Marathon Tops Steam Charts Despite Controversy - System Requirements Also Revealed

1 week ago 3

Marathon is Already One of Steam's Best Selling Games Despite Controversy

Jake brings two decades of experience with him, having covered major industry events, breaking news, one-on-one interviews, and more.

When he's not playing World of Warcraft, he's usually on the hunt for good food and a refreshing beer to wash it down.

It's hard to believe that Bungie's Marathon has a release date, but it's true.

After a leak on the Xbox Store, Bungie confirmed that Marathon is coming on March 5th, 2026, and is currently available for pre-order.

Given the amount of controversy around the game, such as the decision to make Marathon a live-service extraction shooter, the delay last year, and the plagiarism controversy, many initially scoffed at Bungie's plea in asking for pre-orders. As it turns out, however, those scoffs may be in the minority.

New Fable Concept Art Leaks Online And It is Giving Some Lord Of The Rings Vibes

At the time of writing, Marathon is currently the fifth best-selling game on Steam, behind Counter-Strike 2, ARC Raiders, the Steam Deck, and Marvel Rivals.

For those keeping score at home, the only thing that is outselling Marathon on the morning of January 20th, 2026, is two free-to-play games, one of the most popular shooters on the market today, and Valve's Steam Deck, which lets you play all of these games.

Bungie Reveals System Requirements For Marathon

The release date wasn't all the news we got for Marathon. Here are the minimum and recommended PC specs for the game, per Bungie.

Minimum Specs

Recommend Specs

OS: Windows 10 64-bit (latest Service Pack)	OS: Windows 10 64-bit (latest Service Pack)
Processor: Intel Core i5-6600 / AMD Ryzen 5 2600	Processor: Intel Core i5-10400 / AMD Ryzen 5 3500
Memory: 8 GB RAM	Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4 GB) / AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (4 GB) / Intel Arc A580 (8 GB, with ReBAR on)	Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 2060 (6 GB) / AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (8 GB) / Intel Arc A770 (16 GB, with ReBAR on)
DirectX: Version 12	DirectX: Version 12
Network: Broadband Internet connection	Network: Broadband Internet connection

Given how well optimized Destiny 2 is on PC, the less-than-demanding PC requirements for Marathon aren't too surprising. Say what you want about the current state of Bungie games, the developer knows how to optimize their games for outdated PC hardware. Marathon looks to be no exception.

IOI Lowers 007 First Light Hardware Requirements After 'Miscommunication'

The 007 First Light developer has made corrections regarding the PC requirements for the game.

With the rising price of PC parts, notably RAM and video cards, the fact that you only need a 2060, nevermind a 3080, is impressive. Since Marathon is a live-service game as well, it needs to ensure it reaches the largest possible audience. It's similar to Blizzard's philosophy during World of Warcraft's peak. Sure, the game could have looked better, but it was more important to make sure the game ran on as many PC builds as possible.

Marathon will finally release on March 5th, 2026, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.