Bungie has admitted that extraction shooter Marathon failed at launch because it was too hard to attract a mainstream audience.

Marathon was designed as an ultra hardcore PvPvE extraction shooter where repeated death was built into the risk / reward game loop. If you die, you lose all your gear. And not just what you looted while out on the battlefield, but what you brought in. And given how easy it was to die in Marathon, particularly in PvP situations, it could feel like a brutally punishing video game.

Players certainly noticed this and made their feelings clear, even before Marathon launched. At the time, Bungie responded to concerns about its steep, unwelcoming learning curve to say that while the game was a “dangerous climb,” its difficulty could be overcome. The Sony-owned studio tried to make the point that players should play the long game, slowly improving their base stats and gaining access to better items by completing contracts and progressing faction upgrades. But unfortunately for Bungie, many players were immediately put off by the constant failure they experienced simply trying to get to grips with the game. The release of brutally difficult and complex endgame raid, Cryo Archive, in April only doubled down on the sense that Marathon was built for only the most hardcore of shooter fans.

Even former professional Counter-Strike player, Shroud, expressed concern about Marathon’s difficulty, saying that while Cryo Archive offered an incredible experience, it was too hard for casual players. "Cryo Archive is insane,” he said in April.

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