Marathon 2025 - Bungie's new AAAA Extraction shooter

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I think I recall Aztecross claiming that Marathon would have 100k concurrent players for at least a month after its release. This was already funny when he said it considering even then the game's success was doubtful, but it's even funnier in hindsight when you see how low the player count is now.

Edit: Found the clip. He actually said it would be 100k players for six months lol. But he does it with this 'I'm sort of joking, but sort of not' attitude so who knows how serious he was. He's been a big ball-washer for Marathon so it wouldn't really surprise me.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=PvT0nKNyfWs
The fact that he was responding to a guy who was dead on about the game flooring out at about 10k makes that curdled prediction taste even more sour.

He was also gunt guarding Highguard pretty hard too
That’s way more embarrassing than dickriding Marathon. At least with this game you could have had the excuse of being blinded by fanboyism and an astroturfed “engoodening” ad campaign, but Highguard had a consensus of being declared shit the femtosecond it was revealed and no bonafides to make anyone (but a few retarded/lying journalists) think otherwise. At that point your judgement is so evidently poor that it’s a waste of time to even entertain your perspective.
 
What the hell is up with people getting marathon tattoos all of a sudden?
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Based on the existing tattoo, it also looks like he got it tattooed sideways for some reason. And if that blue square is meant to be a screen that is some shoddy work; the guy doing it can't even tattoo a square consistently.
 
he's never negative when it counts
"Destiny 2 is a microtransaction hell" was a huge video. He can shill whatever he wants after that one. Thorough, well put, everything laid bare. I'd rather take one video like that in five years than 100 tired Synthetic Man-type "critiques" with a perfect gamer rage timing
 
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I saw that, inspired me to do the same (game holds up so well by the way, fucking great game that D1), but I can only assume he did that because he has been the one spearheading this “Destiny Remastered” copium the last few weeks.
I always thought that Destiny 2 was nothing but a cash-grab. Just like Overwatch 2, it was unnecessary. These games-as-a-service require a lot of work over time to build a loyal customer following, and a sequel like this that devalues player investment is akin to a suicide.
Like there's no Warframe 2, there shouldn't be Destiny 2. They should've committed to it, but instead you have this.
 
this sort of rubs into the problem with an RPG-esque online game that's a shooter, there's only so many ways to make a gun that's actually usable/good, its not like swords and magic and shit, where the moveset can be varied, the ranges of the swings, ect.. with a gun it shoots, faster or slower, bigger or smaller damage, with ranges, you can only go so far and the longer the game goes on, the more true it is.
Destiny has swords and magic and shit, too.

The perk system does let them vary what guns can do a lot more than what you're describing, especially on exotics, although I would agree that the available design space does get consumed as new content keeps releasing.
 
New Tassi video (and Aztecross reacting). Seems like the two biggest ball lickers are now shilling for D1, which I don’t blame them for, the game is still great and I play it every so often. But it feels like they know the writings on the wall.

Also, most liked comment on cross’ video. Kek.
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I always thought that Destiny 2 was nothing but a cash-grab. Just like Overwatch 2, it was unnecessary. These games-as-a-service require a lot of work over time to build a loyal customer following, and a sequel like this that devalues player investment is akin to a suicide.
Like there's no Warframe 2, there shouldn't be Destiny 2. They should've committed to it, but instead you have this.
The reason Destiny is like that is because of Bungie's initial contract with Activision. The terms of their arrangement were that Bungie would deliver a brand new game every two years, with a major "Comet" expansion for the current game in the off-years and additional DLC support in the interim. You can see how that would have played out in the very early roadmap for D1 (recreation of a leaked slide from way back when):
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And indeed, it did play out like that for the first year or so. Destiny released, then two minor expansions (The Dark Below and House of Wolves), followed by a major expansion (The Taken King). If they'd continued along that track, we would have seen another two minor expansions following TTK, then D2 the next year.

But that proved to be a lot more than Bungie was capable of delivering, especially with the development issues they had in the lead up to the original game. Not only could they not ship the minor expansions, they wouldn't hit the deadline for D2 either, needing a whole extra year to finish that game up. But they were still bound by their contract to deliver something, so they negotiated with Activision to do another "Comet" for D1. While most of the studio worked on finishing D2, the live team knocked out Rise of Iron in under a year.

