‘We’re Discussing Ways to Improve’: Marathon Dev Tweaking Monetisation and Difficulty as FPS Fails to Blow Up

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Marathon is performing decently, though it hasn’t reached the level of success some expected before its launch. However, there’s growing debate about whether its current performance is actually strong enough to be considered truly successful.

We don’t have player numbers for PlayStation 5, but the game reached a high of 88,000 concurrent players on Steam when it launched. Since then, the number of players has gradually decreased over the weekend.

Unlike some games that experience a sudden and dramatic drop in players, this game has seen a gradual decline. Player numbers went from a peak of 78,000 on Saturday to 73,000 on Sunday, and it will be interesting to see how many players remain active in the long run.

The results aren’t necessarily poor on their own, but they might not meet the high expectations for Bungie, a well-known and costly game development studio responsible for popular shooting games.

To keep current gamers happy and bring in new ones, the Washington studio revealed some upcoming changes last night.

The game is changing how much LUX you can buy with real money. LUX is the in-game currency used for purchases, and before this change, $10 would get you 1,100 LUX.

The main issue is that most character skins in the game are quite expensive, costing 1,120 LUX. This means you’d likely have to purchase an additional pack, such as the $5 option that gives you 500 LUX, just to afford one.

From now on, you can get 1,120 LUX – enough for a character skin – for just $10. Players who have already bought these bundles will receive a refund of in-game currency.

Bungie is listening to feedback about the in-game cosmetics. A representative stated they want players to feel they’re getting good value for their money when they purchase items with Marathon, and they’re exploring ways to make that happen.

Although this game requires purchase, it’s designed as a constantly evolving online experience. To keep it updated and improved, we need it to be financially successful after launch.

The studio is clearly working to make the game more accessible, as its current difficulty has kept many players from enjoying it regularly.

An incoming update due out next week will make the following changes:

  • Increased the distance objective nav points appear from 10m to 20m.
  • Increased the number of Med Cabinets and Munitions Crates that can spawn on Perimeter.
  • Increased the amount of starting ammo in MIDA, CyberAcme, and Arachne free Sponsored Kits.

A lot of players find Marathon to be extremely difficult. As a game where you risk losing all your collected items with every attempt, it’s unforgiving and doesn’t offer much leniency.

It will be interesting to see how people react to this. Some are already happy with the changes, but others worry Bungie is making the release less unique.

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2026-03-08 18:07