Bungie’s recent showcase of early footage from their first-person extraction shooter, Marathon, has stirred up quite a buzz across social media platforms and Reddit. Some folks are already drawing parallels to Concord, a hero shooter that Sony pulled offline not long after its launch. Amidst these swirling predictions of doom, a former Concord developer took to the Marathon subreddit, urging gamers to give the new title a fair shot.
“Concord didn’t hit the mark with players, and we got that message loud and clear,” expressed the developer, posting under the Reddit handle MrSpug. “Watching our project fail and become the butt of online jokes was gut-wrenching.”
Having previously been part of Firewalk Studios before Sony shut it down a few months post-Concord’s removal, the developer shared a sense of camaraderie with the Bungie team. They praised Bungie for daring to dive into a fiercely competitive gaming genre with Marathon.
“I was part of Concord, and I truly gave it my all,” they continued. “We fell short, but please don’t hold others accountable for our blunders.”
Although Concord and Marathon are distinct types of games, both share the same publisher—Sony. A significant point of contention from the Marathon stream was Bungie’s decision against adopting a free-to-play model. Like Concord, Marathon is set to be more affordable than most new games. Bungie announced that players could expect to pay less than a full-price title, likely around $40 when it launches in September. Yet, even having a price tag has left some wondering if Marathon might suffer Concord’s fate.
“I genuinely didn’t want to be that developer drawing attention to myself as if I’m part of this competition,” commented the former Concord dev in response to their initial post. “But calling Marathon a failure before it even hits the shelves? That’s something I can’t wrap my head around.”
