So, what about those marathon impressions? I I think it’s accurate to say that they are mixed. And that makes the story fascinating because just about everything surrounding this story is mixed. Bungie appears to be a bit of a disaster as a studio. It’s had so much bad news. Destiny 2, by all accounts, is bleeding out. Concord got executed. Much of PlayStation’s live game plan got cancelled. And to top the whole bloody thing off, Marathon’s development has been by so many accounts pretty damn troubled. I mean, hell, per Skill Up, they five months from their planned launch haven’t started writing the narrative. And if I was to list every point of concern that people have rightly got and, you know, have been rumored, the intro of this video would last for the whole darn video. So, instead of doing that, let’s begin with the foundation of all of this, which of course is Bungie. The large story here is that PlayStation bought Bungie to spearhead their push towards live services. But now so much of that push is dead and Bungie is a very different studio to the one that PlayStation acquired. You’ve got the Final Shape, which was really good, but it shot at undoing the miss that was Lightfall has essentially been squandered. That game is struggling per player numbers. They’ve changed the monetization. They’ve changed the content model. And broadly, Bungie have had so many other issues. There have been multiple layoff rounds. Those layoff rounds have uh led to people leaking to the press talking about awful morale and people having a dim view of the future. A future made even more dim by well PlayStation management publicly blaming Bungie’s leadership for failing to meet targets. Not that being rumored in actual investor-facing statements them getting the blame. And currently there is a belief that the board of Bungie are essentially just playing for time until their stock options from that acquisition can be divested. So basically they uh will be able to sell their stock, be very rich and then leave. And then once that happens, Sony will take over and Bungie will really not be that independent whatsoever. So this is an awful atmosphere and it’s an atmosphere that very much means all hopes are pinned on Marathon. If it is a miss, it will be truly existential to Bungie. And that’s probably why Bungie’s developers are going all out to convince the public that this is actually worth paying attention to and that it’s not going to be a Concord. Marathon was revealed after a shockingly cool ARG with a flashy cinematic from an award-winning director. It really was pretty cool, along with a bunch of gameplay trailers and an on-site hands-on with press and streamers. Here’s what we learned. And look, this is going to feel almost like I’m going down a list of features, but I’m doing that for a reason. That is how this game is being discussed, which immediately is a little bit of an issue for Bungie. If something is being reduced into a feature set, that means the experience is not what’s being talked about. That’s a problem if you want your game to be marketable. So, Marathon is a sci-fi multiplayer extraction FPS where you get loot by searching facilities where you fight NPCs, you fight other players, and then, shockingly, you extract. It’s the classic extraction shooter stuff. I mean, you’ve got grid- based inventory, weapon customization, and other upgrades to make up your progress between seasons. And as I say that, I can almost sense your eyes glazing over. So, here’s how Bungie plans things to stand out. I’m going to first talk about what’s like actually rock solid, but there is something I think it’s basically what they consider to be the ace up their sleeve that they haven’t actually played yet. So, big picture, you play as a runner, which basically is a synthetic humanoid with power sets like radar pings, grappling hooks, and that kind of thing. There’s six at launch, making up three player teams. Uh you can play with less, but Bungie won’t alter the difficulty, so it’s really intended to be played with a group of people. Then of course there’s Bungie storytelling. And if you said that to me 10 years ago at the start of Destiny, I would have said, "No, BS. They’ve kind of lost that." But no, they actually are able to do some cool stuff. So seasonal stories will be told through faction missions like bounties, map-based activities, the environment. It seems to less be sit down and look at this cutscene gamer and far more you kind of piece it together as you play. If they nail that feeling and the gameplay matches it up, even if it’s not the most unique gameplay feature set, it could result in an emotional experience, right? Between the mechanics, the tension of the mode, the storytelling, the sounds, all of that that could actually work for players. But in terms of core gameplay, it seems what’s actually setting this game apart is the AI, where basically play testers are backing up the idea that the PvE side of this is actually really hard and that the AI