Following its delay from 2025, Bungie’s Marathon launched last month on PC and PlayStation 5. While the game was generally well received, with our own David Carcasole awarding it a 9 out of 10 score in his review, the extraction shooter by the makers of Halo and Destiny did not manage to become a smashing success at launch, and its player base is continuing to contract despite Bungie providing solid support so far. However, for some reason, the game has become the most searched game on SteamDB since its launch.
As spotted on Reddit by user Anihalation, Marathon has been out for six weeks, and it has been the most searched game since its release on SteamDB. This is in stark contrast with player numbers: at the time of writing, there are currently 5,649 players playing the game on Steam, with a 24-hour peak of 19,811 players. Low numbers compared to ARC Raiders’ 31,720 current players and 90,943 24-hour peak, a six and five times difference in player numbers, respectively.
For reference, the other most-searched games are ARC Raiders, Windrose, Crimson Desert, PRAGMATA, and Counter Strike 2, which all make sense given their current player numbers, popularity, and freshness.
With Marathon far from being the most popular game of the year, one has to wonder what it is that users are searching for on SteamDB. The answer is likely the player numbers. Marathon has been a controversial game since its announcement, and it seems like many are more interested in seeing the dwindling player numbers than actually playing the game.
No matter how some may be sitting on Marathon’s SteamDB page to witness first-hand its eventual demise, there’s no denying that Bungie’s game could already be in a rough spot. Having reportedly cost Sony over $250 million to develop, the reported 1.2 million copies sold may not be enough to save a studio that has been going through some difficult times for a good while.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack.
After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi “Suda51” Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA’s president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3.
When he’s not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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