It seems like they were initially attempting to return to the original model with the start of D2, with the base game release followed by two minor expansions (Curse of Osiris and Warmind), then the major expansion of Forsaken the next year and presumably D3 following afterward. However, after cutting ties with Activision and no longer being under contract to deliver brand new games on a timetable, they decided against another sequel and chose to keep building on D2 forever.

That's proven to be a mixed blessing, though. In hindsight, it seems clear that Destiny 2 (and probably D1 as well) was not designed with an indefinite lifespan, and was probably only meant to be worked on for a couple years at most. That shift from developing a game with a short lifespan to a long one has had consequences. In order to keep overall file size down, content has had to be removed that players already paid for, which has left a permanent stain on the game's reputation. Those removals have also ended up leaving the new player experience entirely disjointed, and it's difficult to get anyone new to stick around when it's such a confusing mess. And although it's nice to keep all our stuff and not have to start from scratch again, more and more players are of the opinion that they would take that tradeoff if it meant D2 could be a complete and consistent experience like D1 still is. Hell, half the top posts on the sub these days are people praising D1 in comparison to the current state of D2.

I think if they were smart about it, they could have developed a single complete game that was gradually built on for years to come. But they figured that Destiny was going to play out like Halo with a new game everyone would migrate to every couple of years, not really wanting to commit to the idea of it being more like an MMO than a regular shooter. Hindsight is 20/20, I guess.
 
Today, it seems to me, they took the first steps towards this no longer being an extraction shooter.

Starting this afternoon they are allowing players to do raids with 'deluxe sponsor kits', these are Green quality gear kits that will be free of charge and in unlimited quantity. Previously these deluxe kits were in limited supply and about 2,000 creds a pop. Players who choose to play with these kits will be raiding with other players who have chosen to do the same. Like the free kit raids previously seen, but now with decent gear.
 
Today, it seems to me, they took the first steps towards this no longer being an extraction shooter.

Starting this afternoon they are allowing players to do raids with 'deluxe sponsor kits', these are Green quality gear kits that will be free of charge and in unlimited quantity. Previously these deluxe kits were in limited supply and about 2,000 creds a pop. Players who choose to play with these kits will be raiding with other players who have chosen to do the same. Like the free kit raids previously seen, but now with decent gear.
Seems like they're fighting a losing battle at this point, trying to get some of the casual players they lost back into the game. The problem is I feel like casuals are already moving on to other games since Marathon is inherently unappealing to casual gamers, so this will probably only have limited returns.
 
Today, it seems to me, they took the first steps towards this no longer being an extraction shooter.

Starting this afternoon they are allowing players to do raids with 'deluxe sponsor kits', these are Green quality gear kits that will be free of charge and in unlimited quantity. Previously these deluxe kits were in limited supply and about 2,000 creds a pop. Players who choose to play with these kits will be raiding with other players who have chosen to do the same. Like the free kit raids previously seen, but now with decent gear.
They are moving fully towards 'apex lagends but you can leave early'.
 
Seems like they're fighting a losing battle at this point, trying to get some of the casual players they lost back into the game. The problem is I feel like casuals are already moving on to other games since Marathon is inherently unappealing to casual gamers, so this will probably only have limited returns.
A lot of people, including Tassi and Cross in the video I posted above, are now starting to lament that this game feels like a mode that would’ve been a bungie game proper 10-15 years ago. I tend to agree; if Marathon had a 10 hour campaign, a traditional multiplayer arena mode, AND this extraction mode, I feel like it would’ve sold gangbusters.
 
We're dipping below 5k every day now.

I don't think this death is going to be particularly slow. When it starts hitting "I can't get a match" territory, which will be soon, the numbers will go from a decline to a death spiral immediately. They will NOT keep the servers running for a few hundred people.
 