is actually good, which to be honest does sound kind of exciting. And if you combine that with map design in PvP, you get a game that at least according to testers is particularly lethal even for the extraction shooter genre, which may sound absolutely awful to you. But if you love extraction shooters, maybe you do actually love that and it’s what you want. Now, some of that could just be because they invited loads of highlevel streamers. So, of course, like the people playing at test events are really good at the game and it will feel lethal. But it does seem Bungie are playing up the idea that the experience of playing Marathon and generating stories is the real draw. that with the lethality, the AI being so good, the vibes, the way they do the storytelling that losing can feel like a reward because the emergent story, right, of your gameplay is just so unique, so cool. And I think that’s a sense that they really tried to push through in their cinematic. I can absolutely rationalize why this game is going to be amazing and actually stick out in the market, but realistically, people are seeing the feature set. They’re kind of rolling their eyes at much of it and they’re thinking that looks like it’s really fun gameplay, but what’s going to set this apart? And also, you’ve got the business model wrong. I did promise you, I did tease that there’s rumors abound, right, that there are Destiny raid boss style PvE things going on. And there’s even a rumor that the fourth map that they’ll add is like actually in the ship for marathon. So, that could be kind of cool. and that might be the ace up their sleeve that they pull whenever pre-orders open or something like that. So, that’s basically what’s going on. But another side to this and one that will present tension for them is well, extraction game rewards and progression. So, you do get cosmetics and those will be retained permanently after they’re earned, but experience, gear, loot will be wiped every season. And to Destiny players, that will be shocking. That will be bad because Destiny is all about like the acred progress. That’s going to feel bad, but it is basically the standard of how extraction shooters try to combat power creep over time. So overall then the risk here is there is nothing wildly different about what Bungie are offering here for the genre fans, right? The main distinctive features are the setting and the gameplay pedigree of Bungie and those things could be quite strong but that’s also led to an overwhelming sense of confusion because those are things that appeal to Destiny fans. But it doesn’t necessarily appeal to Destiny people and the apparent target audience of this game are already entrenched in the incumbents, leading many to say, "Who the hell is this for? Will people actually buy it?" Games aren’t just pieces of software feature list. They’re emotional. They’re experiential. And that’s why not everyone is on board with this reveal. That’s why there’s this undercurrent that’s driven by a lot of friction. A lot of people do not like that this is how Marathon has been revived. I mean, if you went and watched the Mandalore Gaming videos on Marathon, god damn, the idea of more Marathon is exciting. But what is Marathon? Well, it’s uh I I guess a grungy, danged 1994 Macintosh single player FPS that’s got some multiplayer arena that’s also the forerunner to Halo. Marathon 2025 ain’t that. It’s a neon corp aesthetic that does kind of amazingly look like it’s full of hard edges, but actually has no hard edges. That’s impressive. Um, but it’s also a multiplayer only extraction shooter that will not register as Marathon to many people. Not in a way that’s rooted in what they know of Marathon. And to make that worse, there’s an almost Ubisoft level of let’s just follow the new genre hotness. Cuz everyone wants an extraction shooter, right? Everyone wants a bit of Tarov, a bit of Hunt Showdown. It does kind of feel like that era where everyone was trying to have a battle royale game and we all eyeolled at all of them. I’m being real with you. I don’t think it’s actually as bad with the extraction genre as it was with Battle Royale. But it’s the same pattern. We’re all sensitized to it. And that means that when Marathon was announced in 2023, well, the same general frustration was there. I mean, god damn, there was Marathon, there was hyenas. Remember hyenas? Now it’s years on from that. And it has only got worse. I mean, even From Software are making an extraction game fromoft. We’re actually living in a world where the dusk bloods which is the new FromSoft game is kind of being taken with suspicion because even though it’s Fromoft, it’s an extraction game and uh yeah, people are kind of skeptical. And beyond that, many just look at the aesthetic, the tone, and the destinyesque gunplay and simply don’t want to fight other players. And this is where Bungie have really hurt themselves. Halo PvP was a big thing, right? I mean, come on, it was Halo goddamn PvP. Destiny 2 PvP