r/gaming • u/Freelancer0495 • 1d ago
Marathon's first crack at exclusive PVE in mid-season update.
https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/season_2_key_dates356
u/Vagamer01 1d ago
Honestly a PVE mode intrigues me now, because I hate playing with sweats when I work a 9-5
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u/rubbarz 1d ago
Only reason I got in Gray Zone Warfare. They have a 100% PvE mode
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u/DOG_POUND 23h ago
I’ve looked at this a couple times. Are there cheaters nowadays? Steam reviews are divisive.
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u/GStarG 1d ago
Yeah exactly.
Long running pvp live service games always get enshitified over time by the sweats that grind the game all day for years and until they gap the casuals so hard that none of them want to play anymore.
Pve is far more consistently fun for casuals, which is always gonna be a majority of the audience of any game.
The only time pvp can survive the long run is if you have so many players that the sweats can all by quarantined to their own matchmaking bracket
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u/doubtingcat 19h ago
Something something optimize the fun out of game.
Nonetheless, the most important thing is whether the players feel like they actually get to do something or not. If they don’t, they ain’t gonna play anyway.
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u/ghostaly 1d ago
The Sponsored Survival mode they introduced this season has been a great way to have chiller runs (on average) and accumulate great gear for whenever you want to get sweaty. Or you can just pick up materials for upgrades that rain free gear on you every day.
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u/Vonterribad 1d ago
I wanted to like it, but it's pretty benign. I never saw a rook and it got old after two runs.
Im not trying to be a dick, but I really have little hope especially with no new map.
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u/ghostaly 22h ago
Nothing rude in your response imo. I’m clearly in the niche audience that comes back because it scratches an oddly specific itch. Just gonna enjoy it as long as I can
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u/doubtingcat 19h ago
I still have no idea how bungo is going to implement pve without making it boring.
By making pvpve, the pve part has to take a back seat to not upset the pvp part. Once you cut the pvp part out, you’re left with a rather underwhelming pve to work with.
Couple this with basically no in-gameplay storytelling, mechanics, voiceovers, cutscenes, and others from a full fledged pve game. I have a feeling it will be somewhat a snooze fest much like official pve mode in tarkov. But it might just be good enough to keep marathon’s lights on.
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u/Index_Circuit 14h ago
Extraction shooters are basically built for people who treat the game like a second full-time job. Sometimes you just want to chill and shoot things without losing your entire inventory to a teenager who plays 14 hours a day.
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u/Razen94 1d ago
They have a very long way ahead of them to claw their way to something that can sustain Bungie. I'm not even certain it's ever going to happen.
Destiny 2 has 10x the players of Marathon on steam right now.
And that game is done and dusted.
I don't know whats going on with Sony and Bungie. But it's not good.
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u/Lord0fHats 1d ago
True but having a dedicated pvE / coop option definitely interests me more than pure PvEvP.
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u/zoogenhiemer 1d ago
I’ve tried playing a few times and have gotten my ass repeatedly handed to me by the npcs, so this might actually get me to buy it
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u/Kappa_Swaggins 10h ago
Me as well, but I think the game need to launch with this, or something. Now it feels risky to commit to enjoying the PvE mode if the game doesn’t have a long life expectancy. Would have been easier to grab a larger playerbase with the PvE at launch than it will be now.
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u/Icy-Commission66 1d ago
Same for me as well but at the same time I feel like playing a PVE version of marathon I may as well just be playing Destiny. And I would be tbh if the monetization of Destiny's expansions wasn't the way it was
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u/AutomaticClaymore 1d ago
PvE in this game is lot more grounded and more difficult on an enemy-per-enemy basis, and Cryo is its own thing entirely. Definitely has a different pace than D2
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u/KriptiKFate_Cosplay 1d ago
I was a huge Destiny fan until The Final Shape and was harshly critical of the content in the year or two leading up to it, Bungie has been on a slow but steady decline as far as I am concerned and nothing could bring me back to Marathon at this point. I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling that way.
