Greg Miller

Let's bring that into the conversation. Number two on the Roper Report goes, Marathon's director explains why it isn't free-to-play. Quote, everyone has their own definition of what's the right price. This is the one, the only, the big man, Jordan Midler of VGC. And I mean that literally, he's huge. Marathon's director has explained the decision behind the game not being free to play.

Developed by Bungie, Marathon is an extraction shooter. The game sees players form a crew of three to battle up to 18 other players in each zone. Over the weekend, Bungie debuted the first gameplay from the game, as well as the release date and closed alpha plans. Bungie also confirmed that the game will be a quote-unquote premium product, though the studio has yet to confirm the price.

Developed by Bungie, Marathon is an extraction shooter. The game sees players form a crew of three to battle up to 18 other players in each zone. Over the weekend, Bungie debuted the first gameplay from the game, as well as the release date and closed alpha plans. Bungie also confirmed that the game will be a quote-unquote premium product, though the studio has yet to confirm the price.

Now, speaking on the Friends Per Second podcast, director Joe Ziegler has explained why Bungie's Marathon won't launch as a free-to-play title.

Now, speaking on the Friends Per Second podcast, director Joe Ziegler has explained why Bungie's Marathon won't launch as a free-to-play title.

Quote, "...we are hoping that what we are showing is exciting enough that someone is going to take the leap with us, but we are also committed to delivering on seasons past this that will continuously offer to evolve the game without an increase to the box price," he said.

Quote, "...we are hoping that what we are showing is exciting enough that someone is going to take the leap with us, but we are also committed to delivering on seasons past this that will continuously offer to evolve the game without an increase to the box price," he said.

What we're hoping everyone understands about the game is that we're focused on committing to making this a game that's really awesome. And we think that starting point is really strong at this current time. Everyone's got their own definition of what is the right price, end quote. It was reported last year that Bungie and Sony are reportedly considering a $40 price tag for Marathon.

What we're hoping everyone understands about the game is that we're focused on committing to making this a game that's really awesome. And we think that starting point is really strong at this current time. Everyone's got their own definition of what is the right price, end quote. It was reported last year that Bungie and Sony are reportedly considering a $40 price tag for Marathon.

This price point would bring it in line with Helldivers 2 and the now defunct Concord.

This price point would bring it in line with Helldivers 2 and the now defunct Concord.

Yeah, 100%. You're not wrong. I struggle with this one because it is so easy to just double back to exactly what we were saying about Concord. I don't think this looks... And Concord had a vibe, right? But I don't think this looks as derivative as Concord did. And I'm not shitting on Concord. I just felt like we all looked at Concord and were like, oh, Guardians. It's another hero shooter.

Yeah, 100%. You're not wrong. I struggle with this one because it is so easy to just double back to exactly what we were saying about Concord. I don't think this looks... And Concord had a vibe, right? But I don't think this looks as derivative as Concord did. And I'm not shitting on Concord. I just felt like we all looked at Concord and were like, oh, Guardians. It's another hero shooter.

This has a vibe to it that's different. I don't know if that vibe will speak to people and make them go play and make them pay $40 for it, right? Of course, throughout the internet, there was a bunch of creators that got to go play this, like we said, Paris. The one that spoke to me was SkillUp.

This has a vibe to it that's different. I don't know if that vibe will speak to people and make them go play and make them pay $40 for it, right? Of course, throughout the internet, there was a bunch of creators that got to go play this, like we said, Paris. The one that spoke to me was SkillUp.

SkillUp's Blue Sky reads, Bungie's marathon shows great promise, but it's still missing something at the very core of its extraction game pay loop, making it difficult to predict how Marathon will launch or where it might one day end up. Of course, Mesquilip has hands-on impressions up on the YouTube. You know, IGN has a write-up from Travis Northup that's a bit, you know, not...

SkillUp's Blue Sky reads, Bungie's marathon shows great promise, but it's still missing something at the very core of its extraction game pay loop, making it difficult to predict how Marathon will launch or where it might one day end up. Of course, Mesquilip has hands-on impressions up on the YouTube. You know, IGN has a write-up from Travis Northup that's a bit, you know, not...

More glowing, I guess, but a bit more positive, right? But it does at the end come down to the same things we're going to talk about, right? Another question is how much support and longevity can we expect from Marathon? Bungie has earned its reputation for mastering the live service model over the past decade of Destiny and shows no signs of letting players down here.

More glowing, I guess, but a bit more positive, right? But it does at the end come down to the same things we're going to talk about, right? Another question is how much support and longevity can we expect from Marathon? Bungie has earned its reputation for mastering the live service model over the past decade of Destiny and shows no signs of letting players down here.

As they told me, they already have plans to support Marathon with new maps, weapons, characters, and more as they develop it. But as always, there's the question of whether they'll do so at a fast enough pace to appease ever-ravenous players.