The community surrounding Bungie’s upcoming extraction shooter, Marathon, is currently in a state of alarm. Players have been closely monitoring SteamDB statistics, and a failure to hit record-breaking numbers during testing has quickly led some to label the game as “dead.”
However, veteran players from a competing title, The Finals (developed by Embark Studios), have stepped in to offer perspective. One such player posted an extensive message on the Marathon subreddit, urging fans to remain calm and avoid premature predictions of disaster.
“We experienced the exact same thing,” the author explained. The Finals’ community also went through a period of panic post-launch when its concurrent player count began to decline. Yet, the game successfully navigated this, continuing to receive regular new seasons and maintaining a dedicated player base. The veteran advises Marathon fans against comparing every new release to “anomalous” breakout hits like Helldivers 2 or Palworld.
The message emphasizes that the success of a live-service game isn’t solely determined by its position on Steam’s top charts. Furthermore, fixating on PC player statistics overlooks a significant portion of the audience playing on PlayStation and Xbox. Ultimately, the most important aspect, according to the veteran, is to simply enjoy the gameplay.