Marathon Releases September 23, 2025

Killjoy-NL said:
I think the thing people are overlooking is that Sony wants to expand and diversify their 1st party library.
PvP and live service is what they're lacking and they want to be able to rely less on 3rd party.

That's not possible if they just focus on singleplayer, primarily.
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I don't think they need to focus primarily on single player, but I do think they need to remember their roots and their strengths as a company and ensure that as they're navigating the live person battlefield that they're bringing something unique to it.

I think if Concord had a single player mode, it would have sold at least a few million copies and while people were playing the single player campaign, it would have at least bought them time to adjust their multiplayer.

I don't think fairgames necessarily needs a single player mode (wouldn't hurt though), but I think Sony kind of jumped into th live service people just chucking darts at the wall.
 
Mibu no ookami said:
I don't think they need to focus primarily on single player, but I do think they need to remember their roots and their strengths as a company and ensure that as they're navigating the live person battlefield that they're bringing something unique to it.

I think if Concord had a single player mode, it would have sold at least a few million copies and while people were playing the single player campaign, it would have at least bought them time to adjust their multiplayer.

I don't think fairgames necessarily needs a single player mode (wouldn't hurt though), but I think Sony kind of jumped into th live service people just chucking darts at the wall.
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Sony isn't forgetting their roots though.
ND, GG, SSM and SuckerPunch, their main studios, are all working on major singleplayer titles.

Apart from Factions, all the live service games are being developed by 'recently' acquired studios (Bungie, Haven, Firewalk and that new studio split-off from Bungie).

These live service studios are specialized in online multiplayer and are in addition to Sony's main studios, not a replacement.
coachmcguirk91 said:
I don't think the gaas push by Sony was primarily driven to diversify their portfolio. Sony realized that Console sales have somewhat stagnated, while the cost of games to develop has skyrocketed. The margins on their first party single players is much less than past generations. GAAS games was probably seen as a means to make up the difference

Even with all of Playstation's gaas failures this generation. If Marathon, Horizon online, or Fairgames is a big hit, the gaas push will probably be considered a success for Sony. Helldivers 2 has certainly already covered the vast majority of losses they have taken
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Sure, it's more than just wanting to diversify, but that's a given with these companies. These are multi-billion dollar companies, they don't make decision for singular reasons.
 
Killjoy-NL said:
Sony isn't forgetting their roots though.
ND, GG, SSM and SuckerPunch, their main studios, are all working on major singleplayer titles.

Apart from Factions, all the live service games are being developed by 'recently' acquired studios (Bungie, Haven, Firewalk and that new studio split-off from Bungie).

These live service studios are specialized in online multiplayer and are in addition to Sony's main studios, not a replacement.
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That's not my point.

My point is that Sony should endeavor to bring something new and different to the live service space that they're largely entering pretty late. So many of their products that have been cancelled or haven't landed don't seem to have been inspired at all and lack the values that made their single player games as successful as they have been.
 
Mibu no ookami said:
That's not my point.

My point is that Sony should endeavor to bring something new and different to the live service space that they're largely entering pretty late. So many of their products that have been cancelled or haven't landed don't seem to have been inspired at all and lack the values that made their single player games as successful as they have been.
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They had exactly the same issue during the first half of PS3 and then when everybody said that singleplayer games were dead, Sony started releasing those major singleplayer games they became known for.

This gen seems to be following the same trend in different ways.

As for Marathon, it's up to Bungie to deliver.
With Destiny, they've shown they can do great stuff, but also fuck up immensely.
So maybe we should just see how things unfold?
 
Mibu no ookami said:
I think if Concord had a single player mode, it would have sold at least a few million copies and while people were playing the single player campaign, it would have at least bought them time to adjust their multiplayer.
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LOL, right, people would have totally loved to play as those characters, it really spoke to millions of people.


coachmcguirk91 said:
I don't think the gaas push by Sony was primarily driven to diversify their portfolio. Sony realized that Console sales have somewhat stagnated, while the cost of games to develop has skyrocketed. The margins on their first party single players is much less than past generations. GAAS games was probably seen as a means to make up the difference

Even with all of Playstation's gaas failures this generation. If Marathon, Horizon online, or Fairgames is a big hit, the gaas push will probably be considered a success for Sony. Helldivers 2 has certainly already covered the vast majority of losses they have taken
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The issue here is that Sony has made billions of dollars on Call of Duty and what was their primary hardware competitor bought the company that was making it. Sony (correctly) realized that they couldn't rely on third parties in this world of a rapacious monopolist gobbling up companies and they needed to control some of these games themselves. But they've obviously screwed it all up.

lol @ the idea of Helldivers "covering the losses they have taken." That's not the way it works, a disaster is a disaster no matter what.
 
