We have some interesting rumors about Bungie’s next original IP, Marathon.
Game Post claims to have picked up details about its release from several sources. The big one is that Bungie plans to sell the game at $ 40. Now, they also believe that Sony and Bungie had talks about these plans after the rapid release and closure of Concord. They’re insisting that whether those plans changed or not, they definitely planned to sell it at $ 40 at some point.
Obviously, it’s hard to imagine Sony releasing another live service title at a retail price of $ 40, or anything close at all. They saw success in this with the second party title Helldivers 2, and failure in its first party title Concord. For sure, the degree to which Concord failed would prod Sony not to try again.
If Concord did flop, but only to the degree that Redfall did, for example, Sony may have still felt more confident about this pricing. There may be a better case for Marathon than Concord, after all.
For all their faults, Bungie is a known commodity compared to Firewalk Studios, and Marathon may be a cult favorite, but it’s still a known franchise compared to an original IP. These things don’t guarantee Marathon‘s success, but it would have been reasonable to bet that it could have been successful. Post- Concord, fans are questioning if Sony will even pursue live service at all.
Game Post’s sources also claim that Marathon is still a class based shooter. Earlier rumors claimed that the new director, Joe Ziegler, diverted from custom player characters for a group of heroes. They say that the heroes function as classes.
Each hero has different ability to distinguish them from other heroes. So, it sounds like they met Overwatch and Team Fortress 2 somewhere halfway. Finally, Game Post describes the title as Escape from Tarkov with a Bungie twist. Feel free to take this rumor with excitement or dread, as you prefer.
We do want to believe that Bungie has the experience to avoid the pitfalls Concord made in terms of their hero designs. Game Post says they have been doing regular playtesting, not only internally, but with streamers and content creators, and the feedback has been positive.
In fact, the feedback Bungie is getting back is it feels like the game is worth $ 40. But then, you won’t have a hard time finding content creators who will still defend Concord. Maybe Bungie can pitch Marathon as a F2P that is worth $ 40, instead.
