Bungie has announced that Destiny 2's final live-service update arrives next month, and fans are taking out their frustrations… on poor Marathon.
Obviously, the news isn't good. After the final update, while Destiny 2 will remain playable, it won't be getting any new content or expansions, and that news is only made worse by a report that Destiny 3 apparently isn't in development, nor is Bungie currently planning on it in the immediate sense. With reportedly no other projects greenlit right now, attention is shifting to its latest FPS game, Marathon, which hasn't been a massive success for the studio since its March launch, and the studio's situation sounds shaky.
Sony recently reported "impairment losses" of around $765 million against Bungie's "intangible and other assets" over its last financial year, and it's now been alleged that significant layoffs are planned at Bungie after the final Destiny 2 update. Needless to say, it sounds like the studio needs a win, so some players are being very understanding by… review bombing Marathon on Steam.
Looking at the game's recent negative reviews, you can see a wave of complaints that, well, aren't really complaints about Marathon at all. "Destiny died for this lol," one reads, as another writes: "Slopathon. rip destiny 2 u were the realest."
One review – posted after only 0.3 hours on record (from a copy of the game that's since been refunded) – simply states, "D2 didn't die for this garbage," while another demands: "Make Destiny 3."
Now, the upset at the demise of Destiny 2 is – obviously – understandable. Many people have spent the best part of a decade playing the game, and its abrupt end was never going to go down well. But is taking out those frustrations on Marathon going to achieve anything positive? No.
Some fans are already pointing this out. "Love the D2 players review bombing rn," one Reddit user sarcastically writes. "Great look guys! Blame Marathon for a game reaching its natural end of life, makes complete sense to me!"
Others are calling for others to counterbalance the wave of complaints, asking: "Positive or negative, leave a genuine review please. Not some parasocial comment."
Right now, it appears that those trying to give Marathon a positive boost are winning – while today is still the game's worst day for negative reviews in the last month (with 93 posted so far), it also has way more positive ones, with 179 shared today. Interestingly, the exact same thing is happening on Destiny 2's Steam reviews, too, with the positive reviews coming out on top.
With both games, it helps that the review bomb hasn't become too widespread at the time of writing. Hopefully, it'll just fizzle out, as once again, it's really not going to achieve anything other than add some salt to the wounds of the already struggling devs. Perhaps Marathon Season 2 can turn things around at least a little too.