So the Sony earnings announcement is happening/happened. I am not a smart man, I know not how to read the funny numbers, but:
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Is that right? They took damn near 600 MILLION dollars of impairment against Bungie/the assets they got in that deal. ON TOP OF the impairment from last year? That is almost a fifth of the total they paid for the company if so.

edit: more, tweet
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We're dipping below 5k every day now.

I don't think this death is going to be particularly slow. When it starts hitting "I can't get a match" territory, which will be soon, the numbers will go from a decline to a death spiral immediately. They will NOT keep the servers running for a few hundred people.
S2 is right around the corner. It might give it a small enough boost to keep it limping on for a bit longer.
 
S2 is right around the corner. It might give it a small enough boost to keep it limping on for a bit longer.
You may be right but the game released TWO months ago and is already on the verge of dying. I genuinely don't think a second "season" will help much, mostly because nu-bungie is in no way capable of cranking out the quantity or quality of content needed to save it.
 
You may be right but the game released TWO months ago and is already on the verge of dying. I genuinely don't think a second "season" will help much, mostly because nu-bungie is in no way capable of cranking out the quantity or quality of content needed to save it.
I don't think so either, but the reality is 1.2 million people bought a copy of this game. S2 is in 3 weeks and there is a game mode in place right now to retain the casuals that are left and to hopefully latch on to returning players.

People will come back, see what there is too see, get turned off again or burnt out, and leave. Just like S1, but at a much more accelerated pace with an even lower peak.
 
lol fluffers gonna fluff.

I do enjoy the modest effort he's putting into being a "realistic" shill, eagerly gargling Bungie's balls and mocking everyone's predictions of instant collapse not coming true instantly while occasionally complaining about [Standard Procedure Bungie Daily Game Balance Fuckup, build 14143] and lamenting how they're fucking it all up.

Y'know, trying to portray himself as a legit Blast Haver™ who is Totally Not a Paid Shill Because We Dipshits Do It for Free Now™ and is just a genuine fan faithfully defending the Really Winning Despite All Losing Apperances™ entertainment product he's latched onto today.

Remember, it didn't instantly crash and burn like Concord, so it's obviously a Complete and Total Success™!

I'd love to find and study the research that's been done over the past 50 years about how marketing goons turn seemingly normal human beings into this kind of snarky, ball-washing shill, presumably for free. I'd also like to shoot every marketing goon who contributed to that research or who puts it to work today (gonna need a lot of ammo). Feds, take note: I didn't say "kill" ... I said "shoot." I don't want them to die or anything. I want them to suffer. :story:
I think there's a kinder way to interpret it.

I think Creaturestorm might the rare centrist in these sorts of internet debates - he genuinely sees the appeal of the game, but he also sees the flaws. The problem is that the game's beginning was so rocky he now finds himself stuck in two equally frustrating discussions.

- When he comes here, we're just here to crack beers and watch the game burn down. We don't really care if we perhectly understand the nuances of the game, we just have more fun watching it fail than we would playing it. He can convey his gripes to us and get a round of 'I'll drink to that', but we really don't care to hear that akchually the game is great, so he can get frustrated and leave eventually.
- Conversely, he can go to a dedicated marathon chat, and flap gums on the good points with people there. But because those chats are by this point just dedicated Blast Havers (tm), he's unwelcome there when he wants to actually criticize the game.
- So now he ends up telling the good stuff to that audience and the bad stuff to this one. They are his cope, and we are his seethe.
 
So now he ends up telling the good stuff to that audience and the bad stuff to this one. They are his cope, and we are his seethe.
I will say that you can say something positive about the game here with out getting banned, you just have a sea of knuckle dragging retards leaving stickers on your post.

You say something negative about the game on a discord or reddit and you end up being silenced or banned.

4chan is about the closest you can get to having a honest discussion of the game, but it gets derailed pretty quickly by shit posts.
 
I will say that you can say something positive about the game here with out getting banned, you just have a sea of knuckle dragging retards leaving stickers on your post.

You say something negative about the game on a discord or reddit and you end up being silenced or banned.

4chan is about the closest you can get to having a honest discussion of the game, but it gets derailed pretty quickly by shit posts.
The stickering will continue until morale improves.
 
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