Early sales figures suggest Bungie’s recently released Marathon may fall short of expectations, potentially signaling trouble for the studio and its partnership with Sony.
While official sales data from Bungie or PlayStation has not yet been released, Rhys Elliott, head of Alinea Analytics, has presented detailed estimates that paint a concerning picture for the developers and the project.
According to Elliott’s information, Marathon has sold just 1.2 million copies since its launch, with the vast majority purchased on PC. Approximately 800,000 players acquired the game on Steam, while the PlayStation community accounts for only around 19% of all users. This disparity indicates the console version did not attract the audience anticipated for a project of this scale.
Elliott highlights this as a significant signal for Sony, suggesting the company cannot rely solely on its platform for online games and must continue to embrace multiplatform support to build large communities around such titles. The extraction shooter genre, popularizing mechanics like loot and persistent progression, is increasingly competitive.
The topic was previously discussed during the Game Developers Conference (GDC), where industry analysts examined why Marathon hasn’t resonated with players to the same extent as titles like ARC Raiders. Elliott attributes one of the primary issues to the user interface, which he says can be discouraging and hinder initial gameplay.
Despite the initial challenges, the game isn’t a complete failure in terms of engagement. Data shows that after a difficult start, a portion of players have remained invested. Marathon peaked at 478,000 daily active users and currently maintains around 345,000, averaging 380,000 DAU on weekends. On Steam, the average playtime is 27.8 hours, compared to 16.5 hours on PS5 and 17.3 hours on Xbox. As much as 22% of PC players have exceeded 50 hours of gameplay, with nearly 7% reaching 100 hours.
Marathon has sold 1.2M copies across Steam, PS5, and Xbox (@alineaanalytics estimates).
It hasn’t exactly made the splash Sony and Bungie wanted, even if the game underneath the surface is a MASTERWORK of design.
Looking at the split between Steam, PS5, and Xbox, Steam is… pic.twitter.com/vl8ku1Y1Bn
— Rhys Elliott (@superhys) March 24, 2026
Paul Tassi of Forbes commented on the published data, stating that “sources at Bungie have confirmed these numbers are very close to reality.”
I’m told the sales numbers, platform breakdown and daily active user (DAU) figures are very close to accurate within Bungie. The problem is… these numbers are generally lower than they should be – from launch to present – given the circumstances surrounding the game, namely its development time, cost, and Sony’s expectations for Bungie’s first new game in ten years based on the original series. That is the reality.
Tassi also reports that Sony has not yet made any changes to its plans for content updates, though that could change in the near future.
