- Ex-Marathon art director dismissed any comparison to Concord, saying the game is actually good.
- Joseph Cross said he didn’t take the negativity around the title personally as he believes in the work Bungie has done.
- As per the former director, the team has created something really cool that will pan out.
After months of negativity and controversy, Marathon is finally set to launch worldwide this March. Despite already being one of the top 10 best-selling titles on Steam, many still expect the extraction shooter to fail at launch and hurt Bungie.
Fans have historically compared the title to PlayStation’s biggest live-service failure, Concord. But if you ask ex-Marathon art director Joseph Cross, the game won’t have the same fate as Concord.
Why it matters: No one can predict what will happen to Marathon, but despite its shortcomings, the game is a much more interesting offering than Concord ever was.

In a new interview with ReaderGrev, Joseph Cross stated that comparisons to Concord didn’t faze him, as Marathon will last in the long run. The former art director explained that he believes Bungie has created something really cool that will pan out, hence he didn’t take any of the negativity personally.
It’s difficult for me to take any of that stuff personally because I believe in the art, because I believe in what we’ve done. I think we Actually did something really cool, and I think it will pan out.
Cross said that he can’t control how the audience will react to the title, but he believes in the work the team has done on the extraction shooter.
According to the ex-art director, art is the most important thing in the face of criticism, and despite all the criticism, Marathon is excellent.

Sony’s upcoming extraction shooter did see a fair share of bad PR, from plagiarism allegations to negativity around its visual style. However, Joseph Cross thinks Marathon was just unlucky in this aspect, and the pre-launch reaction won’t make the game a sure-fire failure like Concord.
Do you think Marathon will be a failure like Concord, or will the Bungie title find a dedicated player base? 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.


