Marathon’s debut raises questions: most players are on PC

The first data points to the new Bungie shooter finding its largest player base on Steam.

More stories in the category News

• Microsoft quietly pulls its most damaging campaign “This is an Xbox” review
• Microsoft confirms an important change in Xbox: UWP apps are no longer accepted in the store
• Xbox prepares the return of backwards compatibility for its 25th anniversary

The release of Marathon, the new extraction shooter developed by Bungie, is already yielding some early conclusions after its first few days on the market. The game is available on Xbox Series, PlayStation 5, and PC, but initial data points to a clear trend: most players are on PC.

This information comes from journalist Paul Tassi of Forbes, who claims to have received internal data on player distribution across platforms.

Steam becomes Marathon’s primary platform

According to Tassi, his sources within the studio have confirmed that PC is currently the dominant platform for the game.

My sources at Bungie have confirmed that this title is primarily played on PC. That’s the game’s main platform, so Steam becomes the clearest indicator of its performance.

Currently, Marathon has around 50,000 active players on Steam, after reaching a peak of nearly 88,000 players on launch day.

These numbers are far from bad for a multiplayer game, but they also reflect that the main user base is concentrated on PC, while the number of players on consoles remains largely unknown, as PlayStation and Xbox don’t officially release active user data.

Long-term evolution

This scenario could raise some concerns among analysts, especially considering that Sony had hoped Marathon would become one of its major multiplayer projects in the games-as-a-service market.

However, the game’s journey has just begun. Bungie has already confirmed additional content and a season pass, which could drive community growth over the next few months as the title continues to evolve.