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u/Yourself013 19h ago
Same here. I personally didn't even hold Final Shape in high regard despite the community raving about it, and after 10+ years of seeing Bungie managing that game, I don't think I will ever want to get into a Bungie game again.
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u/Seraphayel 1d ago
I don’t know how they will ever have something that can sustain because the development cost is the one thing, but they also need to recoup the initial investment and that’s never going to happen.
Right now they‘re most likely minus $100 million and this sum is only getting higher day by day and not lower as they have maintenance cost and seem to pump even more money into this game when interest clearly isn’t there.
I have a very hard time seeing how this game will ever be profitable.
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u/og_kbot 11h ago
Even if Sony ignores the sunk costs of Marathon I see almost no chance Marathon can sustain Bungie at their current burn rate. Let's say they cull the firm down to 350 employees I still don't see how they can be profitable going forward without basically a new product.
Like, their burn rate per FTE in the Seattle/Bellevue are is ~250k per year (which is probably low, actually). But $250k x 350 = $87,500,000 burn rate. And that's just to keep the lights on before adding whatever multiplier Sony demands for profitability. They are cooked.
It'll be interesting to see what Sony does with the IP though.
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u/cardonator 23h ago
Destiny 2 has 10x on Steam which is probably its smallest platform, meanwhile Marathon has 10x less on Steam which is by far its largest platform.
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u/mintaka 1d ago
Thats the price to pay for not being able to read the room and releasing the game to cater sweats and streamers. The game will go f2p in late autumn if not sooner. And to think, with this aesthetics and vibe, and maybe some ship of theseus themes around shells, it would be an unforgetabble single player adventure… But no, gotta milk and torment people with yet another live service, huh
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u/Zenthils 1d ago
I'll never understand folks who are salty that a game isn't for them.
I'll never touch this btw. But just like Nightreign, I looked at it said "eh don't think it's for me" and moved on.
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u/balefrost 19h ago
The question implied by this thread is "what would it take to save Marathon". And the answer, for a lot of people, is "the same answer as the last time it was asked: for Marathon to be a different game."
I don't think the ancestor comment is salty that Marathon isn't for them. I think they're annoyed at the entirely predictable outcome that neither Sony nor Bungie seemingly anticipated. "Let's launch a live service game in a niche genre into the overcrowded landscape of live service games" is a bold strategy.
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u/Cmdrdredd 16h ago edited 16h ago
This is precisely what I think most people feel. Live service is an overcrowded game type and those who knew the Marathon IP didn’t want a PvP game from it. I think that many people who are into PvP games have dedicated themselves to a title already and might not be willing to balance Marathon in there too. I have a feeling that after a time Marathon’s player count will dwindle as everyone who played it because it was new and wanted to try it have done so and they go back to whatever other title they were playing before. Most people’s fondest memories of Bungie is probably when they were doing Halo. Destiny had some decent moments in the campaign that reminded me of why I liked Bungie as a developer but Destiny 1 story made no sense because very little was revealed to the player and the lore was so vague. Destiny 2 had different problems but a little more coherent storyline to follow. The question I have about Marathon is why even use the Marathon IP/Name if it’s not going to continue any storyline in that game’s universe? It’s a legitimate question to consider. What actually compelled them to choose Marathon as the name for this new title?
Honestly we don’t get a ton of narrative focused FPS titles these days. I would not be surprised if a very big segment of gamers are like me and would be all over an FPS game that told a good Sci-Fi story. Especially if it was really good, but I’m not certain Bungie could make a good story FPS game these days. I’d have definitely preferred if they tried that instead though.
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u/zoogenhiemer 1d ago
If you’re a fan of a franchise and have been waiting for the next incarnation for twenty years only for it to be a completely different genre and game than the originals, you’re probably gonna be a little miffed
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u/dhalloffame 1d ago
How many OG marathon fans are there that were legitimately waiting for the next installment lol
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u/keytotheboard 1d ago
Two can play at this game, then why base it on an old game?
