Summary
So much has gone wrong during the endgame build toMarathon, it’s hard to believe just how much of it has happened within the past two months. Between the unclear pricing and stolen art, reports thatpaid marketing for the game has been pulledhave resulted in even the most optimistic Marathon hopefuls admitting defeat.
The latest nail in the potential Marathon coffin was hammered in last weekend when reports emerged claiming all paid marketing for the game had been canceled. Not a good sign for any game with paid marketing, but particularly for one of this size with so much invested in it. Sharing the news onthe r/Games subreddit,oilfloatsinwatertriggered a discussion about the future of the game, and most people don’t believe there is one.
“Marathon is out on a death march now,“Punished_Doobie repliedin a post that has more than 2,000 upvotes. A reply to that comment notes that hoping an extraction shooter would bePlayStation’s next mega hit was a mistake from the start. “Extraction shooters are by definition very hardcore experiences,” they wrote, noting that even if Marathon is amazing, which many people commenting on the post believe it to be, it wouldn’t pull in casual players likeHelldivers 2did.
Marathon Is In A Rough State, And It Hasn’t Even Been Released Yet
We’ve Reached The Point Where Most Are Convinced It Might Never Launch
If not a cancellation, then fans of what they’ve seen so far think a delay is necessary.Pointing to the stolen asset situationspecifically,Reddit user CJDistasio writes, “The delay makes sense to do a complete scrub of the game for plagiarism.” They then question if there has been a single positive about the game yet, bearing in mind there have been tests during which a lot of people have had the chance to play it.
Someone points to the art direction being the best thing about the game, but that is now tainted, while others have questioned why this new take on Marathon isn’t just a reboot of the original games. Many might not even realize that Marathon is a spiritual successor toBungie’s 1990s Marathon trilogy. Perhaps leaning into those who have fond memories of those games first would have been a better approach.
That’s all too late now, though, and for better or worse, Marathon is an almost-complete game. Even though there’s a contingent that believes this game will never get a full release, it’s hard to imagine PlayStation doesn’t release it, regardless of what else has happened, considering the amount of money that will have been pumped into it. Becoming anotherConcordjust a year after the original Concord might be unavoidable at this stage, though.
