Developer of the failed shooter Concord calls to give Marathon a chance and not to complain about the game's failure before its release

After the long-awaited gameplay demonstration of Marathon, the new extraction shooter by Bungie, along with general enthusiasm, many players were quick to draw unfortunate parallels with the recent failure of Concord. A former Concord developer responded to this reaction by calling on the Reddit community to give the new game a chance and, just as importantly, to show empathy for the people working on it.

Here's What We Know

"After reading the comments about Marathon being Concord 2.0 on Reddit, YouTube, and Twitch, I just wanted to share a little insight into what a 40-year-old man who has spent a significant portion of his life making video games feels like," former Firewalk Studios senior visual effects artist Stephan Williams wrote in the Marathon subreddit.

"Concord failed to inspire players, and that message came through loud and clear. It was painful to see our project fail and become a laughingstock on the internet. I realised that it is failures that drive me to success. No one feels as bad as the people who risked their time hoping to entertain millions of gamers around the world.

As a reminder, Concord didn't just fail, it burned with a bang: the game launched with little to no interest and was shut down in less than two weeks. The initial plan, at least as publicly stated, was to figure out what went wrong and try again, but in the end, Sony decided to shut down the project for good and dissolved Firewalk Studios - a particularly disappointing outcome given that Sony had acquired Firewalk less than two years earlier.

One of the reasons for the comparison with Concord was the confirmation that Marathon would be a paid game, not a free-to-play one. Sony had a huge success with Helldivers 2, also a paid online game, but it was more of an exception to the rule, and Concord's $40 price tag was one of the obstacles to success.

Some players are clearly expecting the same from Marathon: it's not a massive negative reaction, but there is a steady wave of scepticism that prompted Williams to publish his message. He hopes that instead of criticism, readers will "understand that these projects are created by people who work very hard to become the next big hit."

"Seeing the faces of the developers on the Bungie stream made me feel hopeful and excited about what's to come for Marathon," Williams wrote. "I applaud them for taking a chance on something new for themselves that is not tried and tested and not guaranteed to succeed. That takes a lot of courage."

He also noted that calling this game a failure before it's even released is wild for him. In another comment, he expressed confidence that Bungie will pull it off.

"I'm looking forward to a fully polished product," he wrote. "Bungie always does great."

Marathon will be released on 23 September 2025 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. More details about the game will be revealed in the summer.

Source: Reddit