Marathon player count drops 25% as Bungie's first new IP stumbles

Bungie's Lost Starship: Marathon has lost 25% of its Steam player base in under two weeks, with daily peak concurrent users dropping from roughly 20,000 on April 26 to around 15,000.

The studio's first new shooter since Destiny 2 is underperforming badly. Xbox numbers are worse—the game hasn't entered the platform's top 100 most-played titles. If Steam represents 70% of the total player base, cross-platform active users likely sit just above 20,000, a dangerous figure for a newly launched AAA shooter.

Bungie ran a promotional campaign to boost engagement, but players didn't bite and concurrent numbers barely moved. As a Sony-owned studio, Marathon's rocky launch is concerning—Bungie's reputation, built on Halo and Destiny, now faces a serious test.

Compared to other recent shooter launches, Marathon's retention rate is noticeably weak. If you're an FPS fan still on the fence, wait to see whether future updates can salvage the game's reputation. Jumping in now means risking slow matchmaking and empty servers. Bungie needs to deliver real improvements, or this IP may die at the starting line.