Launching a game is always a risky endeavour, and even more so when you are jumping into the extraction shooter genre with a paid product. For Sony PlayStation and Bungie, the recent reveal of Marathon as a premium title has many players worried about its future even before its release, with Concord serving as a cautionary tale.
What awaits players is a team-based extraction shooter featuring playable characters known as Runners, each with unique abilities. Rather than following in the footsteps of free-to-play titles like Overwatch 2 or offering partial access like Rainbow Six Siege, Bungie has confirmed that Marathon will be a premium title, although its exact price point has yet to be revealed.
As reported by VGC, in a recent episode of the Friends Per Second podcast, Marathon director Joe Ziegler defended the decision to move forward with a paid model.
“We’re hoping that what we’re showing is exciting enough that someone is going to take the leap with us, but we are also committed to delivering on seasons past this that will continuously offer to evolve the game without an increase to the box price,” Ziegler said.
“What we’re hoping everyone understands about the game is that we’re focused on committing to making this a game that’s really awesome, and we think that starting point is really strong at this current time. Everyone’s got their own definition of what is the right price.”
If the game is as enjoyable as the developers want it to be, then there is every chance that this conversation about pricing will eventually subside. But as many past examples have shown, that is a tough task to accomplish.
While the official price of Marathon remains unannounced, Bungie has stated that it will be priced lower than most traditional AAA titles. Current rumours suggest that the game could follow a similar pricing structure to Sony’s other live-service offerings, such as Helldivers 2.
Marathon is set to launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC this September 23, marking Bungie’s bold move into the extraction shooter genre with a model that seeks to balance premium value and long-term content delivery. There will be no need to sign up for a PlayStation Network account for the other platforms.