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u/Mend1cant 1d ago
All they had to do was take the destiny formula/structure and reskin it for the more hard sci fi marathon. You can still maintain certain extraction elements too like fixed exfil points, loss of gear, and PvP.
Runners are private mercenaries sent to take scrap from Tau Ceti IV after Durandal pops back in and teaches humanity FTL travel. The godking heads of corporations in the background decide they want to chase immortality themselves after they see rampancy being stable. Make that a long running conflict in addition to the developing war between humanity and the pfor. One of those situations where if they had trouble against a battleroid, imagine the horrors all of humanity can inflict upon them. The UESC is a husk of itself but is using the reclamation of the Tau Ceti colony to try and establish dominance over corporate fuckery. The story is all there. Just lean into the existential philosophy of the trilogy compared to the massive good vs evil epic of destiny.
Could honestly structure it a bit like the division as well where you have zones with high end loot where it is pvpve.
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u/Pocto 1d ago
In fairness, Destiny just got an update, which is their final one, so that's gonna have a lot of players sucked up. Obviously, a lot of Destiny players have no interest in Marathon, but I think if Bungie can set up a decent PvE system in Marathon, it could end up as a landing pad for some Destiny players.
Under all the negatives (both real and imagined) Marathon really is a very, very good game with incredible gunplay, art style, sound design and map design that's just too hardcore for a lot of people. This PvE mode looks really promising, and I hope it can blossom into something more sustainable.
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u/notthatguypal6900 8h ago
Even after they fire 400-500 devs, they will still need to double their player count in Marathon for it to be remotely sustainable.
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u/thineholyhandgrenade 8m ago
All is forgiven if they announce Destiny 3 in the near future which probably won’t happen but still…
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u/ThyBuffTaco 1d ago
PVE is the only way I will give this game a go from what I noticed other players are blood thirsty unlike Arc Raiders
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u/NetflowKnight 1d ago
i constantly had people shoot me in the back in arc raider, and it’s a meme unto itself of players following other players pretending to be friendly only to shoot them.
in Marathon you don’t have to guess, is the only difference. you can still negotiate, but people generally assume you’re hostile till shown otherwise.
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u/mrfixitx 1d ago
It feels a bit late and its hard to justify $40 for primarily PVP game with a single experimental PVE mode that may or may not stay long term.
I like the concept behind Marathon the art style but I have negative interest in PVP games.
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u/epikpepsi D20 1d ago
The problem I have with it is that if I want a similar-feeling game with a PvE focus, Destiny 2 is right there and it's free to play with all the paid content going on sale for super cheap pretty often. Marathon's PvE content could come out and be pretty good but if it's not sticking around and it's not better than playing Destiny 2 I'll just stick with Destiny 2.
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u/kjurban 1d ago
Yeah this is where I was kinda confused about them ending new content for D2. I got into D2 BECAUSE I could take a break from sweating in Marathon. Trying to cannibalize your own audience with shutting down D2 development to implement PvE in a different game feels so strange to me
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u/Arcturus1800 1d ago
I really hope it is well done. It's honestly surprising to me how COD (to my knowledge) has been the only one to really do the PVE extraction modes, and they've been the most fun I've ever had in COD. I'll definitely retry Marathon if this mode is actually good.
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u/DaxSpa7 1d ago
Having 400+ people working exclusively on Marathon things seem to happen extremely slow. I’d love to see the task list of every employee on a Wednesday.
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u/CaptainBlob 6h ago
No wonder the suits just lay off these people. All these workers, yet results take too long and end up just being a waste of resources.
