While players are wondering if Marathon will repeat the fate of the infamous Concord, Sony has given a clear answer: no one is going to close the shooter. This became known from the speech of the company’s management to investors.
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Bungie’s losses: Sony wrote off almost $ 800 million
Lin Tao, Chief Financial Officer of Sony Interactive Entertainment, admitted the obvious: Bungie’s project revenues did not meet expectations. The company had to revise the studio’s business plan and completely write off the value of fixed assets – with the exception of goodwill. The amount of depreciation amounted to about $560 million, and taking into account previous adjustments, the total decrease in the cost of the Bungie acquisition reached $765 million over the year.
One of the main reasons is the sharp collapse in the audience of Destiny 2. After a weak addition and the postponement of a new content update, players began to leave en masse. Marathon in this context also didn’t fire as well as Sony had hoped.
Marathon vs Concord: Why Sony won’t shut down Bungie Shooter
The comparison with Concord is obvious, but Sony clearly rejects it. And the company has good arguments.
The exact sales figures of the extraction shooter are still not disclosed, however, according to analysts, the Marathon audience now numbers from one to two million players. At the same time, the perception indicators are completely different:
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82 points on Metacritic is a confident score, far from a failure
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more than 90% of positive reviews on Steam
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have high retention rates and audience engagement
For comparison, Concord was shut down two weeks after its release. The Marathon is alive, the players are staying, and the outflow is not critical yet.
The Future of Marathon: Seasons, Content, and Sony’s Bet on the Long Game
Sony is betting on a long game. The company expects to improve results through new content, gameplay improvements, and expansion of the player base. Bungie has already presented an approximate development plan for the first two seasons, and creative director Julia Nardin previously stated that the Marathon story arcs are planned for years to come.
The main question analysts are asking is whether a dedicated but relatively small community has the strength to keep the game alive over the long haul. Live-service shooters don’t die from poor ratings — they die from empty servers.
Sony seems to understand this. That’s why the focus is on content and retention rather than making big statements. Quiet work is the best answer to loud doubts.
