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Arc Raiders Steals Spotlight as Marathon Fumbles With Beta Woes and Controversy
October 21, 2025Arc Raiders just delivered a monster open beta, pulling in nearly 100,000 concurrent PC players in its first hours. That’s more than bragging rights, it’s a signal that Embark Studios’ upcoming extraction shooter is resonating with exactly the crowd Marathon set out to court. While Arc Raiders keeps gaining momentum, Marathon is stuck in damage control.
Public opinion on the two games couldn’t be more different after this round of playtesting. Marathon’s closed beta left players scratching their heads, while Arc Raiders felt like the answer to many of their complaints. The unscripted rivalry between these two titles has reached a fever pitch, and timing has thrown extra fuel on the fire.
Arc Raiders’ “Very Great A/B Test” vs. Marathon
It wasn’t planned, but Arc Raiders and Marathon ended up running critical beta playtests almost simultaneously. That turned out to be a gift for Embark Studios. Virgil Watkins, Arc Raiders’ technical director, described it as “a very great A/B test” for their own extraction shooter. He told PC Gamer:
“It was very coincidental that they had their test around the time we did. To my knowledge, I don’t think any of us knew that was going to happen. It was a very great A/B test for us, because obviously they made decisions that we didn’t, and vice versa. So we could kind of compare and contrast how some of those things shook out.”
Players did exactly that. Compared side by side, Arc Raiders felt sharp and accessible. Marathon stumbled, missing key features players expect in 2025, like solo queue options and proximity chat. These omissions drew instant flak, and made Marathon’s unique aesthetic feel less like a selling point and more like missed potential.
Marathon Staggers, Arc Raiders Soars
As the dust settled, Arc Raiders’ “server slam” beta was a breakout hit, just what Embark needed before its launch on October 30. The nearly 100,000 concurrent users created not just buzz, but confidence that the title’s on track.
Marathon’s fortunes swung in the opposite direction. After a rocky first public beta, fans were split over design choices that felt limiting. Then came bigger trouble: The game became tangled in a plagiarism scandal, with a number of visual assets alleged to be based on the work of an outside artist. The result? Marathon was delayed from its original September release window, and the community’s trust took another blow.
Now, Bungie is pinning everything on a fresh open beta, running October 22–27. It’s the game’s shot at redemption and a last-ditch effort to win back hearts before Arc Raiders launches. But with Arc Raiders hitting its stride and Marathon still finding its footing, the genre’s balance could tip fast.
The timing almost seems staged: Marathon’s open beta ends just as Arc Raiders goes live. Whether that’s luck, irony, or just plain bad planning, both studios are clearly in the spotlight, but only one is thriving.
With fans drawing direct comparisons, the extraction shooter genre suddenly feels more crowded, and competitive, than ever. The next few weeks will decide whether Arc Raiders cements itself as the fan favorite, or if Marathon can recover from an especially shaky start and a series of self-inflicted wounds.
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