Forbes: Marathon Info - Bungie's "Morale is in “free-fall” - “The vibes have never been worse.”

adamsapple

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
www.forbes.com

New ‘Marathon’ Info: Bungie Morale, Launch Worries And Changing Plans

After a rough playtest and now plagiarism confirmation, Bungie is changing some Marathon plans and internally, things are bad.
www.forbes.com www.forbes.com

New 'Marathon' Info: Bungie Morale, Launch Worries And Changing Plans


  • The public explanation for the art theft, one ex-employee taking things in 2020, is the same one being given internally at Bungie among the rank and file.

  • Sony and Bungie legal are now sorting through this and there is unlikely to be any much new information as all of this continues to unfold. It is not clear how long an "audit" will take of the assets to remove or find any more plagiarism, as it's an expansive enough process to have Bungie not even show any footage at all in its recent livestream.

  • Morale is in "free-fall" across all departments, and "the vibes have never been worse." Everyone has the same concerns about what happens to Bungie as a studio if Marathon bombs, which is something they absolutely cannot afford.

  • There are not even hints or jokes about a delay from the September release date internally. With that said, it is entirely possible, if not likely, those conversations are happening privately between higher-up Sony and Bungie leadership. It's unclear what the plan is to launch the game in a "now actively hostile environment" just a few months from now, or how to turn that around.
 
Hostile environment sounds about right.

What were they thinking with this?


That said, Bungie is a studio with enough institutional knowledge (which includes their own coding) that it needs to be "saved" in some capacity. The console fps gameplay is still absolutely outstanding.
 
DonkeyPunchJr said:
Fairgame$ vs Marathon, which one will become the next Concord? Those are big shoes to fill.
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Both Is Good The Road To El Dorado GIF
 
adamsapple said:
"Everyone has the same concerns about what happens to Bungie as a studio if Marathon bombs..."
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Uncertainty can be a big driver of anxiety so I'm happy to do my little bit to help Bungie out

"Everyone has the same concerns about what happens to Bungie as a studio when Marathon bombs..."

Hope that helps guys.
 
Raven117 said:
That said, Bungie is a studio with enough institutional knowledge (which includes their own coding) that it needs to be "saved" in some capacity. The console fps gameplay is still absolutely outstanding.
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People here on Gaf won't acknowledge this though.

Bungie has a lot to solve and work out, but it's dumb to think it's a complete disaster like Concord.
 
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I'm confused as to how one decides that this niche genre is a good idea to invest in as their next major IP. This is the type of game that is made while another major IP is in its prime and getting a lot of success.

Meanwhile Destiny 2 is wrapping up and they are going to pin their hopes on this?! Game is probably going to be very good for what it is… and that's a niche extraction shooter that a small percentage of people will play.

Strange decision.
 
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adamsapple said:
www.forbes.com

New ‘Marathon’ Info: Bungie Morale, Launch Worries And Changing Plans

After a rough playtest and now plagiarism confirmation, Bungie is changing some Marathon plans and internally, things are bad.
www.forbes.com www.forbes.com

New 'Marathon' Info: Bungie Morale, Launch Worries And Changing Plans


  • The public explanation for the art theft, one ex-employee taking things in 2020, is the same one being given internally at Bungie among the rank and file.

  • Sony and Bungie legal are now sorting through this and there is unlikely to be any much new information as all of this continues to unfold. It is not clear how long an "audit" will take of the assets to remove or find any more plagiarism, as it's an expansive enough process to have Bungie not even show any footage at all in its recent livestream.

  • Morale is in "free-fall" across all departments, and "the vibes have never been worse." Everyone has the same concerns about what happens to Bungie as a studio if Marathon bombs, which is something they absolutely cannot afford.

  • There are not even hints or jokes about a delay from the September release date internally. With that said, it is entirely possible, if not likely, those conversations are happening privately between higher-up Sony and Bungie leadership. It's unclear what the plan is to launch the game in a "now actively hostile environment" just a few months from now, or how to turn that around.
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Oh, Paul Tassi.

With his articles you never know if everthing are anti Sony lies and FUD, or if a portion or all of that is true. I think Bloomberg will hire him soon.

But this article sounds realistic and possible, at least for the most part.

Edgelord79 said:
I'm confused as to how one decides that this niche genre is a good idea to invest in as their next major IP. This is the type of game that is made while another major IP is in its prime and getting a lot of success.

Meanwhile Destiny 2 is wrapping up and they are going to pin their hopes on this?! Game is probably going to be very good for what it is… and that's a niche extraction shooter that a small percentage of people will play.

Strange decision.
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If a genre is niche or not depending on the size of the userbase and the money it makes.