though, well, it looked like it could have been a really good thing. But for years and years and years, they chronically underserved their PvP audience. And that does mean that the PvPloving Bungie game players kind of left because Bungie didn’t really take them seriously. The players that Bungie are left with are people who lean PvE. And that clashes with the core of Marathon. But of course, perhaps worse than any of that, there’s money and how they’re trying to sell this game. Imagine this. Role play is this. The day is September 23rd, 2025. You’re a gamer who loves looting and loves shooting. And two games have just came out. One of them is called Marathon and the other one is Borderlands 4. Yeah, two looter shooters, you know, is one has got a campaign, no PVP, and actually more name recognition. Launching against Borderlands 4 is kind of brave for uh for Bungie, especially because this is not a niche Extraction title. The whole point of a game like this is that extraction is brought to a big broad audience. But if that’s an audience with a lot of crossover with Destiny, I think they’d rather play Borderlands 4, honestly. It sure looks like a brave and full hearty move from Bungie, but there’s actually a little kernel of genius here. I’m not messing with you. There really is. Take 2 publishes Borderlands. Take 2 also publishes a little game called Grand Theft Auto. And it could actually be that going alongside Borderlands with your launch window is just about the only way you can surefire avoid the next Grand Theft Auto game. And as much as Borderlands is a tough fight, I would rather fight it than Grand Theft Auto. But here’s where they’ve lost people. The fact that this is a premium game. I’m seeing people say that premium is a big mistake. Generically speaking, I think that’s even more of a point knowing that this is going to be fighting with a really big game like Borderlands 4. Now, if this was a free-to-play game, launching alongside Borderlands wouldn’t really be as much of a problem. Yes, Borderlands would eat up attention, but you could just download Marathon, try it, and if you enjoyed it, well, there you go. You might actually turn into a retained player, but instead, no. Marathon is going to be a premium game. Now, they say it’s not going to be a quote full price title, which basically means $40 like Hell Divers and like Concord, which obviously worked really well for Hell Divers and a little bit less well for Concord. That’s got people worried. And on top of that, of course, there’s also going to be battle passes and a Hell Diver style cosmetic shop. That’s a lot of asks for money. And uh well, if you just take a look at Destiny and you think about the evolution of its business model, the idea of marathon being premium price that’s also got lots and lots of different ways to spend even more money, that could feel pretty bad because Destiny 2’s business model has felt, to be completely honest with you, [ __ ] awful for a long time. And they’ve done ridiculous [ __ ] again and again and again. And this means that whenever people immediately react by saying Marathon is dead, I do kind of get why they say that, right? Like, and yes, it’s a multiplayer game. That means you need a strong network effect for it to grow. Paid access definitely will hurt your user acquisition. But when we think about the extraction genre, well, the biggest, longest lasting PvP extraction shooters are also paid games, right? It’s Tarov, it’s Hunt. And there are free examples. There’s Arena Breakout, Vigor, and Delta Force. But one of the most prominent free-to-play games was The Cycle Frontier. That’s a game that amongst other factors died because of rampant hacking from people who could just jump in on another free account. So paid access for the extraction genre just because the stakes are so so high does kind of make sense. And there’s another aspect as well. A price tag does result in self- selection. Now if the price tag is on Concord, that just means that everybody self- selects out of being a Concord player. In this case, it does mean that players who don’t like the genre won’t try it out. And if they don’t try it out, they won’t feel burnt. They won’t dislike it. They won’t tell all of their friends that they played it and didn’t like it. So, I can kind of see why premium could work, why they could rationalize it, and basically how by making it premium, it suggests to the viewer that it is a game of premium value instead of just yet another free-to-play that’s just lost in a big torrent of slop. But as much as I say that, well, people do tend to break games down into hard numbers without the context of hands-on experience. So, three maps, six characters, dead game. There you go. Simple as. That’s what’s going to happen on Twitter. And that’s going to be an uphill battle for Bungie, especially with nothing else obviously distinct outside of really good Bungie gunplay and an IP revival that I guess people can talk about. But let’s be real, this is not