Out Today: Marathon’s PS5 Launch Puts Sony’s $3B Live Service Gamble to the Test

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Marathon is out today, and Sony’s big $3 billion acquisition is riding on its success.

When Sony bought Bungie in 2022, many people were surprised. While Bungie created the Destiny game, they’re most famous for being the original developers of Halo, a key series for Microsoft.

As a longtime Halo fan, it’s wild to think that the original Halo: Combat Evolved is now coming to the PS5 – though the team at Pure Xbox definitely aren’t thrilled about it! Back when Microsoft bought the Washington studio that made Halo, it was a total surprise to see them join the PlayStation side of things. It feels like a different world now, considering how much the gaming industry has changed since then.

The platform holder likely grew concerned about Xbox’s massive spending, especially after it acquired major game publishers like Bethesda and Activision. They were also focused on strengthening their live service games, and Bungie was considered a valuable asset that could help improve their other teams’ capabilities.

The path to releasing Marathon hasn’t been easy. As recently as 2025, Bungie’s CFO, Lin Tao, reported a financial loss for the studio, largely because of declining performance in Destiny 2. This led to job cuts, and even the disbanding of an internal development team called Team LFG, which was then moved to work under PlayStation Studios.

The game also faced controversy when art assets from Marathon were discovered to have been taken from an independent artist – an incident known as the Art Raiders saga. While the issue has been resolved and the artist is now satisfied with the outcome, it still casts a shadow over the game.

Bungie has successfully turned things around. Initial reactions to the game Marathon were quite negative, especially leading up to its planned September launch. However, player opinions have completely changed thanks to improvements like the addition of proximity chat and a significant refinement of the game’s overall look and feel.

Sony is counting on this game to perform well, as it’s a crucial project for the company. Bungie was acquired specifically to spearhead Sony’s ongoing live service games, making this title their most important release.

The game’s initial sales will be important, but keeping players engaged over time is even more critical. Fortunately, the developers have already revealed extensive plans for updates and new content after launch, demonstrating their commitment to supporting the game for the long haul.

Over the next few days, we’ll be closely watching how many people are playing games at the same time on Steam. This number is one of the best ways to gauge a game’s popularity these days. The recent test event, called the Server Slam, started with a strong peak of over 140,000 players on PC, but interest quickly dropped off.

We think there are a few reasons for this. Some players likely tried the game briefly out of curiosity before moving on. Others probably didn’t want to invest time knowing their progress wouldn’t carry over to the final version.

It’s important to remember that Steam isn’t the whole story. The game’s success will also depend on how well it performs on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Both Bungie and Sony will be keeping a close eye on overall sales across all platforms.

We don’t think the success of Marathon will be clear right away. It will likely become apparent as the game develops over time. If it keeps players engaged and consistently generates income, Sony will consider it a win.

But this is a big bet, and a lot is riding on the game’s success.

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2026-03-05 21:37