Despite a respectable launch month, which reportedly saw 2.2 million players trying out Bungie’s extraction shooter, Marathon hasn’t exactly been setting the charts on fire. A quick look at its Steam player count reveals 24-hour concurrent peak of 16,258 – not exactly what you’d expect from a high-profile title, especially Bungie’s newest, that’s been in the works for years.
While creative director Julia Nardin didn’t really comment on the same to GamesRadar, she noted that the team knows “where we want to take the story over the next few years,” even if it’s not “completely ‘locked in’ because it’s important to us that our players be able to help shape it.” That input is apparently “part of the magic of playing a live service game.”
While the story of Tau Ceti IV and the events that occurred before the player’s “activation” remain locked, the overarching backstory will continue to evolve “in ways that are informed by its past and a future that excites our players.” Best of all, it seems the team wants to avoid Destiny 2’s content vaulting issues that resulted in the removal of pre-Beyond Light activities and campaigns from the game, making it difficult for new players to jump in.
“It’s also important that players can jump into Marathon at any time. They’ll always be able to uncover the mysteries of Tau Ceti’s past while experiencing its present. We want every season to be a new entry point, and for new players to be able to understand what’s going on regardless of how long we’ve all been running,” says Nardin.
For now, it’s very much early days for Marathon. Season 1 introduced Cryo Archive, an end-game zone where players would run into a familiar race from the OG trilogy. As if in response to these incursions, the UESC will have increased security in Season 2: NIGHTFALL, with Dire Marsh receiving new nighttime variant. There will also be a new Runner Shell, Contracts, weapons, something called The Cradle for customizing one’s stats and the long-awaited Duos queue.
Nothing is known about Season 3, currently “REDACTED,” and you have to wonder if it’s because Bungie is taking on feedback to shape things accordingly. Surely there will be more to explore in the titular ship, right?