marathon for marathon lovers. I mean, there’s not that many marathon lovers. Not really saying they should have done the perfect spiritual sequel, but yeah, it’s it’s strange. Like, Marathon’s an IP, but it doesn’t feel like this is the best use of it or like Marathon is going to suddenly mean that this is a humongous win. Not unless they can do really cool narrative things, which with Marathon, they absolutely could. So, big picture, it’s no wonder that people are worried about another failing PlayStation live service. But the real question though is, have PlayStation actually learned their lesson? Marathon is being framed as the test case for PlayStation plans? Now, obviously, one test case was Concord, but I’m not moving the goalposts here. Concord obviously was a flaw, but well, Destiny was a big deal when the acquisition was struck. It was the example of a live service model being financially successful. That obviously changed after the deal went through. I’m sure PlayStation feels amazing about that. And of course, Bungie’s troubles have meant uh well, more and more of their staff have just been subsumed into PlayStation in the last year alone. Bungie was not just purchased to help other studios make live service games. It was purchased to make games. That’s why Marathon was developed. Now, remember, this is all part of PlayStation’s live service push. If they cannot have a game launch from the studio that they acquired because they’re live service specialists, if they can’t have that be successful, that will be brutal for their overall strategy. It will likely prove it wrong and Hell Divers a flute. That’s rough. And PlayStation are not stopping their live service push. Yes, they canled loads of games and that made real big news headlines. But there are other games. As an example, Haven Studios Fair Games. Will people believe that fair games can be successful? If the people hired to guide the entire live service push cannot succeed with their own game, i.e. if Marathon fails, that will be brutal. Neither Bungie nor PlayStation can afford another Concord level failure. And I think here it’s very easy for people to see the patterns. I think especially because look, Concord was made by loads of XBungee developers. Now, I do think that Marathon is almost certainly not going to be another Concord. When I look at it, I do think it’s got a lot more going for it. I mean, obviously, there’s Bungie’s name. There’s the developers behind it. There’s the fact this is the first new game in 8 years from the studio. Novelty alone will draw attention. And unlike Concord, I think that the aesthetic is a lot better here. It’s more distinct. I think the character designs are pretty damn solid. The gameplay does appear to be really strong. What it needs though is a hook to convince people and as of right now they do not have that. However, that rumor that you could have a fourth map that’s in the marathon that’s got a PVE element that’s basically like a Destiny boss fight and that’s all playing out. Well, that does seem like something that we’re not getting from the hunt or from Tarov. that could be their thing that people basically just see and believe. But right now, they do not have that. So, here’s what I believe. Here’s my mental model of this game, right? I can see this being fun. I can see this being thrilling. I think in many ways, it looks gorgeous. I think they’re doing interesting things with their art style, but my struggle is in seeing the sort of longlasting player relationship that this studio wants. to get that they’ll need to modify the preferences of many of the players that they’ve got who in playing Destiny are not uh you know signing up for an extraction shooter. They’ll have to do that. They’ll have to then attract lots of new players. I find that hard to see. However, right, however, success at the grander scales is being right when others are wrong. That is what will define an outsized success that can change an industry. And my failure here could be a failure of imagination that I literally cannot imagine a world where this game takes off with a big enough audience. In my mental model of the industry, the potential extraction audience is not big enough, I think, for this to be what they need it to be. But it could be that the potential extraction audience is in fact far larger than just the hardcore incumbent game suggest. And if Bungie are good at doing anything, it is basically taking something and making it mass market. A little bit like how Apple really does not invent new technology or do any of that cutting edge innovation where they innovate is an integration and final experience. If Bungie gets that right, then you could have people who would never play Hunt, who would never play Tarov, happily playing Marathon. But I think it’s an uphill battle. Let me know what you think. And if you want to learn about another uphill battle, one that uh even a ex Nintendo PR person is calling a quote worstc case scenario, watch this video next.