The ironic joke aimed at Bungie’s Marathon now feels significantly sharper – the developers of Slay the Spire 2 admitted they never expected their game to surpass the rival shooter in online player count. The peak concurrent player count for the card roguelike soared almost six times higher than that of Marathon. Mega Crit, the studio behind Slay the Spire 2, confessed their astonishment at the results and are now playfully jesting about Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Both Slay the Spire 2 and Marathon launched on March 5th. On the day of their respective releases, the Mega Crit developers published an initially ironic congratulatory message directed at Bungie:
“Congratulations to the Marathon team on their launch! Don’t overlook small, lovingly crafted indie projects just because Slay the Spire 2 has been released.”
— Mega Crit
Initially, this was perceived as a harmless jest. However, just a few days later, the post gained a new, more profound layer of meaning. Slay the Spire 2‘s peak concurrent players on Steam reached an impressive 526,793. In stark contrast, Marathon‘s maximum concurrent player count was 88,337 individuals – nearly six times less.
Casey Yano, co-founder of Mega Crit, later acknowledged that the team had not anticipated such an overwhelming outcome. He stated that this unexpected success made their initial joke “sound a bit meaner than it was intended,” as they hadn’t genuinely expected to overtake Bungie’s shooter in concurrent player numbers.
This seems a bit meaner than it was intended…. To be fair I didn’t think we’d actually pass Marathon in concurrent users link
— Casey Yano (@caseyyano) March 6, 2026
Amidst their record-breaking online success, Mega Crit shared another post on social media:
“Our team is simply blown away by the number of people playing and sharing their love for the game we’ve been working on for the past five years. We’ll do our absolute best to make Slay the Spire 2 the best game it can possibly be! And one more obligatory joke: we’ll get you someday, Silksong.”
— Mega Crit
Perhaps with this “obligatory joke,” the Mega Crit team has once again decided to tempt fate. While Hollow Knight: Silksong‘s peak online players at launch reportedly reached 587,150, Slay the Spire 2 has already firmly established itself as one of the most popular indie games in recent years and possesses every chance to compete with Team Cherry’s highly anticipated title.
