- Former Microsoft Game Studios executive producer Laura Fryer doesn't think Marathon is a success for Bungie "yet"
- Fryer said the game was "built at a scale and cost that the current market simply isn't rewarding"
- She added that the game is a success among players who love it, but Bungie has a "very big hill to climb"
Former Microsoft Game Studios executive producer and founding member of the original Xbox project, Laura Fryer, believes Bungie's extraction shooter Marathon is a success among its players, but that the studio has a long road ahead to make the game worth its investment.
Marathon finally launched late last month after several delays, and while Bungie's new live-service game appears to be holding the attention of its playerbase, Fryer said "the math around the project is tough when it comes to scope and planning."
Speaking in a new YouTube video titled 'Is Marathon a Success? Laura’s Take', she discussed the game's release and its Steam player count at the time, and positive critical reviews.
She mentions the numbers 10 days post-launch, which show 26,000 to 34,000 concurrent players during off-peak hours (according to SteamDB). This rises from 58,000 to 60,000 during prime time, with Fryer arguing "for a $40 extraction shooter in a crowded genre, that's a decent hold."
"It's not blowing up like some people expected, but it's also not dead," Fryre said. "And for the players who are actually playing it, this feels like a win. They're happy and that matters."
However, despite these numbers the game has already slipped out of Steam's top 50 games.
Fyre also points out that while we don't have the PS5 and Xbox Series X statistics to compare, Marathon's primary audience appears to be on PC, where she estimates it has earned around $22 million after Steam's cut.
Sony bought Bungie in 2022, and Fyre mentions Destiny 2's subsequent underperformance. Now it has Marathon to contend with as well, which needs regular updates to keep player attention.
Fyre said that for players who love Marathon, it's a success, but "for Bungie and Sony's bottom line, not yet, and maybe never in the way they need it to be".
Like the former Microsoft executive pointed out, Bungie was also expected to appear at GDC to talk about Marathon, but canceled its appearance to focus on its game. She argues this was a smart move.
"But it also points to the bigger problem," she added. "The team is stretched thin, priorities are off, and leadership is reacting instead of planning ahead."
Fryer also likened this to a situation with Blizzard's former Overwatch director, Jeff Kaplan, who recently revealed in an interview that he was told his game would have to make a certain amount of money or the company would lay off 1,000 employees (via IGN).
"Look, games are a business. There are harsh realities," Fryer said. "Revenue has to come in, but the guy who came in, that delivered that ultimatum to Jeff, he is so removed from actually making games that he'll never feel what it's like when a thousand people, a thousand families, lose their jobs."
The Xbox veteran continued, explaining that this is where indie development differs, because games like Slay the Spire 2, consisting of 10 people, can still hit record numbers on Steam because they know what the player wants.
"Money matters. Everybody knows that live service games need recurring revenue in order to survive, Fyre said. "But when suits show up and force arbitrary numbers without realistic scoping, good leaders and good games get crushed."
"So, is Marathon a success? Unfortunately, no, not yet," Fyrer concluded. "It has a dedicated audience and core gameplay is genuinely strong, but it was built at a scale and cost that the current market simply isn't rewarding."
Fyrer suggests Marathon's vision may have been too ambitious, saying "the leadership bet was too big, and it may be too late for the new leaders to fix things", concluding that Bungie has a "very big hill to climb," but Marathon is not yet "dead".
