Marathon quickly lost players during the stress test, but it still outperformed Battlefield and Call of Duty

Marathon showed impressive online numbers during a recent stress test, but they quickly halved. Despite this, Bungie's shooter managed to outperform giants like Battlefield 6 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.

An early version of the game was available during the open beta test. The developers wanted to test the servers and receive feedback from players. However, there were quite a few complaints. Users mentioned confusing interfaces, a lack of PvP battles, and issues with voice chat.

On Thursday, after the beta test launch, Marathon's online numbers surpassed 143,000 players on Steam. However, within six hours, the number of players decreased by 30,000, and by the following evening, it had reached half of its peak. There were predictions that the weekend would improve the situation, but there was no significant increase in online numbers.

Nevertheless, Marathon outperformed Battlefield 6 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 in terms of online numbers.

Marathon will be fully released on March 5. Bungie's game will compete with other extraction shooters, such as ARC Raiders and Escape from Tarkov. As of this writing, ARC Raiders has an online player count of 110,000, while Escape from Tarkov has an online player count of 12,500.

Earlier, Bungie announced that any cheater in Marathon will receive a lifetime ban. There will be no warnings or second chances.

Have you played Marathon yet? Share your thoughts in the comments.