Things are looking brighter for Marathon, Bungie's upcoming massive live service shooter. First, as we previously reported, the game has been seeing a steady increase in pre-orders on both Steam and PlayStation. Now, Sony is giving investors hot expectations for Marathon, which has a multiplatform debut date of March 5, 2026.
In addition to PC and PS5, Marathon is always heading to Xbox Series X|S. And while Microsoft hasn't had much success selling hardware in recent years, it still has a decent installed base full of people willing to try out live service titles. If so, Bungie's corporate overlords, Sony, seem primed for success. Or at least that's what they tell themselves.
It's a jungle there
Live service shooters are worth billions of dollars, but there is a clear market leader. Fortnite playtime will decline in 2025, but make no mistake: It is still the Titan to end all Titans. Call of Duty is on hiatus, but Battlefield 6 is soaring. ARC Raiders probably It's a success story of the year and is now thriving. Helldivers 2 still has quite a presence. You get the point.
The Switch 2 version of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth comes with a Zack Fair MTG card. yes this is the only way to get it
It's unfair.
It's a vast playing field, but the live service industry allows too many pinch hitters. The rest are blocked. Many shooting game enthusiasts do not have enough time to devote to multiple games. You tend to pick one, maybe two, and stick to them like a tongue on ice. Bungie's previous epic, Destiny 2, is still a work in progress… but not too strong. This is important context because it puts enormous pressure on the studio to deliver Marathon.
Many of us have doubts about how well it will work. After all, every Fortnite has multiple high guards. I don't think I like Marathon's beta phase either. But Sony is confident that player feedback has been taken into account to the extent that the odds of success are somewhat safe, at least on paper.
He continued, “We expect that many users will be able to enjoy Marathon, which is scheduled to be released on March 5, thanks to Bungie, Inc.’s enhanced gaming experience.” -Sony
This opinion comes from the latest financial reports. The cynical interpretation, which some argue is appropriately realistic, is that the company is telling investors what they want to hear. Hey, that's part of it. And it wouldn't be the first time a capitalist company has done so. But I think there's more to it than that. The marathon is one month away. There is no shortage of other things you can say to calm investors' nerves. So to single it out as one of the four things to hype right now makes a lot of sense in my opinion.
Sony wants the marathon to be a success. Why not? Now they have publicly declared their high hopes that that will be just that. Time will tell where the marathon goes, but considering how many layoffs there could be if the race sinks rather than swims, I'll try to join the group of optimists. I don't even play shooting games, so I won't contribute, but… Hello. It's not about me.
Don't get your hopes up for Starfield on Switch 2. “It may not come out at all.”
It looks like not all Bethesda titles are making the move to Switch.
