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Sony has shed some light on their future plans for Marathon – barely.
Sony CFO Lin Tao explained this in a Q&A in their latest financial meeting:
First, about Marathon, how we factored it in the forecast, we expect the launch to happen within the fiscal year. But, having said that, this is not a commitment. No official announcement has been given yet.
We are now doing modifications in development and, based on the progress, in the autumn time frame we believe we can communicate when we can launch [Marathon], either from Bungie or PlayStation.
Tao clarified that they don’t have plans to cancel Marathon at all. Or at least, not yet.
In Tao’s words:
We are now fixing the problems, so we believe this launch will happen. If this launch is cancelled we’d need to do the revision of the valuation, however as of now this is not expected.
What Is Sony Fixing In Marathon?
Marathon’s reputation is in tatters in the fallout of the huge plagiarism controversy that hit last May. The situation has hit a point that many gamers and games press believe that Marathon no longer has any chance at success.
Before this controversy, however, Marathon was already facing trouble. The consensus between fans after the open beta and some previews is that Marathon offered nothing unique or special outside of its allegedly plagiarized aesthetic. Some fans did say they like it after playing the beta. But because a lot of players were not satisfied, it wasn’t clear if it would succeed if it was sold at $ 40.
Sony’s Weird Live Service Mindset
Sony seems to want to build their brand for making premium live service games. They hit it out of the gate with Helldivers 2, and then swung the completely opposite way with Concord.
Both those games were priced at $ 40, bucking the trend of free-to-play. But Sony was pitching the idea that their games were so good that people would be willing to pay that $ 40. For their part, Sony would not be designing their games around aggressive monetization. Thus far, Arrowhead Game Studios has been slow and steady in adding expansions to Helldivers 2.
If Concord was still around, Sony would have likely updated it that way too. And this is probably the plan for Marathon. But for now, Bungie is still busy revising the game to address all the current concerns.
Can Sony And Bungie Sprint Their Way To Success?
Bungie and Sony are definitely working overtime to fix Marathon. They lined up playtests June, only a month after the plagiarism controversy. They also made those playtests completely confidential.
The latest rumors claim that Bungie has greatly improved Marathon. But even the leakers don’t know if it will be enough. Sony and/or Bungie are the only entities who can tell us if Marathon will be good enough, and if they are confident enough to release it after all.
