While Sony and Bungie are gearing up for the release of Marathon later this year, a former developer from Firewalk – the studio behind failed multiplayer title Concord – has asked players to let Marathon come out before predictions of its failures kick off. In a post on Reddit, the developer, using the handle -MrSpug-, spoke about their time working on Concord, and the general challenges of a live service game that fails to capture an audience.
“Many players know about Concord, and what happened with that project,” wrote the developer. “Concord failed to inspire players, and the messages was heard loud and clear. It was gut wrenching to see our project fail, and be the laughing stock of many online. I have learned that failure, is what drives me to succeed. No one feels as bad as the people who put their time on the line, hoping it will entertain the masses of gamers across the globe. I am not asking for pity, or even sympathy because, after all this is the name of the game, you win or lose. The margin for success is very thin. I took a chance, and lost.”
The developer also talks about being excitement after getting a look at Marathon, as well as seeing the people working hard at making the game.
“Some of you probably smell blood in the water, and probably want to roast me for no longer lurking, and exposing myself,” they continued. “I hope you don’t, and see that people create these projects, and work very hard to be the next big thing. Seeing the faces of the developers on the Bungie stream, gave me hope, and excitement for what is to come for Marathon.”
“I commend them for taking a chance, trying something foreign to them, that isn’t proven, nor guaranteed to succeed. It takes a lot of courage.”
Further in the Reddit thread, the developer spoke about how players shouldn’t already be judging a game before its release. In a comment, they wrote that “to call [Marathon] a failure before it’s even out, is wild to me.”
Details about Marathon were revealed over the previous weekend with a gameplay showcase. Among the things revealed was the fact that Marathon will be coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on September 23, with a closed alpha test starting on April 23. At launch, the extraction shooter will feature 3 maps and 6 playable characters, referred to in-game as Runners.
In an interview, game director Joe Ziegler spoke about wanting to give players the polish they expect from a shooter developed by Bungie with layers of gameplay that will help players tell their own emergent stories through wins and losses in the gameplay sandbox.
“I do think that the ceiling could rise from where it’s at currently,” Ziegler said. “And part of that is I think that we have a whole generation of people who are growing up in sandbox experiences. We have [battle royale] players, we have players who are playing other sandbox shooters as their main game as they were growing up. And for them, they’re creating a lot of these stories, but a lot of the stories that they’re creating are framed by the systems that those games embrace, right?”
Marathon will not be a free-to-play game. Bungie, however, has not yet confirmed its price.