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diffusionx said:
LOL, right, people would have totally loved to play as those characters, it really spoke to millions of people.



The issue here is that Sony has made billions of dollars on Call of Duty and what was their primary hardware competitor bought the company that was making it. Sony (correctly) realized that they couldn't rely on third parties in this world of a rapacious monopolist gobbling up companies and they needed to control some of these games themselves. But they've obviously screwed it all up.

lol @ the idea of Helldivers "covering the losses they have taken." That's not the way it works, a disaster is a disaster no matter what.
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Exactly.

When Concord got grilled to the bone, nobody was saying the game would be way better if it had SP. Bad graphics with weird characters and faded pastel colours, politics, and ho hum gameplay on forgettable maps killed it. And bad marketing too. A SP campaign isnt saving the game. Not every shooter fan even cares about SP as many dont even have one, or gamers just play BR mode (Warzone) which has zero story.

As for H2, no matter how much net revenue and profit they made so far, it's all gone with Sony's GAAS focus. Bungie costing $3.6B alone kills all H2 profits, and that's not even including all the other studios they cancelled, MP games cancelled, and of course Concord added to it.

Out of Bungie's $3.6B buy out price, $1.2B alone was spent on employee retention bonuses so that dollar value is already gone. And any brand equity value will be heavily reduced as Bungie has tanked lately with bad Destiny 2 sales and tons of employees fired. Add it up and Bungie has probably cost Sony $2B by now in total lost.

You never know, maybe Haven Studio's Fairgames$$$$$ will save the day. lol
 
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diffusionx said:
LOL, right, people would have totally loved to play as those characters, it really spoke to millions of people.



The issue here is that Sony has made billions of dollars on Call of Duty and what was their primary hardware competitor bought the company that was making it. Sony (correctly) realized that they couldn't rely on third parties in this world of a rapacious monopolist gobbling up companies and they needed to control some of these games themselves. But they've obviously screwed it all up.

lol @ the idea of Helldivers "covering the losses they have taken." That's not the way it works, a disaster is a disaster no matter what.
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Even with all of these gaas failures and thin first party output, Playstation is still making record profits. And with Microsoft soft exiting the console market, at least for next 2.5 years, Playstation's profits will continue to rise, especially GTA 6 coming out exclusively on consoles. They have never been in a stronger position

And I don't think Sony greenlit 12 gaas games thinking the majority of them would succeed. Concord was an unbelievable failure, but overall, it's costs were a relative drop in the bucket compared Playstation's overall revenue. I would argue Playstation as a brand took a bigger hit than the financial costs. Playstation moniker was nowhere to be seen in Marathon's unveiling, even though it is a Playstation studio game and it does pop up when you boot up the alpha test
 
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I don't understand how they failed so miserably in translating the striking art we saw in concept art and the cinematic trailer to in-game visuals. I mean, this is Bungie; they always nailed art at least, and they should have enough budget and specs to deliver polished, high-tier production values. Yet the visuals, which were advertised as a serious boon of the game, end up looking so basic and low-detail, almost like a low-budget game like No Man's Sky. They might as well have launched this on last gen consoles aswell because it looks unimpressive even compared to several ps4 games.

I really hope they do some finetuning to the visuals based on feedback actually make the art pop more if nothing else in terms of fidelity. Heres hoping they pull a rabbit out of their hat to surprise us.
 
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Xbox servers are up early. The second map looks even smaller than the first with like 4 building POIs. Thats pretty laughable and these maps will get stale real quick. I like the interior design, but the vegetation, mountain and tree design and color palette is absolutely dreadful and needs to change. Gunplay looks fun tho

 
Luipadre said:
Xbox servers are up early. The second map looks even smaller than the first with like 4 building POIs. Thats pretty laughable and these maps will get stale real quick. I like the interior design, but the vegetation, mountain and tree design and color palette is absolutely dreadful and needs to change. Gunplay looks fun tho

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Only managed to see the guy going through the menus, before servers were shutdown.

The menu music is dope, at least.
 
Luipadre said:
Xbox servers are up early. The second map looks even smaller than the first with like 4 building POIs. Thats pretty laughable and these maps will get stale real quick.
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Not to say this critique isn't valid but The Finals launched with 3 maps and was one of the most common complaints of the game around launch.

The game now has 8 maps and the player base hasn't increased at all.

