Steam Counts Won’t Decide Marathon’s Fate

Developers argue that Steam concurrent player counts aren’t a reliable measure of Marathon’s success. Marathon peaked higher during Server Slam than after release, but the wider context—pricing differences (Marathon is $40 vs. free-to-play Highguard) and platform variance—complicates direct comparisons to Slay the Spire II and other titles. Key figures from Bungie, Warframe, and others call countwatching cringe and emphasize that the Steam ecosystem and market competition mean Marathon’s fate is uncertain and likely to fluctuate rather than doom-chart straight up or down.