- Marathon has sold 1.2 million copies so far, with 70% of its audience coming from Steam.
- Only 19% of the sales have come from PS5 players, with the platform having a lower playtime average than Xbox.
- The extraction shooter has found an audience on Steam, averaging at 380k Daily Active Users.
Despite launching to surprisingly positive critical reviews that praised the game’s combat loop and difficulty, Marathon has failed to reach the peak of fellow extraction shooter Arc Raiders. The Bungie title opened to an underwhelming concurrent player count on Steam, failing to cross a 100k user peak.
Players have been critical of the game’s UI and its steep learning curve. However, despite all the pre-launch drama and its niche appeal, Marathon has found a dedicated player base, but most of it is on Steam.
Why it matters: The extraction shooter failing to find a massive audience on PS5 is another nail in the coffin of Sony’s misdirected live-service strategy.
According to Alinea Analytics, Marathon has sold 1.2 million copies so far across all platforms, but only 19% of its players are on PlayStation 5.
The extraction shooter has grossed $55 million in revenue, making most of this amount on Steam, where it sold 800k copies compared to a measly 217k sales on PS5. Despite being a first-party Sony title, 70% of the game’s audience is on Steam, while Xbox accounts for 11% of Marathon’s players.
The Bungie title peaked at 478k Daily Active Users on Steam during its first Saturday and has since settled with a respectable 380k DAU average on the platform. Hence, even though the Marathon isn’t as easy to pick as Arc Raiders, players who have understood the mechanics have stuck around, at least on Steam.
Moreover, 22% of the PC audience has already logged in 50-plus hours on the extraction shooter, while PS5 players have the lowest average playtime in the game across all platforms (16.5 hours).
Recent reports have suggested that Sony will be pulling back from PC releases for its first-party titles. However, considering how successful Marathon is on Steam compared to its underwhelming performance on PS5, the new strategy may not apply to live-service titles.
Do you think Marathon has had a successful launch, or should Sony have expected more? Tell us in the comments below or head to the Tech4Gamers forum for discussion.
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Shameer Sarfaraz has previously worked for eXputer as a Senior News Writer for several years. Now with Tech4Gamers, he loves to devoutly keep up with the latest gaming and entertainment industries. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and years of experience reporting on games. Besides his passion for breaking news stories, Shahmeer loves spending his leisure time farming away in Stardew Valley. VGC, IGN, GameSpot, Game Rant, TheGamer, GamingBolt, The Verge, NME, Metro, Dot Esports, GameByte, Kotaku Australia, PC Gamer, and more have cited his articles.
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