Marathon 2025 - Bungie's new AAAA Extraction shooter

[Zenos Yae Viator]

The Reason is the Corpos completely failed to read the room

to be clear, no one in the Corp is really allowed to shit talk their product, the higher up, the more true it is, inforced positivity isn't just a meme, someone like the CEO can never be caught really shit talking or even admitting major failings about the thing they are connected with.

This is the world Boomers made, among other problems, alot of their enforced changes in the last 50 years have been disasterous, the insane amount of regulations and red tape to do basically anything, including starting a business for instance, none of this existed in their youth, among a list I could go on forever over.

All of Corpo-Culture as it currently stands is old Gen-X'ers and Boomers shit, and alot of it can't be removed for a while, and has created the shitheap world we are in.

 

[DiabeticSydePhil]

My list's a bit simpler. Put as short as I can:

1: Corpos treat it like the second coming of christ
2: Game flops immediately and in spectacular, undeniable fashion
3: The Reason is the Corpos completely failed to read the room
4: And it's a live-service-game that needs the playerbase it doesn't have to justify it's continued existence.

And if you're feeling spicy, toss in Toxic Positivity as the root cause for all of it.

Sums up to me why Redfall, Anthem, and especially Skull and Bones are Concord tier.

Concord is the namesake because it did crashing and burning best, but massively hyped and expensive as fuck games releasing to literally nobody caring and developer damage control is more common than a first two week pull the plug.

Skull and Bones only got content after launch because of Ubisoft's contractual obligations, but it was dead in the water (lol) near instantly. Same for Suicide Squad being DOA instantly but HAVING to produce more content due to deals.

 

[Jace on ice]

Sums up to me why Redfall, Anthem, and especially Skull and Bones are Concord tier.

Concord is the namesake because it did crashing and burning best, but massively hyped and expensive as fuck games releasing to literally nobody caring and developer damage control is more common than a first two week pull the plug.

Skull and Bones only got content after launch because of Ubisoft's contractual obligations, but it was dead in the water (lol) near instantly. Same for Suicide Squad being DOA instantly but HAVING to produce more content due to deals.

Wasn't Skull and Bones largely subsidized by the French Government or some shit and that's why they were forced to release it?

 

[Oliver Onions]

someone like the CEO can never be caught really shit talking or even admitting major failings about the thing they are connected with.

The only 2 examples I can think of of this happening is the guy from Sega of America who said 'the Saturn is not our future' shortly after it released, and I think it was one of the Tramiel dynasty at Atari who wrote one of their last consoles off before it had even released (might have been the Jaguar).

Point being, you can do this if you want, but it's a really fucking bad idea.

Wasn't Skull and Bones largely subsidized by the French Government or some shit and that's why they were forced to release it?

It was the Singaporean government if I remember correctly, and the Ubisoft execs basically used the studio as an excuse to take turns having 6 month holidays while "overseeing" the project.

 

[creaturestorm]

Genuine question, because you've mentioned something to the effect before: Is this a real error or a fourth-wall break from the game?

It appeared to be broken servers.

 

[big pauper]

someone like the CEO can never be caught really shit talking or even admitting major failings about the thing they are connected with.

The most egregious example I can think of this was an interview with tim cook I saw like two weeks ago where he was showing off a bunch of old corporate prototypes. the video was fucking boring and I got baited into watching it.

But the interviewer tees up the biggest softball question imaginable, "what was the biggest unexpected failure at your tenure at apple?" while looking at a prototype to an ipod touch and he doesn't answer it. He deflects into "all of our products are designed to be beautiful" bullshit non sequitur

Nigga all you had to do was say "the ipod touch didnt sell as well as we thought and we had to discontinue it" but no it's a tacit admission they will never capitulate. It's the lesson I learned 20 years ago buying a wireless keyboard and it's why I will never ever buy another apple product ever again.

 

[Zenos Yae Viator]

It was the Singaporean government if I remember correctly, and the Ubisoft execs basically used the studio as an excuse to take turns having 6 month holidays while "overseeing" the project.

and also to fund their other projects, Singapore should NEVER have gotten in bed with Ubisoft, the slopbucket of the industry, it resulted in a game with an outstanding dev time that everyone hated on day fucking ZERO.

 

[DiabeticSydePhil]

Wasn't Skull and Bones largely subsidized by the French Government or some shit and that's why they were forced to release it?

As others said it was Singapore but the funny part is that the game released to a peak of sub 3k players on Steam (and it sure didnt do better on consoles) and is effectively unfixable trash, but because of Ubisoft got government money and was required to support it with X content for Y long, they couldn't/can't turn the fucking servers off on a game that's got a peak of 600 players in the last month.

They even had to do things like announce land combat (before quietly canceling it after they ran the clock out) to appear like they were doing work to not pay Singapore back.

It's absolutely as much of a Concord tier fiasco. Likewise, I'd argue Marathon is as well just because of how much a money burning fiasco the whole thing has been.

 

[Zenos Yae Viator]

As others said it was Singapore but the funny part is that the game released to a peak of sub 3k players on Steam (and it sure didnt do better on consoles) and is effectively unfixable trash, but because of Ubisoft got government money and was required to support it with X content for Y long, they couldn't/can't turn the fucking servers off on a game that's got a peak of 600 players in the last month.

They even had to do things like announce land combat (before quietly canceling it after they ran the clock out) to appear like they were doing work to not pay Singapore back.