Map count is likely an overvalued metric when it comes to the value it brings to players. DotA 2 and League of Legends have one map (last I checked).
 
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Men_in_Boxes said:
Not to say this critique isn't valid but The Finals launched with 3 maps and was one of the most common complaints of the game around launch.

The game now has 8 maps and the player base hasn't increased at all.

Map count is likely an overvalued metric when it comes to the value it brings to players. DotA 2 and League of Legends have one map (last I checked).
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For games like Marathon, the variety of activities within the map are much more important than quantity. I'm hoping there is a lot of randomization, especially with enemy spawns. I always want to feel unsettled when roaming any location
 
Luipadre said:
Xbox servers are up early. The second map looks even smaller than the first with like 4 building POIs. Thats pretty laughable and these maps will get stale real quick. I like the interior design, but the vegetation, mountain and tree design and color palette is absolutely dreadful and needs to change. Gunplay looks fun tho

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Map looks much bigger to me?
 
Luipadre said:
outdoor design with those trees and vegetation and same looking mountains man... you cant make any worse looking than that
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I was just commenting on the size. Not massive but still seems a bit bigger than Dire Marsh.

HmT8m4K.png


I think it looks fine in 4k. I know I'm in a minority but I like the art style. Plus i'd rather games like this run at 240fps+ and looks like it will by all accounts.


Edit: Uploaded a better quality grab.
 
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clarky said:
I was just commenting on the size. Not massive but still seems a bit bigger than Dire Marsh.

ooTWXfH.png


I think it looks fine in 4k. I know I'm in a minority but I like the art style. Plus i'd rather games like this run at 240fps+ and looks like it will by all accounts.
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You can make good graphics with good performance. The art style is fine indoors, outdoor looks awful
 
Luipadre said:
You can make good graphics with good performance. The art style is fine indoors, outdoor looks awful
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Yeah the cliffs and the trees do have a weird pastely washed out look, need to see more that isn't potato quality.


Edit: Slightly better quality.

 
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Killjoy-NL said:
Gameplay looks good, imo. Gameplay also looks more tactical than during the reveal.
Audio sounds good too.

Environments are okay-ish, I guess. Visual kinda hit and miss.

Shame the alpha isn't available in the EU.
Would love to try it out.
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Yeah I'm sold on it, looks right up my street. Gunplay looks solid as expected.

Like Luipadre Luipadre says looks fine indoors, kinda meh outside.

RE: The Alpha, I think a few EU folks got in. I'm hoping they open it up later in the week.
 
Men_in_Boxes said:
Clarky, what has been your main one or two multiplayer games the last few years? What's your type?
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Recently? Good question.

Treading water at the minute waiting for something to grab me. But if it involves besting others humans (or working with them) then that's my thing.

I've played them all.. DMZ, Delta Force, bits of Tarkov, Destiny. Rainbow Six, COD, Halo etc

I know you like the Finals but I couldn't get into it Solo.

If I do play single player stuff then its usually ARPG's. Not really into one and done games for the most part although if it's top tier like KCD2 then i'll make time.

Side note, I'm limited to controller mainly these days due to my wrist being knackered, I can handle KBM in short burst but that's it. Price you pay for playing videogame nonstop for 45 years...
 
clarky said:
Recently? Good question.

Treading water at the minute waiting for something to grab me. But if it involves besting others humans (or working with them) then that's my thing.

I've played them all.. DMZ, Delta Force, bits of Tarkov, Destiny. Rainbow Six, COD, Halo etc

I know you like the Finals but I couldn't get into it Solo.

If I do play single player stuff then its usually ARPG's. Not really into one and done games for the most part although if it's top tier like KCD2 then i'll make time.

Side note, I'm limited to controller mainly these days due to my wrist being knackered, I can handle KBM in short burst but that's it. Price you pay for playing videogame nonstop for 45 years...
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I have anointed you one of the sane multiplayer NeoGAFians. Always curious to see how a non crazy person views a topic so near and dear to my heart. Appreciate the perspective.

"But if it involves besting others humans (or working with them) then that's my thing."

oh-yea.gif
 
clarky said:
Yeah I'm sold on it, looks right up my street. Gunplay looks solid as expected.

Like Luipadre Luipadre says looks fine indoors, kinda meh outside.

RE: The Alpha, I think a few EU folks got in. I'm hoping they open it up later in the week.
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The EU players are mainly to test their connections, one of the Bungie guys even said "they won't have fun" but it's just a test

Side note

Just about to fly out and will try it when I get home
 
My Fortnite-obsessed kid thinks it looks cool, but it not being F2P is gonna be a big problem. Not only would him and his buddies have to convince their parents to buy the game, but they'd all have to buy PS Plus subscriptions too (which just went up in price again here).