I'd say the extraction shooter thing started in a small portion of The Division, that was only a small thing in the game. Other than it, as I remember all extraction shooters have been a very small thing in terms of revenue and playerbase with the exception of Escape from Tarkov, which had a big success and is massive in Twitch.

Destiny is a game for SP players, coop players, casual PvP players and a bit for hardcore PvP players for both PC and console. Extraction shooters are a hardcore PvP thing for PC players, so a smaller, more niche audience.

And hopefully differentiated enough to have two shooter GaaS IPs that aim different audiences so don't cannibalize themselves and helps Bungie grow their audience and appeal more (and different) player types.

Marathon is trying to expand this subgenre to console and a wider, more casual/mainstream audience compared to the other extraction shooters. But still, compared to Destiny, a smaller and more -relatively niche- hardcore PvP audience, even if it may end being huge too.

At the same time they work in Marathon, they'll continue working in Destiny. Last week the next Destiny 2 expansions were the top 1 preorder in basically all non-Asian PSN stores. It continues being a top 10 top grossing game in PC every year and also continues being huge in console. They'll continue working in Destiny 2 for a while, and at some point in the future (not soon) they'll release some other Destiny game, I assume Destiny 3.
 
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Fortnite really has done a number on the gaming community. So many developers thought they could share the space or even dethrone Fortnite. Instead, they come out with a new game and nobody notices. And so many people play Fortnite exclusively they miss out on everything else.

Way back I used to spend a ton of my gaming time playing and modding for a UT mod. I "lost" 4 years of my life to that game. I missed out on every single player release during that time.
 
IMO, I never thought a new Marathon game would live up to expectations. That was such a long time ago and Halo was the true spiritual successor of the original. But this? They could not have taken the name in a worse direction. Hell, just make a Halo clone (I hear they are good and stealing assets 😝) and call it a day. You might get knocked for remaking Halo but at least people will play it.
 
What happens if (when) it bombs? I assume Bungie doesn't get shut down because of Destiny 2 but I doubt Sony is going to invest hundreds of millions of dollars more into Destiny 3.
 
Edgelord79 said:
I'm confused as to how one decides that this niche genre is a good idea to invest in as their next major IP. This is the type of game that is made while another major IP is in its prime and getting a lot of success.

Meanwhile Destiny 2 is wrapping up and they are going to pin their hopes on this?! Game is probably going to be very good for what it is… and that's a niche extraction shooter that a small percentage of people will play.

Strange decision.
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Marathon isn't intended to replace Destiny or become their next main IP.

"I think part of it is we don't expect Marathon to become Destiny 3. Our goal is not to basically make a new product that replaces Destiny 2. We believe that Destiny 2 has a future, and the team working on it has been working really hard to understand what players' needs are."

www.forbes.com

There’s A Misconception About ‘Destiny 2’ And ‘Marathon’ Development

While this week has been all about Marathon, Marathon, Marathon, little attention has been paid to its younger brother, Destiny 2.
www.forbes.com www.forbes.com
 
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  • Marathon was originally pitched by higher-up "good old boy" Bungie leadership and as far back as five years ago devs were telling them what would and wouldn't work and were often ignored. Many have said previously that it needed to have some sort of PvE component.
red-dwarf-kryten.gif
 



Of course morale is low, the game's entire identity is stolen which means there is literally no original in-house vision and the only thing that made the game stand out is built on plagiarism.
 
I was one who thought there was a lot of hyperbole being thrown around about Marathon's demise after that first gameplay reveal, but as more time has gone by, the more this is really starting to look like another DOA Sony gaas game.

HeisenbergFX4 said:
Anyone who watched the Marathon stream yesterday saw the vibe
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Do you have a link?
 
All they had to do is make Destiny 3. Get your shit together guys. And fuck off Sony with your stupid GAAS bullshit.
 
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Bungie is at its best when their back is against the wall.
This feels more like down below trapped in the well though

I doubt Marathon survives this. Actively hostile environment internally and externally will not go away at launch.
 
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diffusionx said:
What happens if (when) it bombs? I assume Bungie doesn't get shut down because of Destiny 2 but I doubt Sony is going to invest hundreds of millions of dollars more into Destiny 3.
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If I was on the Destiny team I would not be worried about my job but it would be awkward in the breakroom. Destiny 2 is still one of the highest revenue games on Steam. I can't see Sony walking away from that and I would expect them to invest accordingly.
 
I am not sure if it is even possible to replace all the stolen assets this easily.

this went so deep that even their ASCII art elements used the exact symbol designs of that artist.
 
Bungie can't afford not to launch in September, and delaying for a spell won't resolve the game's core issues.
Gonna be a bloodbath when this craters.
 
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