Arc Raiders Is Already Stealing Marathon’s Thunder

Summary

Marathon's relaunch as an extraction shooter didn't resonate with all fans, leading to a lukewarm reception.
ARC Raiders, a competitor, has gained positive attention for its extraction gameplay, unlike Marathon.
Bungie may face challenges due to the IP's single-player history, where ARC Raiders won't.

It’s safe to say that Marathon’s recent reveal wasn’t received as well as Bungie had hoped; now, some fans are looking excitedly over the fence at rival shooter ARC Raiders. Reviving a long-dormant IP, Bungie made the bold decision to relaunch Marathon as an extraction shooter, inviting criticism from some long-time fans. While not everyone has been turned off by the studio’s new vision, it seems to be losing steam with some others.

This wouldn’t be the first time a large developer missed the mark in this niche. Despite large player counts in a couple of titles, the extraction shooter genre is a notoriously difficult one to break into. Escape From Tarkov and Hunt: Showdown have done very well for themselves, but many other contenders have flopped straight out of the gate. Marathon’s rocky reception would appear to be proving this rule, if not for the existence of ARC Raiders.

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By LB Beistad

Arc Raiders Is Gaining Momentum Where Marathon Stumbled

Developed with the help of veteran Battlefield talent, ARC Raiders is an extraction shooter from Embark Studios. Despite the developer releasing The Finals late last year, ARC Raiders has actually been in development longer, but The Finals’ smaller scope meant it was ready sooner. Development on ARC progressed quietly for several years, going from PVE looter with PVP elements to a full-on extraction game, and the recent playtests have suddenly drawn significant attention to ARC for some pretty positive reasons.

It’s hard to ignore all the similarities that ARC’s development story shares with Marathon, but the response to both could not be more different. Where ARC’s shift from PVE to PVP has been praised, Marathon’s has caused some confusion, with many players admiring the game’s incredibly powerful aesthetic, but remaining disinterested in the extraction gameplay. Marathon’s alpha playtest saw thousands of players sign up, but player numbers dwindled unexpectedly fast, and feedback around it has suggested the game may need to be delayed.

Part of the frustration seems to stem from the fact that Marathon is an old IP that has been repurposed into something new, which is a problem that ARC doesn’t have. Though the design may have shifted from its original goals, people playing the recent ARC Raiders playtest were jumping into its world for the first time, with few expectations. It also helps that ARC is sticking closer to a more traditional style of extraction shooter, including a home base and proximity chat, a feature that Bungie has dragged its feet over for fears of toxicity.

Bungie has announced some changes for its next alpha, including disabling aim assist on PC, so plenty of features could change between now and then.

Embark’s background is somewhat similar to Bungie’s, as each developer has experience developing very popular shooters, and both are now making extraction games at the same time. Perhaps it is down to how each studio walks the line, as many fans have stated they would like to see Marathon get revived, just not in this form. Bungie has likely spent a lot of money developing and marketing its new game so far, releasing the incredibly well-received Marathon cinematic short film, meaning walking back the game design is essentially impossible. Conversely, awareness of ARC Raiders has been driven a lot by word of mouth, proving there is still excitement for new extraction shooters.

It’s still early days yet, but ARC Raiders could not be coming out at a worse time for Bungie, as it's hard not to draw comparisons between the two. Bungie has already scoped out dates for future Marathon playtests, and player feedback from the first round has suggested it felt very “alpha,” so there is every chance the next test will look very different. Stumbling at the first hurdle has characterized Bungie for a long time, with both Destiny 1 and 2 having very shaky launches, only to become big successes later. But the glowing reception to ARC Raiders is casting a very long shadow, one that won’t be easy for Marathon to escape.