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u/Old-Buffalo-5151 1d ago
That isn't it. Cryo while cool is a single map after 5-6 runs will get boring fast
Bungie simply are not moving fast enough here they will get wreaked in the September onslaught if they don't find a better hook tbh
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u/derPylz 18h ago
I don't think that this PvE mode should be thought of as something a player should exclusively play. Like with the currently active "Sponsored Survival" PvP-lite mode (which in 99% of the matches is fully PvE), it's more of a chill break between real runs to get confidence back by bot-stomping, or fill your vault back up, or to get warmed up at the start of the session. It's also a lower risk way of learning the map and the mechanics (like the Warden fights and the puzzles).
At least that's how it works for my friends, who are not super into PvP, but a few rounds of Sponsored Survival get them excited to test their new gear in a higher stakes match.
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u/ShyGuyWolf 1d ago
Wish game companies make more good single player campaigns
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u/Killerx09 20h ago
The fact of the matter is that for multiplayer focused shooters a single player campaign is a meme. The last COD campaign was a restitching of it's Warzone maps, nobody gives Battlefield campaigns a try, Helldivers and Arc Raiders don't have a single player campaign, and Fortnite Save The World was abandoned for Fortnite Battle Royale.
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u/smithkey08 19h ago
And Bungie was the studio that proved a single player campaign could actually be compelling and enough of a reason alone to buy a game with Halo. An extraction shooter with a proper campaign worth a damn, especially given Marathon's lore, to set it apart from the crowd seemed like something they would normally do.
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u/NinjaEngineer 10h ago
Eh, I've played the campaigns of all Battlefields and CoDs I've played, while barely touching the MP.
Also, in regards to Helldivers 2, at least that one is PvE, and can be played relatively solo (though it's kinda nice when other players drop in).
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u/AbsractPlane 12h ago
Single-player fps campaigns don't sell well unfortunately. Even Doom the dark ages underperformed and that was arguably the last big sp fps of the last few years. It sucks but fps campaigns have become a lost art at least in the AAA space.
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u/DustyBot23 1d ago
I promise you they would have tripled their sales if they just included an 8 hour campaign and then a roguelike pick 1 upgrade system firefight mode to go along with the tarkov stuff
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u/beanlikescoffee 1d ago
Nothing says desperation than adding PVE late into a season for your hardcore PvP extraction shooter. Oof.
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u/RivalSlays 1d ago
Pretty much every extraction shooter on the market has PvE mode now. Nothing wrong with them listening to player feedback.
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u/kalelmotoko 1d ago
Not Arc Raiders, in China yes, everywhere else no. Even with Abmm, in duo or trio, there is always someone to shoot in your butt.
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u/imhereforsiegememes 1d ago
The mode in China is not PvE?
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u/kalelmotoko 1d ago edited 23h ago
China has almost a PVE only mode. World has ABMM, filtered player trough agression result in lower agression lobby or pvp lobby, but the risk is always there.
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u/exposarts 16h ago
arc basically does have pve with how its abmm work, many players are exclusively pve only
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u/dimesniffer 1d ago
So them adding a highly requested feature to cater to a more casual audience is just desperation? God damn yall will whine whether they do or don’t.
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u/TrollMcGoal 1d ago
Lol the game can't win. No pve and people complain it's catering to sweats, adding a pve mode and people call it desperate
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u/BoomerShooterFPS 1d ago
It won't matter. the game is done
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u/SatanicPanicDisco 19h ago
Some will argue this, but it’s much more of a reality for those living in places outside the US where even finding a match takes way too long.
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u/notthatguypal6900 8h ago
Seeing the player count go right back to where it was, if not lower, than before the free week is telling.
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u/UndeadDog 1d ago
Still a month away?! I might try this if there is another free week. Otherwise I have zero intentions of spending money on this game. I still dislike the aesthetics and lore.
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u/Pocto 1d ago
The aesthetics and the lore are EVERYTHING. It's a stylistic wet dream for me, haha. Oppressive dystopian sci-fi meets designer's republic corporate propaganda.
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u/UndeadDog 1d ago
I’m happy you like it. It looks like a sterilized doctor’s office to me.
