Bungie’s open beta is off to a rough start: Marathon is currently sitting at 3.04 out of 5 on PlayStation Network, coming in below even Concord and Dustborn on the platform.
Bungie’s Marathon has had a turbulent run since its announcement, with reworks and course corrections shaping the last year of development. For a moment, strong pre-launch sales suggested the comeback Sony wanted might actually land. Now, the wave of negative user ratings on PSN is pointing in the opposite direction.
The studio launched an open beta – in part to stress-test servers – but the player reception on PlayStation is currently bleak. As of writing, the beta sits at just 3.04 stars out of 5 on PSN, which is lower than some of the platform’s most poorly received offerings. The piece notes Concord at 3.5 and Dustborn at 3.84, putting Marathon below both.
What makes the score harder to dismiss is the volume behind it. The global PlayStation Store listing reportedly shows more than 13,119 ratings. Around 40% are 5-star reviews, but a striking 38% of players have left the lowest possible score – a split that signals a real fracture in early sentiment rather than a small, noisy sample.
Another worrying detail is where the criticism is aimed. Many of the negative reviews aren’t framed as temporary technical complaints that can be fixed over time. Instead, they focus on the art direction and the core gameplay mechanics – the very areas Bungie has spent more than a year refining through its rework. Some players describe the beta as an abysmal experience and a waste of a download because of the visuals, while others are fine with the color palette but still take issue with how the game plays. The end result is a sharply divided audience.
On top of that, the article points to a rapid drop in the game’s Steam player count, claiming it fell by more than 50% in a single day. For a live-service title, that kind of early fade can be a serious warning sign, because momentum is the product.
Source: Tech4Gamers
