Gaming

Bungie's Marathon fans convinced game will be cancelled after paid marketing reportedly pulled

Is Marathon DEAD on Arrival?
Gaming by VideoNest / VideoElephant

It seems when it rains, it absolutely pours for Bungie at the moment and now even the most enthusiastic Marathon fans are convinced the game will be cancelled before it sees the light of day.

Bungie's new extraction shooter was fully revealed earlier this year with fans initially hyped for what they saw but the Sony owned studio, responsible for creating Halo and Destiny, has been plagued with problems ever since.

A closed alpha test led to a string of reports about things not going as planned internally, Bungie has admitted it mistakenly used unauthorised artwork for the game and staff morale is reportedly at an all time low.

It's recently been reported by former IGN editor and current PlayStation podcaster Colin Moriarty that paid marketing for Marathon has been stopped.

Speaking on Sacred Symbols, he said: "I was told by someone familiar with marketing plans in a key overseas market that there are now no plans to do paid marketing for Marathon at all, I don't know if those plans were affected by what has recently happened or if that was always the plan or whatever but it is considered a fairly unusual move for a game of this high profile."

from Games

Reacting to the reports on Reddit, Marathon fans are now convinced the game will be cancelled, let alone delayed.

One user said: "Considering that Bungie staff supposedly haven't heard a peep about a delay as recently as last week, I figure that Bungie's top brass just got the whupping of a lifetime. That, or that Marathon is out on a death march now."

Another summarised: "The morale for the people involved with this game must be non-existent at this point and I would not be surprised in the slightest if this game gets scrapped."

A third agreed: "Hopefully they're listening to the feedback, where everyone is unanimously very 'whelmed' at the game. Doesn't look bad, doesn't look good, just looks like another generic hero-based shooter and there are plenty to play already for free. Marathon is DOA if it keeps its current model and doesn't change up anything to shake the genre."

Another said: "I honestly don't think this game can make a comeback. Checking the feedback from most of the streamers, this game is just fine and I don't think just fine is enough, even more with all the drama around it. Such a shame that all these assets are going to be wasted."

And a fifth commented: "Is this the second coming of Concord? Gets released to be erased from the archives in a week."

It's not been officially confirmed if paid marketing for Bungie's Marathon has been scrapped.

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