Marathon has reportedly sold 1.2M copies so far, with most being on PC

Due to delays and internal reboots, Marathon ended up being in development for much longer than initially planned. With a six year timeline, the cost of producing the game rose exponentially for Bungie, with estimates putting the final number in the $250M to $300M range. Despite positive reviews from those that have given the game a chance, Marathon has reportedly only shifted an estimated 1.2M copies so far, with the vast majority of that coming from the PC market. 

According to Alinea Analytics (via VGC), Marathon has sold 1.2 million copies so far, which would indicate total revenues of $55 million so far without counting for things like premium battle passes or cosmetic skins from the in-game store. The firm estimates that more than 800,000 of these players bought the game on Steam, leaving the PS5 platform with a 20% share of the total playerbase and 11% on Xbox.

While these sales aren't great considering the high cost of producing the game, Marathon has found a loyal audience. Those that do actively play it tend to really enjoy it, leading to a mostly positive overall user score on Steam. Bungie will no doubt be hoping that this positive word of mouth will continue to spread over the game's first year to help boost sales.

I myself have played quite a bit of Marathon since launch and I do tend to enjoy it a lot more than Arc Raiders, in part thanks to the feel of the guns and movement and in part due to the futuristic flavour of the game, versus the more grounded and gritty look of Arc Raiders. With that said, Arc Raiders has quite clearly resonated with a much broader audience so far.

KitGuru Says: Did you end up buying Marathon at launch? Do you think the game will eventually find a broader audience, or do you see it as remaining niche? 

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