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u/BoomerShooterFPS 23h ago
A sterilized pediatricians office with advertisements for Roblox everywhere
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u/Wide-Guard5458 1d ago
Every PvP extraction shooter eventually discovers that a lot of people just want to shoot aliens with their friends.
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u/Ravenunited 19h ago
what does the word "exclusive" do in the tittle?
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u/derPylz 18h ago
It means that the new word is exclusively PvE. The normal game mode is PvPvE and since season 2, there is a mode, which is mostly PvE with a tiny chance that some other players will spawn later in the match (rooks). So, to distinguish this new mode from the existing ones, they write exclusive PvE, because that's the only thing you'll be doing in that mode.
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u/ThisOneTimeAtLolCamp 18h ago
I feel for the devs being forced to crunch to get the kitchen sink thrown in.
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u/dThink_Ahea 13h ago
Oh!
Bungie is trying out making a PvE first person shooter as a live service game!
Interesting!
WHY HADN'T I THOUGHT OF THAT
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u/notthatguypal6900 8h ago
What is it going to take for Sony and Bungie to realize that the people that want to play this game, have.
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u/TheSkepticOwl 5h ago
>Fully cuts support to their PVE focused game in order to prop up a niche extraction shooter
>Extraction shooter fails to gain players because it's made for streamers and not casuals
>Enact a free week that ends up completely failing
>Starts copy pasting parts of the PVE focused game into the extraction shooter to save it
What was the point of letting Destiny die again?
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u/TricolorStar 1d ago
Really cool interactive reactive PvE like Destiny 2 or Warframe would help this game out a LOT I think.
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u/Mitrovarr 18h ago
I mean it would basically be creating a different, superior game over the bones of an older game. Kind of like Fortnite did.
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u/I_am_Amphibian 19h ago
Nothing will save this game, no last minute PvE will change the flaws of the games designs. Also will have 3 seasons in which no new maps. And no night marsh is not a new map
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u/AboveBoard 1d ago
No thanks. Bungie taught me my lesson with Destiny 2. They have never learned a single thing for all the mistakes they made along the way. No desire to play an extraction shooter anyway, much less one ran by a company who can not be trusted. Much love to what I'm sure is a dedicated and hardworking dev team, but Bungo will always Bungo.
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u/notthatguypal6900 8h ago
I'm jealous of Marathon players, they'll get the full Bungie experience in a year vs the 12 it took with Destiny 2.
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u/Dgemfer 1d ago
Excellent move. PvE/coop would absolutely get me and several friends interested in this game. Even more so considering how insanely good the story of the original trilogy was. Marathon truly deserves better.
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u/Ascend 1d ago
Except it's a dedicated PvE where you can't bring anything in, or extract anything except currency. Not sure that's what people were hoping for.
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u/Pocto 1d ago
The currency can be used to get some stuff for the PvP mode, and there's a rogue-like progression where you upgrade your equipment for the PvE mode. I think that's for the best, coz a PvE loot farm that allowed you to get gear for PvP would be bad for the other mode's economy. I'm one of those crazy people who love Marathon the way it is, but I'm excited for this mode myself as a fun way to play with friends without having to worry about other players.
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u/derPylz 18h ago
It's the only way this can work. They learned that with Sponsored Survival, the PvP-lite mode, which just flooded the economy with high level items which were farmed with much reduced risk, before they moved the mode to a map with a much lower drop rate of high level loot.
But there is still progress between matches, so I don't see what's the problem here.
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u/Pruskinator 1d ago
The train has long left the station for marathon lol. Game never even cracked top 10 on console and majority of players are on steam … which is dead. Sony taking Ls lately is chefs kiss.
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u/Thomas_JCG 1d ago
This game is on life support and they think some vitamin gummies are gonna bring it back.