It's absolutely as much of a Concord tier fiasco. Likewise, I'd argue Marathon is as well just because of how much a money burning fiasco the whole thing has been.

its only kinda different in.. that Skull and Bones was an out and out scam, it was never hyped by the journo's, the company seemed embarrassed or scared to promote it, and there was no hype bubble from anyone to burst, everyone, and I mean everyone, expected it to fail immediately.

The fact anyone will do business with Ubisoft after that is baffling to me, I do not understand these retards.

 

[Jace on ice]

Skull and Sneed should have been a banger, people are beyond desperate for a pirate game that's actually good.

There's an indie game called Windrose that kinda looks like a Skull and Bones like doing big numbers on Steam rn.

 

[DiabeticSydePhil]

its only kinda different in.. that Skull and Bones was an out and out scam, it was never hyped by the journo's, the company seemed embarrassed or scared to promote it, and there was no hype bubble from anyone to burst, everyone, and I mean everyone, expected it to fail immediately.

"The world's first AAAA game".

At least it forced Ubisoft to not slop up the black flag remaster, they literally can't afford to piss people off.

Likewise this debacle should hopefully force Bungie to release an actual game at some point if they don't get scrapped for parts and IP.

 

[Jace on ice]

At least it forced Ubisoft to not slop up the black flag remaster, they literally can't afford to piss people off.

For the most part. Based on the released screenshots they heavily covered up cleavage on female pirates and prostitute npcs and added the mandatory yellow paint everywhere but the actual gameplay looks as good as the original release.

 

[Zenos Yae Viator]

Skull and Sneed should have been a banger, people are beyond desperate for a pirate game that's actually good.

There's an indie game called Windrose that kinda looks like a Skull and Bones like doing big numbers on Steam rn.

its Pirate Valheim+ship combat, so yea, its getting the big dick numbers.

people love survival craft builders/explorers its gamings biggest comfort food.

 

[DiabeticSydePhil]

For the most part. Based on the released screenshots they heavily covered up cleavage on female pirates and prostitute npcs and added the mandatory yellow paint everywhere but the actual gameplay looks as good as the original release.

Fuck it, I'll take it.

Now maybe they can add a PvE mode to Marathon and a 50% off discount.

 

[Steven Chapman]

I cannot wait for May 5th. I’m having a lot of fun seeing people seethe in comments on YouTube videos or, god forbid, the Reddit. In terms of a concord like, I actually think Marathon is even worse. It’s dead, and undeniably a massive failure; BUT, the absolute cope and seething and defense from Bungie bros makes it worse than a concord in my opinion.

 

[Astro Galactic Megalul]

Is it finally over?

View attachment 8924006

This is very hard on the eyes. This game just really hates the fact that you have them, doesn't it.

I think that Marathon is ultimately a flop, but not a concordlike-level flop. It makes a lot of the same mistakes, and frankly I don't know how it did it, but this slow traildown is far more reminiscent of your standard bad game.

I disagree with @creaturestorm having such a narrow view of Concord being the one and only, though. I've gone over my own candidates for 'concordlikes' multiple times, and I think that at the very least Highguard's spectacular flop deserves the title. When literally all that stands between your game and the exact same fate as concord is a completely undeserved Game Awards highlight, I feel pretty safe saying we're gonna have some more. Especially with Horizon Forbidden Treadmill still on the way.

The only difference between the two is the fact that Bungie's name has inherent value. For the incubated quasimodo Firewalk Studios, Concord was their debut project, so decision to cut life support in their case must've been an easy one.
With the amount of money Marathon brought in, there's virtually no difference. Both are financial failures that saw no profit. It's just that Bungie is still somewhat valuable.

Hype for Marathon: The Extraction Shooter never existed. Just like with Concord, they tried to manufacture it though sheer power of PR. The amount of money these companies dump into marketing is just insane.

 

[creaturestorm]

This is very hard on the eyes. This game just really hates the fact that you have them, doesn't it.

The only difference between the two is the fact that Bungie's name has inherent value. For the incubated quasimodo Firewalk Studios, Concord was their debut project, so decision to cut life support in their case must've been an easy one.
With the amount of money Marathon brought in, there's virtually no difference. Both are financial failures that saw no profit. It's just that Bungie is still somewhat valuable.

Hype for Marathon: The Extraction Shooter never existed. Just like with Concord, they tried to manufacture it though sheer power of PR. The amount of money these companies dump into marketing is just insane.

There are commercial failures happening all the time in every buisiness.

And, again, concord is unique for a myriad of reasons, but mostly because it had zero sales as a AAA game which was backed by Sony.

Every flop you can compare to Concord will have better metrics than Concord. It truly is that bad.

It should of been the Hindenburg of live service games, a total industry collapse, but here we are.

 

[ShitLurker]

Yeah, Concord is a whole other level of fuck up due to how public, expected, wasteful and explosive it was. That thing is a black swan.

I was only here to see Marathon fail, and it did, but not anywhere near a concordlike. Unless it gets closed in like a month, I expect it to stubbornly trudge through for like a year and at that point it just becomes a game that "heavily underperformed" and just vanished in the night.

If your death isn't an explosive shitshow with everyone publicly mocking you, it's not a concordlike. even if Marathon lost 50 times more cash for Sony, Concord will still be much more memorable. People will remember that for years, but they will barely react when Marathon is quietly turned off in a year or two.

 

[Zenos Yae Viator]

but not anywhere near a concordlike.

no but its more load bearing, as has been said before, Bungie is bigger than Firewalk, Bungie is an institution that is dying on this hill, right now, because of this, so its still very interesting.

 

[Steven Chapman]

There are more people playing fucking Kerbal Space Program than Marathon currently.