Sony is vastly underestimating how many millions and millions of GAAS players don't pay and don't WANT to pay for their dumb sub.
 
touchfuzzy said:
My Fortnite-obsessed kid thinks it looks cool, but it not being F2P is gonna be a big problem. Not only would him and his buddies have to convince their parents to buy the game, but they'd all have to buy PS Plus subscriptions too (which just went up in price again here).

Sony is vastly underestimating how many millions and millions of GAAS players don't pay and don't WANT to pay for their dumb sub.
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You don't need PS+ or Xbox live for this. They are essentially treating it like a FTP game.
 
coachmcguirk91 said:
Best video yet explaining the gameplay loop. Super pumped for tmmrw
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Hope it's everything you want mate. For me, seeing all that video just solidifies that this game isn't for me. Waaay too much menus, management, slow interactions gunplay/engagement wise and generally just pretty fucking boring TBH. A video above had 9mins or so and literally about total 20 seconds of engagement that weren't looting or shite NPCs.

Apex gameplay loop of drop, fight or loot, fight or flight and rinse then repeat is so much more my speed. Given you have TDM vs duos/trios vs ranked and other event modes, wider character classes, likely more guns, far better terrain and "iconic" visual indicators I just have such little interest in this game from Bungie. There are so many reasons stacking up as to why "I" don't want to play this.

Beyond the actual gameplay it's visual style is basically completely against anything Bungie, Halo or Destiny e.g. iconic, easy to identify, flowing, action based. I feel like they've made a poor choice going extraction shooter.

*I'll try always try out a Bungie game with an open mind but the more I see the less I want to play it so far.
 
Ozzy Onya A2Z said:
Hope it's everything you want mate. For me, seeing all that video just solidifies that this game isn't for me. Waaay too much menus, management, slow interactions gunplay/engagement wise and generally just pretty fucking boring TBH. A video above had 9mins or so and literally about total 20 seconds of engagement that weren't looting or shite NPCs.

Apex gameplay loop of drop, fight or loot, fight or flight and rinse then repeat is so much more my speed. Given you have TDM vs duos/trios vs ranked and other event modes, wider character classes, likely more guns, far better terrain and "iconic" visual indicators I just have such little interest in this game from Bungie. There are so many reasons stacking up as to why "I" don't want to play this.

Beyond the actual gameplay it's visual style is basically completely against anything Bungie, Halo or Destiny e.g. iconic, easy to identify, flowing, action based. I feel like they've made a poor choice going extraction shooter.

*I'll try always try out a Bungie game with an open mind but the more I see the less I want to play it so far.
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I've got 2000 hours in Apex, but I burned out a couple years ago. The battle royale genre does nothing for me anymore. People are upset at Bungie for making an extraction shooter, but they would be just as angry if they developed another BR, Hero shooter, or Destiny 3. At least the game they are developing is unique within the space of Extraction shooters

I have never played a proper extraction shooter, as I only play on console. I love games where there are consequences for dying, like Souls games. I'm also much more interested in a game that is more methodical than just chasing down other teams. That doesn't excite me anymore

I'm iffy on the visual art style too, but all of the hands on previews universally seemed to praise it. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt before playing. One thing is for sure, the art style will age incredibly well

But, yeah, there are for sure going to be a lot gamers that won't click with Marathon. It is vastly different than anything Bungie has done before
 
coachmcguirk91 said:
I've got 2000 hours in Apex, but I burned out a couple years ago. The battle royale genre does nothing for me anymore. People are upset at Bungie for making an extraction shooter, but they would be just as angry if they developed another BR, Hero shooter, or Destiny 3. At least the game they are developing is unique within the space of Extraction shooters

I have never played a proper extraction shooter, as I only play on console. I love games where there are consequences for dying, like Souls games. I'm also much more interested in a game that is more methodical than just chasing down other teams. That doesn't excite me anymore

I'm iffy on the visual art style too, but all of the hands on previews universally seemed to praise it. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt before playing. One thing is for sure, the art style will age incredibly well

But, yeah, there are for sure going to be a lot gamers that won't click with Marathon. It is vastly different than anything Bungie has done before
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Actually pretty well said there mate, I agree if it had of been another BR etc. I would have really liked more Destiny public events, spaces, PvE stuff with campaigning with your close mates.
 
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