Marathon featured at PlayStation's State of Play last night, and seemingly made for one of the more unpopular announcements of the showcase. While not as noteworthy as Wolverine or the reveal of God of War: Laufey, the slick new trailer gave us a look at the second season of Marathon - right at a time when many blame it for Destiny's fate.

However, it seems that Bungie has found a way to win over some players amidst all the fallout. Yesterday, Marathon kicked off its free-to-play week, letting anyone tag in and give the new live service a go. It seems to be working well, with the concurrent player count on Steam tripling from its usual peak.

Marathon Is Winning People Over With Its Free Week, But Can It Hold Onto Them?

At the time of writing, Marathon has a 24-hour Steam concurrent player peak of 40,686. Admittedly, that's less than half of its overall peak, but it's a huge improvement on what it was averaging before this, which tended to be between 10,000 and 13,000.

Bungie has all the pieces in place to make this sustainable. The free week coincides with the game going on sale, discounted at 30 percent off the usual price. So, if you play for a week and like what you see, the price of admission isn't so daunting.

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It's unsurprising to see Bungie try to reignite the playerbase like this. It's been reported that Marathon is struggling to break even. Bringing in the money will be even more important now, as Destiny 2's final content update has been confirmed, making Marathon the studio's only live service in active, ongoing development.

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Unfortunately for Bungie, Marathon is getting the blame for Destiny's woes. With updates for Destiny 2 ceasing and reports that Destiny 3 is not currently in development, it makes Marathon a tempting target for fans. At least going free to play for a week encourages more positivity, even if it's only temporary.

Marathon Like Follow Followed Extraction Shooter FPS Multiplayer Systems Released March 5, 2026 ESRB Teen / Animated Blood, Language, Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact Developer(s) Bungie Publisher(s) Bungie Multiplayer Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op 6 Images Close
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Genre(s) Extraction Shooter, FPS, Multiplayer Powered by Expand Collapse