Marathon server slam hits 143,000 concurrent Steam players on day one, approaching Arc Raiders' peak of 189,000 and suggesting a big launch for Bungie

Bungie could have a hit on its hands if numbers emerging from Marathon's server slam are any indication.

Marathon's server slam invites all players to check out Bungie's upcoming PvPvE extraction shooter ahead of launch on March 5. Although it's still day one of the server slam, with the test ending on March 2, players are already turning out in impressive numbers.

According to the Steam charts, Marathon's server slam managed an all-time peak player count of 143,621 players on its first day. Keep in mind too that the weekend is coming and there's a good chance that number will be even higher when everyone's off work.

For context, Arc Raiders' server slam from last October hit a peak concurrent count of 189,668, not all that far ahead of Marathon's, and Marathon still has a few days to catch up. The point being, if the amount of players participating in a game's server slam even roughly correlate to the number of players at release, which seemed to be the case for Arc Raiders, Marathon could be headed for a huge launch. It's also worth noting that Arc Raiders' server slam was free and open to all players, just like Marathon's, and that both games cost $40, making comparisons a little more reliable.

If you're one of the many people shooting, looting, and extracting this weekend, here's how you can get some of those sweet Marathon Twitch drops. And before you jump in, it's always good to be up to date on all of the Marathon characters and their abilities.