Marathon Goes Free-to-Play and Triples Its Steam Player Count — Could It Stay Free Forever?

Marathon is far from the gold mine PlayStation hoped it would be, but that doesn’t mean its fate is sealed. In fact, Bungie continues to work hard to attract new players and strengthen the community. It appears the studio’s latest strategy has finally paid off.

The sci-fi shooter sparked controversy immediately after its initial reveal in 2023. While fans were excited to see Bungie revive the long-dormant franchise, many quickly expressed disappointment after learning it would be an extraction shooter with live-service elements.

Things only got worse in the following months. Reports revealed that the project received negative feedback during testing phases, forcing the team to rethink key aspects of the experience. To make matters worse, a plagiarism controversy led to a delay. All of this negative publicity hurt the game’s commercial performance, but PlayStation remains committed to supporting it.

Marathon Sees a Surge in Players After Going Free-to-Play

Despite the controversy surrounding it, Marathon had a decent launch on PC. According to SteamDB data, it reached a peak of 88,337 concurrent players on launch day in early March, an impressive figure for a live-service title.

The Bungie game also received positive reviews from both players and critics, currently holding a solid score of 82 on Metacritic. However, while those who gave it a chance generally enjoyed the experience, the game struggled to maintain long-term engagement.

Marathon gradually lost thousands of players on Steam, a concerning trend considering reports suggest the vast majority of its player base is on PC. In response to this decline, Bungie launched a limited-time promotion that allows players to download and play the FPS at no cost.

Specifically, the extraction shooter became free-to-play for a limited period. Interested players have from June 2 to June 9 to experience everything the game has to offer. Those who enjoy it can also purchase it at a discounted price thanks to a 30% off promotion.

The goal is simple: let players try Marathon without commitment and reach a broader audience. The strategy appears to be working, as the online title has tripled its Steam player count thanks to the free trial.

Since becoming free, the FPS has reached a peak of 40,686 concurrent users over the past 24 hours on PC. At the time of writing, 33,108 players are active on Steam servers, not including the unknown number of users playing on PS5.

While the game remains far from breaking its all-time player record, it is currently enjoying its strongest performance in weeks. For context, before the promotion, it was averaging a concerning 10,000 daily players.

Marathon Is Still Falling Short of Expectations

The free trial coincided with the launch of Season 2, which introduced a new zone and several other additions designed to keep the experience fresh for both newcomers and veteran players. Even so, it remains unclear whether these efforts will be enough to rescue what many view as a multi-million-dollar disappointment.

According to Insider Gaming reporter Tom Henderson, Marathon is “not even close to breaking even” due to its extremely high development costs. The journalist also claims Bungie could face another major round of layoffs if the game continues to struggle and fails to recover as expected.

Many fans believe the multiplayer title should completely change its business model and adopt a permanent free-to-play structure supported by microtransactions. Under that approach, players could download the game at any time without purchasing it. For now, it is unknown whether Sony is seriously considering that option.

The situation is not helped by Bungie’s recent announcement that Destiny 2 will no longer receive new content, a decision that disappointed much of the community. Frustrated players responded by review-bombing Marathon on Steam and flooding the latest State of Play broadcast with requests to save the sci-fi franchise.

But tell us, have you tried Marathon now that it’s available at no cost? Do you think it should become permanently free-to-play? Let us know in the comments.

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