all concord characters... I don't know what's worse concord or Marathon. I don't get how we live in a world where either of these games characters exist, when you go back and really look at concord again....its a fucking crime, the people who designed those need thrown in jail
GermanZepp
Member
Hollywood Hitman
Gold Member
Do your homework Hollywood & put some images.StreetsofBeige can't hold the fort alone
I mean... I can't even...
Power Pro
Member
Are they supposed to stick their head in a power outlet? wtf is going on here?Look at this... Lol I mean wow...
That is hideous
Hollywood Hitman
Gold Member
I know it's absolutely... Fucking FAWKING atrocious
RoboFu
One of the green rats
uncreativename
Member
I don't think Marathon characters are as bad as Concord, but Marathon characters just don't really do anything for me at all.
I never liked the art style of the entire game to begin with, though. Marathon looks like if someone made a game inspired by the aesthetic of server selection menus from the late 90s early 2000s. It all just looks like the kind of stuff we would've called cheap and generic back then except rendered in ultra modern graphics and somehow they spent a ton of money on it. I don't get it.
I never liked the art style of the entire game to begin with, though. Marathon looks like if someone made a game inspired by the aesthetic of server selection menus from the late 90s early 2000s. It all just looks like the kind of stuff we would've called cheap and generic back then except rendered in ultra modern graphics and somehow they spent a ton of money on it. I don't get it.
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T4keD0wN
Member
I feel the other way.
I could stand looking at Concords characters, even if it was just to laugh at them. (cmon, they look charmingly funny)
I can play something ugly like Dead Space with no problems, but seeing Marathons characters just makes me scroll away (almost in second hand embarassment-like fashion), just cant stand the sight, i dont know how to describe Marathons look, but its next level.
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Angry_Megalodon
Member
Androgynous or straight up monstrosities are fetishes of certain communities with a variety of mental or sexual conditions. Also the reason why something sexy but grotesque like Lady Dimitrescu is so beloved by them too.
You can see this line of thought in Tim Burton's movies.
Hollywood Hitman
Gold Member
I think this says it all, there's an underlying fetish bullshit here and what's what I don't like. Like these aren't normal game characters, they aren't... It feels like they want to normalize a style that is not meant to be normalized.. Maybe that's a reach but it's only way I can explain it. Game characters typically are in similar boats, know what I mean? Not that we dont see new concepts but overall we've seen alot of similar feeling characters which is what makes it all good. These aren't normal
DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
I honestly think these people like to make you eat shit and pretend you like it. It's some kind of bizarre humiliation ritual. A way of bullying others and forcing them to prove they're on the "right side".
Like they make the most deliberately ugly un-feminine/un-masculine characters and they just DARE you to call it ugly. The moment you say what everyone is thinking, they're ready to label you a CHUD/incel/phobe/whatever (and boost their own moral standing in the process).
Hollywood Hitman
Gold Member
Yea absolutely, thats why I just find it so unnerving and annoying and why I actually wish bungie was fucking shut down tomorrow lol it bugs me that they are so arrogant and smug to think people would've eaten this up, I'm so glad it's failing
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
5 pm completed hour. At 10.3k which is +3% vs yesterday.
Yesterday peak 13k +3% = 13.4k est peak.
Last Friday. -15% same time. Peak was 15.4k. Less 15% = 13.1k est peak.
So tonight, peak should be roughly 13.1 - 13.4k.
Yesterday peak 13k +3% = 13.4k est peak.
Last Friday. -15% same time. Peak was 15.4k. Less 15% = 13.1k est peak.
So tonight, peak should be roughly 13.1 - 13.4k.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
This video analyzes why Helldivers 2 became a massive financial success ($700M+ revenue on a $100M budget) while Marathon struggled, leading to a $765M writedown for Sony despite its larger $250M budget. The creator identifies five key strategic differences between the two:
- Community Management: Arrowhead prioritized transparency and direct communication, even siding with players against Sony, whereas Bungie maintained a more distant, corporate approach (1:36 - 2:16).
- Memetic Advantage: Helldivers 2 fostered a unique cultural identity through satire, encouraging players to share and create content, while Marathon lacked a comparable viral hook (2:17 - 3:02).
- Break-Even Math: The lower budget of Helldivers 2 allowed for a significantly lower and more achievable break-even point compared to the high-risk, high-cost model of Marathon (3:03 - 3:36).
- Retention Strategy: Helldivers 2 utilizes cooperative PVE gameplay which promotes long-term retention, whereas Marathon's competitive PVP design resulted in higher player churn
#OmegaGay (3:37 - 4:07). - Fair Monetization: Arrowhead implemented player-friendly, optional monetization, unlike the more aggressive microtransactions seen in Marathon (4:08 - 4:43).
Conclusion
The video concludes that big budgets cannot compensate for poor strategy. The success of Helldivers 2 serves as a new playbook for the live-service industry, proving that success lies in fostering community, creating a strong cultural identity, and respecting the player base. Sony's future in live service will likely depend on whether it adopts this nimble, community-centric model over the expensive, top-down approach (5:13 - 6:12).
But they ARE the GaaS Experts!!!!
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