Marathon not launching as a free-to-play experience has taken many by surprise. For game director Joe Ziegler, the price tag is justified as he sees the game as having a solid starting point content-wise and continuous updates lined up in the future.
In an interview with the Friends Per Second podcast, Ziegler, who initially joined the Marathon team in 2022 before becoming the project's game director around June 2023 after working with Riot Games on Valorant, was asked whether he thinks Marathon launching as a "premium experience" will hurt the game's chances of finding success. The rather on-the-nose Concord comparative was thrown in for good measure.
Ziegler was coy about his answer. For one, he didn't slip and accidentally revealed how much Marathon would cost, but did state that Bungie is committed to delivering an enjoyable complete experience upfront that will only get better with time.
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 [launch] that will continuously evolve the game without an increase to the box price (...) we feel that the starting point is really strong at this current time.
Ziegler added that, while everyone has their own definition of what could be considered the right amount of money to pay for a game like Marathon, the team remains hopeful that they'll land on a price tag that feels fair and worth player's money.
Bungie doesn't have the best track record when it comes to fulfilling that initial promise of delivering your money's worth in recent years. Both Destiny and Destiny 2 were massively criticized for their lack of content. Considering they were full $60 experiences at launch with constant paid expansions releasing, Destiny players have had to open their wallets consistently to keep pace with the latest content.
The developers have wrestled with how to properly monetize the game to make it a fair deal for years. Now, Destiny 2 is a free-to-play experience that, frankly, offers very little for those who decide not to spend a dime on the game. Like a glorified demo that hides all the cool aspects of the FPS behind a paywall still.
It'll be interesting to see the final price tag for Marathon and what else the game hides behind being a unique-looking extraction shooter.
Marathon will be released on September 23. It will be available on PC, Xbox Series, and PlayStation 5. Bungie has confirmed you won't need a PSN account to play the game on other platforms besides PS5.