Marathon discourse: A 398-reply argument about Bungie's expensive extraction shooter

On the /v/ board, users engaged in an extended postmortem of Marathon, Bungie’s extraction shooter that reportedly cost Sony hundreds of millions of dollars before its widely publicized underperformance.

The OP opened by defending the game as “bold, punishing, and unlike anything else out there,” but subsequent replies painted a grimmer picture. One user argued that Marathon’s fundamental flaw was punishing struggling players into quitting: “if you get 10 kills in a round, if you die after that then the round was an objective failure that resulted in negative progress.” The commenter noted that competing games like Fortnite and Counter-Strike allow even weak players to experience success, whereas Marathon allegedly crushes them into the ground.

Another major thread of criticism focused on the game’s vision as allegedly corrupted by groupthink within the industry. One respondent claimed that “the idea spread throughout the entire chain, from Sony execs to Bungie execs, to firewalk execs, down to devs,” resulting in a culture so hostile to criticism that “anything other than maximum toxic positivity was chud shit.” Users repeatedly alleged that Bungie’s leadership refused to acknowledge design problems and instead blamed external cultural forces.

Several commenters singled out solo-queue design as a betrayal. “The game is borderline unplayable solo and subpar in a group,” one wrote. Another observed that Cryo, the endgame map, was locked to three-player groups, forcing solo players out of the experience entirely. Allegedly, the game’s atmosphere and tension completely vanish in groups but shine when played alone.

On the monetization front, users mocked the cosmetics shop. “The art style just doesn’t lend itself to fancy skins,” one commenter wrote, adding that Bungie’s character designs offered little room for the fan service that might drive spending.

One user flagged a lawsuit, noting that a former developer “refiled in the proper court in January” after his case was dismissed. The commenter speculated that this developer “probably would have pushed the game to be more like Arc,” with persistent servers, and hoped he would win damages as Marty O’Donnell allegedly did against Bungie years prior.

Defenders appeared sparse. One user argued that calls of “dead on arrival” had persisted for weeks without the game actually shutting down, and that speculation about Sony’s financial losses remained unverified. Another praised the lore and level design while acknowledging the gameplay felt like a “treadmill.”

The thread’s dominant sentiment: Marathon exemplified modern AAA’s creative rot, where institutional groupthink overrode iterative design and player feedback.