Popular livestreamer Shroud has commented on whether he thinks Bungie’s Marathon could suffer the same fate as Concord and Highguard and be shut down quickly after its release. Concord and Highguard are arguably two of the highest-profile live-service failures so far, and are notable for just how quickly their developers pulled the plug on the servers post-launch. Some gamers wanted to know whether Shroud felt Marathon could head in a similar direction.
Marathon is the latest addition to the extraction shooter genre, which has achieved massive popularity of late thanks to the success of ARC Raiders. The game features a star-studded voice cast, including Roger Clark, Ben Starr, Jennifer English, and Neil Newbon, but despite the big names, Marathon hasn’t yet dethroned ARC Raiders‘ huge player count numbers. However, user reviews for the game are “Very Positive” on Steam, so players are largely enjoying their time with the game so far. With the shutdowns of Concord and Highguard still fresh in the memory, any live-service game that doesn’t immediately take the world by storm is always going to face questions about its future.
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Shroud Says ‘Too Much Money’ Invested for Marathon to Shut Down
Speaking during a recent livestream, FPS streamer Shroud spoke on whether he thinks Marathon could follow Concord and Highguard‘s footsteps by facing a rapid shutdown. “Is this game dying in a month or two or not?” he said. “Definitely not. There’s literally, that’s not gonna happen. They’ve invested too much money, right? Highguard and Concord, what makes them a little different is those are new studios that were made with, you know, funding from investors. They get their $30 million to make a game, and they shoot their shot. But a game like this, it’s Bungie, bro. They f****** are backed by Sony. They have billions of dollars.”
Shroud has long been one of the biggest Twitch streamers, following a previous career as a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive esports professional. His opinions carry a lot of weight, and Shroud is known for his bold takes on the latest games on the market. He decided to go a little further on Marathon, claiming even a monumental player count collapse would not cause Bungie to walk away from the game. “Even if they had five players, I don’t think they would pull it,” he explained. “It’s just the sunk cost fallacy. You’re too invested at this point.”
Although all three are live-service titles, it would feel a little harsh to fully compare Marathon with Concord and Highguard at this point. Marathon launched with an all-time peak player count of 88,337 on Steam, with numbers on other platforms unknown. While this is below Highguard‘s peak Steam player count of 97,249, Marathon has enjoyed very strong word of mouth, which may help it retain players for much longer. Concord sits in a league of its own among video game failures, attracting a peak Steam player count of just 697.
The coming weeks and months will be critical for Marathon, and it’s off to a strong start thanks to its positive user reviews. As with most live-service games, a lot will hinge on Bungie’s ability to keep players around, rather than seeing a quick drop-off. Hopefully, the developer will continue to release plenty of new content for the game to encourage players to stick with Marathon, and maybe even see increased player counts in the future. The live-service space is notoriously difficult to break into, so it won’t be easy, even for an experienced studio like Bungie.
- Released
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March 5, 2026
- ESRB
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Teen / Animated Blood, Language, Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
