• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Sony to double down on Marathon

Only one person can save Marathon…

aa8e72_904084ff10d44b239e04e893e48493f7~mv2.jpg

They is our only hope.
Scared Baby GIF
 
I would want to see some awesome PvE come along, but being an abstraction shooter. I won't hold my breath. It's cool it's not for me, but I've also been a long time fan of Bungie. Maybe we will see some big PvE game come out. The idea of waiting around for Marathon to succeed doesn't sound fun.
 
They can pull the plug at any point but until that time comes I'll continue playing with friends and have a blast while doing so. Maybe it's because I'm getting old but it's great being able to just enjoy the hobby without all the bullshit.
 
Even if the game will always be a bust, Sony can't just Concord all of these games every time and expect to retain credibility.

There are some people who like this game but wider audiences want no part of it (including myself). Sony will need to keep the lights on for a while here and try to improve things.

Expect the new Horizon slop to have a long leash too given the IP involved. Fairgames? 50/50 whether it even gets released IMO.

I agree but I also don't think the situation is 1:1 comparable to Concord outside of "big AAA game underperforms". There are levels to failure and to the consequences of that failure.

The developer of Concord only ever made Concord. Firewalk didn't have any history (new team), weren't developing anything else, and didn't have any sort of additional skills which Sony sought to acquire when they bought them. It was therefore relatively easy to kill them off when the game flopped (and it flopped over 100x harder than Marathon did, in terms of raw CCU numbers).

Bungie on the other hand have a long history and are something of a brand name themselves, have other attractive IP like Destiny and the Gummy Bears project, and were also explicitly bought for their expertise making live service games (which Sony needed at the time). Hence the high valuation of the company in 2022.

Sony are not going to Old Yeller the studio nearly as quickly as Firewalk. Obviously this is some clever accounting on Sony's part to lessen the blow, but even with impairment factored onto the $3.6 billion acquisition, Sony still believe Bungie to be worth nearly $3 billion. And you don't just kill something like that off.
 
I don't see how this is indicating "doubling down" on anything. The entire game is designed around continuous content updates, so they could be staying the course, doing more content then planned, or even doing less content than planned and that statement would still be true.
 
Last edited:
I agree but I also don't think the situation is 1:1 comparable to Concord outside of "big AAA game underperforms". There are levels to failure and to the consequences of that failure.

The developer of Concord only ever made Concord. Firewalk didn't have any history (new team), weren't developing anything else, and didn't have any sort of additional skills which Sony sought to acquire when they bought them. It was therefore relatively easy to kill them off when the game flopped (and it flopped over 100x harder than Marathon did, in terms of raw CCU numbers).

Bungie on the other hand have a long history and are something of a brand name themselves, have other attractive IP like Destiny and the Gummy Bears project, and were also explicitly bought for their expertise making live service games (which Sony needed at the time). Hence the high valuation of the company in 2022.

Sony are not going to Old Yeller the studio nearly as quickly as Firewalk. Obviously this is some clever accounting on Sony's part to lessen the blow, but even with impairment factored onto the $3.6 billion acquisition, Sony still believe Bungie to be worth nearly $3 billion. And you don't just kill something like that off.
Bungie also have a history of launching incomplete messes. Aside from good will sales Destiny 1 was bobbins, Destiny 2 was worse. Marathon has not been afforded that luxury despite arguably launching in a better state than both those games. Obviously Sony are expecting a Taken King / Forsaken moment, its the only thing that makes sense. Going to cost them 12 months salaries to find out.
 
Bungie also have a history of launching incomplete messes. Aside from good will sales Destiny 1 was bobbins, Destiny 2 was worse. Marathon has not been afforded that luxury despite arguably launching in a better state than both those games. Obviously Sony are expecting a Taken King / Forsaken moment, its the only thing that makes sense. Going to cost them 12 months salaries to find out.

I just think the fact marathon is simply a mode, extraction and that's about it is going to forever limit that game so I don't think a forsaken/taken King moment is even possible.

Like someone I was listening to said Destiny just had it all, I remember logging in and just the world of that game was brimming with content. When's forsaken dropped you had just content in every direction, pvp, strikes, patrols, guns to chase, events, it was absolutely just loaded with things to do.

Marathon is one element extraction, can't even load in and just go tdm, or domination, no chill content, no strikes or anything to just kick back... Nothing. And like someone said you can't have it up end extraction, so it's so limited.

To me what division did was that right way to incorporate extraction, it was merely an optional mode in a game with a good bit to do and even then it's not like that game exploded.

I think bungie is screwed
 
I just think the fact marathon is simply a mode, extraction and that's about it is going to forever limit that game so I don't think a forsaken/taken King moment is even possible.

Like someone I was listening to said Destiny just had it all, I remember logging in and just the world of that game was brimming with content. When's forsaken dropped you had just content in every direction, pvp, strikes, patrols, guns to chase, events, it was absolutely just loaded with things to do.

Marathon is one element extraction, can't even load in and just go tdm, or domination, no chill content, no strikes or anything to just kick back... Nothing. And like someone said you can't have it up end extraction, so it's so limited.

To me what division did was that right way to incorporate extraction, it was merely an optional mode in a game with a good bit to do and even then it's not like that game exploded.

I think bungie is screwed
Destiny 1 was not brimming with content. It sucked balls. remember the beta? it was almost half the game. I still have spin metal ptsd. Combined Arms anyone? Didn't think so.
 
