Marathon has sold about 1.2 million copies, and Steam accounted for nearly 70% of those sales
Rhyss Elliott of Alinea Analytics estimated roughly 1.2 million total sales across PC, PS5 and Xbox, with Steam contributing a little under 70 percent.
Analyst Rhyss Elliott of Alinea Analytics estimated that Marathon sold roughly 1.2 million copies across PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, and said the vast majority of those sales came from Steam in a post on X. Elliott wrote that the release “hasn’t exactly made the splash Sony and Bungie wanted,” even as he praised the game’s core design.
Marathon has sold 1.2M copies across Steam, PS5, and Xbox (@alineaanalytics estimates).
It hasn't exactly made the splash Sony and Bungie wanted, even if the game underneath the surface is a MASTERWORK of design.
Looking at the split between Steam, PS5, and Xbox, Steam is… pic.twitter.com/vl8ku1Y1Bn
— Rhys Elliott (@superhys) March 24, 2026
According to Elliott’s breakdown, “a little under 70%” of Marathon purchases were on Steam, PS5 accounted for about 19% and Xbox for a bit over 11%. That Steam share would put Marathon’s PC sales at roughly 800,000 copies.
Third-party Steam owner estimates line up near Elliott’s figure. SteamDB‘s owner-estimate plugins returned three close values: 835,100, 848,500 and 1.14 million owners. A simple reviews-times-30 multiplier also gives an estimate in the same neighborhood, about 884,640 owners.
Elliott compared Marathon’s launch to the earlier breakout of Arc Raiders, pointing to faster approachability and adoption as major differences. He argued that players can grasp Arc Raiders’ loop quickly, while Marathon’s menus and systems act as a barrier that keeps many newcomers from reaching the game’s deeper PvP and progression systems. In Elliott’s words, the contrast in ease of entry helps explain why Arc Raiders gained such momentum.
He also highlighted how each game’s short-term sales spikes looked during their respective Server Slams. Arc Raiders saw a much larger jump over its event window, while Marathon’s increase was smaller and more muted over the days around its Server Slam, Elliott said.
SteamDB figures cited alongside Elliott’s analysis show the difference in peak activity. Reported peaks included:
- Arc Raiders Steam peak: 481,966 (four months ago)
- Arc Raiders 24-hour peak: 125,795
- Marathon Steam peak: 88,337 (19 days ago)
- Marathon 24-hour peak: 44,371
Elliott also shared reported engagement metrics that suggest players who get past Marathon’s initial hurdles tend to stick with it. He cited average playtimes of 27.8 hours on Steam versus 16.5 hours on PS5 and 17.3 hours on Xbox. He added that about 22% of the Steam audience had passed 50 hours played and nearly 7% had topped 100 hours.
Those are strong engagement signals for any multiplayer title, but Elliott noted several caveats before reading the numbers as a commercial success for Bungie and Sony. The sales estimates are unofficial, they don’t include revenue from a battle pass or cosmetic sales, and platform fees and internal targets are not public. Development costs and corporate expectations for Bungie’s first non-Destiny release in many years remain unknown, which makes it hard to judge financial performance from raw copies sold alone.
For now, Elliott’s read is straightforward, as Marathon has found a dedicated audience and earned praise for its design, but the launch did not generate the same volume of sales or immediate platform balance that some expected.
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Marathon
Developed by Bungie
A PvP-focused extraction shooter set on the mysterious planet of Tau Ceti IV, Marathon will see players inhabit the bodies of Runners, cybernetic mercenaries who have been designed to survive the planet’s harsh environments and explore the lost colony that once inhabited Tau Ceti’s surface. Players will engage solo or in crews of three, searching for mysterious alien artifacts, as well as for valuable loot and new weapons and gear that they can add to their collection.
- Genre: Shooter
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5
- Modes: Multiplayer, Battle Royale
- Publisher: Bungie
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Age Rating:
GRAC 15+
