Concord Developer Urges: Marathon Still Worthwhile Despite Concord’s Setback

Bungie’s recent stream showcasing early footage of their new first-person extraction shooter, Marathon, has stirred quite a bit of skepticism across social media and Reddit. Some folks are already drawing parallels to Concord, the hero shooter that was pulled offline by Sony less than a month after its debut. This has led a former Concord developer to step into the Marathon subreddit, appealing to the community to give the game a fair shot.

The developer, posting under the name MrSpug, opened up about Concord’s downfall. “Concord just didn’t resonate with players, and that message came through loud and clear,” they wrote. “Watching our project crumble and become a laughingstock online was heartbreaking.”

Having worked at Firewalk Studios, which Sony closed down shortly after pulling the game, the developer relates to the efforts Marathon’s creators have poured into their project. They respect Bungie for venturing into such a fiercely competitive genre. “I was part of the Concord team and gave it my all,” they shared. “We missed the mark. Please, let’s not penalize others for our missteps.”

Although Marathon and Concord are different beasts, they share a common publisher, Sony. One major critique following the Marathon stream is Bungie’s choice not to release the game as free-to-play. Like Concord, it will be priced below the standard cost of new games. Bungie mentioned the game would cost less than a “full-priced” title, likely around $40 when it launches in September. However, having any price tag at all has sparked concerns it might meet the same fate as Concord.

Replying to their post, the former Concord developer added, “I wasn’t aiming to be ‘that’ developer, drawing attention as though I’ve got a stake in this. But dismissing the game as a failure before it’s even released seems absurd to me.”