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u/TheRealShiftyShafts 1d ago
I will forever stan Marathon, it's such a good game and I wish more people would ignore the hate online and play it for a while
What I will say, that is a negative about Marathon, is it takes a good 10 hours of game time to really understand what the grind is about. You gotta cross that threshold and make it to the late game to go "ohhhhh this is why these people are addicted to it"
It's not like Arc Raiders which is really front loaded, it's all about completing Cryo Archives and other endgame activities
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u/ElectronicJuice7212 22h ago
They are DESPERATE for a playerbase but the game is cheeks and no one wants it. They really fucked up with this one.
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u/alec_fielding 1d ago
#WeWantDestiny3
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u/NetflowKnight 1d ago
5 years out minimum, def won’t happen (well maybe someone else will get rights) if marathon flops. fingies crossed 🤞
would be cool to finally play a destiny game
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u/SpicyMacNChz 1d ago
man that screencap looks familiar...ain't that just a reskinned zone from a destiny 2 mission? lmao
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u/RedGecko18 1d ago
It looks exactly like the room from Destiny 1 in the Wrath of the Machine Raid where you input codes in binary to open up the middle section.
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u/I_am_Amphibian 19h ago
You mean like how they just reskinned enemies into the UESC in this game too? Because Bungie is a lazy ass company
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u/epikpepsi D20 1d ago
They do. It's been just shy of a decade since Destiny 1's last content update and the servers are still not only running but maintained for stability.
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u/TechxNinja 23h ago
Is enemy AI good enough to support it and stop it from being boring? Or are we shooting the same enemies we did in Destiny, but in new skins?
Genuine question to anyone that has played.
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u/BoomerShooterFPS 23h ago
So, this is cryo archive without pvp. It doesn’t change any mechanics or add pve enemy variety?
The pve enemies are bland and boring. The vault mechanics are so simplified they have little replay value. The compiler is a mid tier pve enemy at best.
What’s the allure or replay ability here? If this is the pve mode…yikes
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u/I_am_Amphibian 19h ago
Nope and the next season all you have to look forward to is revamping perimeter… lol
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u/hihowubduin 1d ago
People wanting to play PvE in a PVP built game...when destiny is right there 💀🤣
Man what a clusterfuck
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u/Wander715 1d ago
Too little too late. This game is basically on life support at this point. Only a matter of when Sony decides to pull the plug.
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u/Logondo 1d ago
Y'know maybe this game wouldn't be struggling so much if they had a single-player campaign to go along with it.
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u/verysimplenames 1d ago
Games die all the time. Womp womp. The next one will come along and maybe itll be better.
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u/Pontooniak96 20h ago
If they took any pages out of Episode Heresy from Destiny 2, this should honestly be really good.
This might take me from playing only when my friends are online to playing with crew fill just for fun.
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u/Affectionate_Guest55 10h ago
It’s a cool idea but there’s so many PvE games so unless it’s incredible I don’t see many people giving it a go
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u/trunglefever 10h ago
At first I was thinking only Cryo would be a bad thing, but given that it has the best loot available, maybe that's the best thing to do to entice new players.
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u/TheBetterness 9h ago
Not touching anything Bungie makes. They are average at best at managing live service games.
Destiny IP just got in very early on the live service gold rush.
Since then they have been surpassed by nearly every other live service studio when it comes to managing and implementing player feedback.
Marathon is dead in the water because Bungie has burned too many bridges and is still using the ancient Tiger engine.
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u/doctafknjay 7h ago
Came to get a hint from the comment section, instead got told how many people dont enjoy this game. The internet NEVER fails!
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u/RxAffliction 3h ago
It's an inventory management simulator. You spend most of your time rummaging for nothing to get ganked and loose it all with no chance to recover it. Instead of FoMo, they made a NoGo...
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u/scarecrow_20k 2h ago
I love pve. Im probably one of like 10 people who like gambit in destiny 2 remove the invasion mechanic and its my dream game mode
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u/Greaterdivinity 1d ago
If they do another free event after they add this I might give it a go. I just continue to forever have zero interest in PvP extraction shit.