Hours after the full reveal of Bungie's new extraction shooter Concord. It's not especially surprising, as Concord has quickly come to embody just how poorly the launch of a paid live-service game can go. In this case, however, there are so many more interesting things to talk about, and dragging the discourse back to Concord turns what could be an exciting discussion into an exhausting one.

I'm well aware of the fragility of my position here, as discussing why Marathon isn't really another Concord does ultimately involve comparing the two. I'm also one of the few people on Earth who actually played Concord, however, which has to lend me some level of credence. While the 2024 game looked doomed from the start, there's no reason Marathon needs to suffer the same fate, and it's already doing some things right that Concord never did.

Like It Or Not, Bungie's Marathon Has Style

A Harsh Aesthetic Makes Its Mark

Concord faced two uphill battles from the start: tired aesthetic trappings and an upfront price model in a market full of free games. Both of these elements might have been more excusable in 2016, when Guardians of the Galaxy still felt fresh and Overwatch's $40 price point raised few complaints. In 2024, they were far too late, and the game lacked the unique spin or stylistic oomph to mitigate the weight of these sins.

Marathon's aesthetic is bound to be divisive, but there's a big difference between divisiveness and indifference. Plenty of people hated the way Concord looked, and those who didn't were mostly more neutral than enthused. While I appreciated the step back from the overstimulation that defines a lot of modern FPS trappings, the character designs tended to be messy and uninteresting, and a few pretty maps couldn't make up for some dreadfully dull ones. It felt like a game that had never entered the flames of a true creative furnace, ing diffidently through boardrooms and focus groups instead.

An eclectically pointed mix of Mirror's Edge, untextured Garry's Mod maps, and the digital frigidity of '90s cyberpunk.

There's a whiff of corporate sensibility to Marathon, too, but it manifests in a very different way. Instead of dodging hyper-saturation and eye-bleeding effects, Marathon's gameplay trailers embrace that hostility and run with it. The effect is an eclectically pointed mix of Mirror's Edge, untextured Garry's Mod maps, and the digital frigidity of '90s cyberpunk. In rejecting any concerted attempt to be beautiful, it gains a lot more character than the uncommitted tech demo style of competitors like The Finals.

Marathon Can Afford A Higher Price Than Concord

Bungie's Name Still Means A Lot

As for the price, that's a little more complicated, but it's also too early to make many assumptions there. Right now, all we know is that Marathon isn't free-to-play, which is fine by me. Despite the ongoing loot box monetization, I was much happier spending $40 on Overwatch and comfortably enjoying the game without spending another penny than kicking battle pop-ups off my heels in virtually everything since. If the price is fair, the game is good, and the ongoing monetization isn't obnoxious, I'm not going to complain.

It's still a hurdle, but Bungie has more spring in its step than Concord developer Firewalk Studios did. Although I'm too indifferent to the Destiny games to care much about the Bungie name in 2025, the brand still has an incredible legacy, which makes a big difference in recruiting players for a paid live-service title. Overwatch couldn't have been a sensation without the once-beloved Blizzard, while Ubisoft's less favorable name couldn't keep the free-to-play XDefiant alive. Firewalk was new, and without an emphasis on an iconic creative lead to make up for it, Concord started with a big disadvantage.

Marathon's Closed Alpha Is The Real Test Of Its Potential

Marathon Still Has To Prove Itself

The ultimate test, of course, is the game experience. While Concord's gunplay was solid, its ideas were almost all routine, which was essentially an immediate death sentence. Marathon looks much more promising going in, but the closed alpha test will provide a much better idea of its ability to sink or swim.

At this point, Concord's been fairly over-hated, especially since most of its detractors have never played the game (to be fair, I don't know why they would have). Concord does serve as a shining example of damning mediocrity, however, and there may be something more eternally relevant in a game sunk by lack of inspiration than there is in a true disaster. It's just not the example that applies best to Marathon. If Bungie's new game does falter, I have faith that it will manage to do so in a more interesting way.