- A major media outlet has revealed that Bungie spent a whopping $200 million on Marathon.
- It might have even exceeded $250 million, and this doesn’t account for post-launch support.
- The game will need to be a huge financial success if it wants to become profitable or even break even.
Bungie’s Marathon was a long time in development, and the game was finally released in March. The title had several delays, poor internal assessments, and more, so it was already established that the budget must be quite high.
However, a prominent firm has confirmed that Bungie spent a staggering over $200 million on the development of Marathon. This amount could even be higher than $250 million, and this doesn’t even include post-launch content and updates.
Why it matters: While the game has decent reviews on Steam and PlayStation Store, its player base isn’t too strong. Just on Steam, it has already lost almost 60% of its peak player base in just around a month since release.

Forbes journalist Paul Tassi has confirmed that Marathon’s development budget was over $200 million and might have even exceeded $250 million. This puts it almost in the same context as massive AAA titles like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
This shows that Sony and Bungie had a lot of trust in the live service title. However, the sales have largely been lacklustre, as it has reportedly only sold 1.2 million copies so far, and its biggest platform is Steam.

So, Marathon sales need to be significantly higher than what they are right now for it to even break even, let alone become profitable. However, the studio has stated it’ll support it for a long time, so they might eventually get there.
What are your thoughts on the Marathon development budget being over $200 million? Let us know your opinions in the comments or join the discussion at the official Tech4Gamers Forum.
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News Reporter
Abdullah is an avid gamer who primarily plays single-player titles. If you can’t find him anywhere, he’ll probably be at his desk playing The Witcher 3 for the millionth time. When he isn’t playing games, he’s either reading or writing about them.


