'We've learned nothing from Concord': Marathon reveal has gamers jumping to premature comparisons

Gamers on social media have been prematurely comparing Bungie's new Marathon game to the huge flop Concord.

Marathon is an upcoming team-based PvP (player versus player) extraction shooter and the first completely new project from the studio that created Halo and Destiny in more than a decade.

A first look at gameplay from Bungie, which is now owned by Sony, was given on April 12 with the game releasing on September 23.

At the time of writing, Marathon is still only just approaching a Closed Alpha playtest which does not start until April 23, meaning the game is still in fairly early on in its development.

Marathon will not be a free game and it does not contain a campaign or single-player mode, which has led to hugely premature comparisons to Concord.

Marathon gameplay was recently revealed and gamers online have been comparing it to Concord / Screenshot from Bungie

Concord was a failed multiplayer live service shooter that released in August 2024 but had the plug pulled on it less than two weeks after launch because of just how badly it flopped.

Firewalk Studios had developed the game from 2016 for eight years and it reportedly cost somewhere in the estimated region of $100m-$200m, but when the decision was announced to pull it, the game had sold just over 25,000 copies across PlayStation and PC and is understood to have made just $1m.

And comparisons between the two have even led a Concord developer to urge people not to judge the game too quickly.

Stephan Williams, a former Concord developer at Firewalk Studios, posted in the Marathon Subreddit: "Concord failed to inspire players and the messages were heard loud and clear. It was gut wrenching to see our project fail and be the laughing stock of many online.

"Seeing the faces of the developers on the Bungie stream gave me hope and excitement for what is to come for Marathon. I commend them for taking a chance, trying something foreign to them, that isn't proven, nor guaranteed to succeed. It takes a lot of courage."

In response to a comment on the post, Williams added: "I really didn't want to be 'that' dev, calling attention to myself as if I have a horse in this race. But to call this game a failure before it's even out is wild to me."

Williams' comments came as a number of people online were keen to compare Marathon to Concord.

One said: "Sony has learned nothing about the catastrophic failure of Concord."

"We've really learned nothing from Concord," another said.

One mentioned Marathon alongside Concord when comparing the two games.

Another said: "A problem I keep having with Marathon is that (similar to Concord) the characters shown are just... Not cool."

"At the end of the day, Marathon being made by modern day Bungie and a bunch of fake gamers who hate gaming and gamers as a whole, means that yes, it's going the Concord route," one posted.

And another said: "Guys, we have Concord 2, the sequel to the game that didn't last long and it's going to happen again, lol."

However others have defended Marathon.

One said: "All folks talk about with Playstation multiplayers is Concord and think any $40 multiplayer from PS will fail. Did we all forget the other multiplayer focused game they released for $40 [Helldivers 2] and became their fastest selling game ever and was nominated for GOTY at the Dice Awards?"

And another said they "like what [they] see" so far.

Elsewhere, there's been a huge The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion remake release date update from an insider and a look at when RuneScape: Dragonwilds may release on consoles.

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