Last edited:
Destiny 1 was not brimming with content. It sucked balls. remember the beta? it was almost half the game. I still have spin metal ptsd. Combined Arms anyone? Didn't think so.
I said forsaken and taken king was brimming with content which is why they were so amazing.

And also, compared to marathon d1 and 2 had way more content at launch. Strikes, pvp with multiple Playlists, planet patrols, raids etc...

Marathon is a fraction of any of that.
 
Last edited:
Imagine Japan Studios or Bluepoint watching this shitshow and seeing these tards at Bungie get all the grace in the world from Sony. Or Bend wanting to do a sequel to their 8 million copies sold Days Gone and instead Sony blows money on all this GAASlop.
 
Imagine Japan Studios or Bluepoint watching this shitshow and seeing these tards at Bungie get all the grace in the world from Sony. Or Bend wanting to do a sequel to their 8 million copies sold Days Gone and instead Sony blows money on all this GAASlop.
Yea it's pretty disgusting, makes me dislike bungie that much more. To me bungie has been shit since about 2019, they are the most entitled fucking shit bags ever
 
I said forsaken and taken king was brimming with content which is why they were so amazing.

And also, compared to marathon d1 and 2 had way more content at launch. Strikes, pvp with multiple Playlists, planet patrols, raids etc...

Marathon is a fraction of any of that.
My point was aside from VOG Destiny at launch was nothing short of a massive let down. Destiny 2 was even worse. Both of those games pushed Bungie to the edge. You may not like Marathon but it seems Sony is affording Bungie some breathing room just like those games got.

You are aware of my postion, Marthon has a much more solid foundation that either of those games. The difference now is they have lost their audience and they made a game that at its core appeals to nobody. They wont turn it around but i'll enjoy them spunking millions trying and you guys will enjoy watching them fail.
 
Bungie is god awful at project management and everyone on staff should give thanks daily to Jason Jones for nailing gunplay circa 1999 for the third-person Macintosh version of Halo.
 
My point was aside from VOG Destiny at launch was nothing short of a massive let down. Destiny 2 was even worse. Both of those games pushed Bungie to the edge. You may not like Marathon but it seems Sony is affording Bungie some breathing room just like those games got.

You are aware of my postion, Marthon has a much more solid foundation that either of those games. The difference now is they have lost their audience and they made a game that at its core appeals to nobody. They wont turn it around but i'll enjoy them spunking millions trying and you guys will enjoy watching them fail.

I think the destiny launch is super subjective tho man, I was hooked from day 1... I have memories that will last forever, I mean I remember it wasn't perfect but it wasn't a broken game or anything... I absolutely loved the pvp, loved strikes, all of it.. The game was full of content that simply offered variety. It was easily the start of one of my all time favorite gaming experiences ever and I had a ton of buddies that felt the same. Just the hunt got loot alone since the guns were so exciting and new, that alone was worth it all.

Destiny 2 was imo just fucked with 4v4 and static weapons, that was all shit but it got corrected and again the game by default just had more interest.

I get you guys here are passionate about Marathon, I wish I shared the sentiment... I am just busting Bungies balls but I wish the game was anything but what it is. Destiny 1 and 2 was pleasing to most people and I think that's why it was solid for 7 8 years etc. Marathon just went in a divisive direction and sadly this is the outcome.
 
Last edited:
Bungie is god awful at project management and everyone on staff should give thanks daily to Jason Jones for nailing gunplay circa 1999 for the third-person Macintosh version of Halo.
Funny thing is back in the day they churned out tons of games before Halo. Then when Halo hit it big, they had a way of churning out lots of good Halo games. Then it continued with Destiny. Although you could see the cracks where D1 was lighter on content vs fully featured Halo games. D2 was a giant success, but cooled off and the arent the same. Seemed like way back they were buttoned down making lots of good games fast with lots of content.

Then this whole Marathon thing which started dev in 2019 has been a trainwreck.

They probably raked in so much money during the Destiny games, the tried to milk it and coast. Then shit hit the fan when golden goose D2 slowed down a lot. Suddenly, they got nailed with big layoffs and they never figured out how to keep making games like before with a smaller staff. So you end up with games like Marathon which seem half finished after 7 years.
 
Last edited:
Although you could see the cracks where D1 was lighter on content vs fully featured Halo games.
Yeah they had to reboot the whole thing and put 1Up podcast participant Luke Smith in charge.

I honestly think Bungie just never had a project manager with authority. Alex Seropian the co-founder bailed after Halo because of development issues which clearly continued into the disastrous Halo 2 saga and welp up to today lol.
 
Last edited:
I just think the fact marathon is simply a mode, extraction and that's about it is going to forever limit that game so I don't think a forsaken/taken King moment is even possible.
Can you name a few PvP genres that you wouldn't consider "just a mode"? Is iRacing, DotA2, and Counter Strike just modes as well?

This statement never quite made logical sense to me.
 
If they mean it then they need to:
-Roll out a massive campaign
-Keep updating game with new story expansions
-Drop a pve mode like firefight
-Add in a real battle pass, real cosmetics
-Drop 2 maps a year for extraction mode
-Add in TDM modes and obj modes with preset loadouts

Basically make a full blown Destiny like out of the bones.
 
Top Bottom