'The Only Way to Keep Bungie Alive Is to Support Marathon,' Ex-Destiny Community Manager Says

As Destiny 2 fans mourn the game's last update, Bungie's erstwhile assemblage manager has blasted players fixated connected comparing its subordinate number with fledgling extraction shooter Marathon — and said that the company's existent issues began agelong earlier its arrival, arsenic good arsenic Sony's acquisition.

Since Marathon debuted successful March, and peculiarly since Bungie announced it was ending improvement of caller Destiny 2 content, fans person continually compared the numbers of players successful each crippled — and scrutinized Marathon's little subordinate number successful particular.

To many, each clip Destiny 2 spiked successful popularity, its rising subordinate number was impervious that Bungie (and Sony) had acted excessively soon successful ending support. Every caller ebb for Marathon, meanwhile, served arsenic grounds that the extraction shooter had been a fruitless distraction from Destiny improvement — which galore judge was sacrificed truthful Bungie could get Marathon retired the door.

However, erstwhile Bungie assemblage manager Liana Ruppert has present insisted that the company's problems pre-date Sony ownership — to the grade that its $3.7 cardinal buyout was an "emergency acquisition."

"This combat was pre-Sony," Ruppert wrote, responding to a instrumentality who suggested Sony should person fixed Destiny 2 much of a chance. "Bungie was beneath the reddish enactment earlier the Sony acquisition. If it wasn’t acquired close then, the workplace was precise adjacent to shutting its doors astatine the precise slightest connected Destiny. It was an exigency acquisition."

With Destiny 2's last update present successful the hands of fans, the bulk of Bungie is present solely focused connected enactment for Marathon — though fears of caller layoffs are besides looming. Players, meanwhile, person begun vocally calling connected Sony to greenlight a Destiny 3, thing that seems improbable successful the existent video crippled improvement clime — and inactive years distant from motorboat adjacent if enactment began today. Regardless, gaming fans person spammed the unrecorded chat of galore caller online showcases, including Sony's ain State of Play, demanding Destiny 3 improvement begins.

Rather than telephone for a full caller crippled close now, however, Ruppert suggested that the champion mode to guarantee Bungie itself survived to marque a Destiny 3 someday was to promote the occurrence of Marathon present — which was ne'er designed to rival Destiny 2's larger playerbase, portion being much straightforward to make and maintain.

"Half the assemblage is going to hatred maine for saying this, but the lone mode to support Bungie live close present is to enactment Marathon," Ruppert continued. "People support comparing Marathon numbers to Destiny and frankly, that's ignorant. Marathon was ne'er designed to bash [Destiny 2] numbers. The conversations astir that were precise upfront early. It's much aligned with [fellow extraction shooter Escape from] Tarkov than Destiny. Completely antithetic people markets that conscionable truthful hap to person a wide intersection with Destiny people markets since it uniquely has truthful many."

The motorboat of Destiny 2's last update saw the crippled spike astatine 167,000 concurrent players connected Steam, the game's lone level that publically displays its subordinate stats. The past mates of days person seen somewhat smaller spikes of implicit 100,000 players, but inactive triple what the crippled had been pulling successful implicit caller months.

Marathon, meanwhile, has an all-time Steam subordinate number highest of 77,358 astatine its launch, though a 24-hour highest of little than 16,000 players — and yes, its numbers are typically a fraction of Destiny 2's. Of course, this is conscionable a snapshot — galore much players volition beryllium logging into some games via PlayStation and Xbox, which support their play concurrents private.

Still, Ruppert claimed that Marathon was "actually performing wrong expected perimeters. At slightest from the convos I was determination for. Marathon scratches a tiny but VERY loyal niche. And it's doing a bully occupation astatine it. Marathon has a beyond slayer team."

What the aboriginal holds for Destiny — and Bungie itself — remains unknown. But contempt the instrumentality outcry, determination has been nary proposition that the determination to locomotion distant from Destiny 2, softly made months ago, volition beryllium revisited. For now, Bungie remains the developer of Marathon — and possibly 1 time that volition alteration to see different project. In the meantime, what happens adjacent whitethorn remainder successful fans' hands.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You tin scope Tom astatine [email protected] oregon find him connected Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social