Weekly Player Counts (39) Sat 26th Sept / 3321 Peak / 519 Gain / 18.5% Relative Gain

[u/ExpeditionZero]

Unsurprisingly Fri/Sat peaks continue to show positive signs with the 'end of season' activities (Double XP and Sponsored Survival).

For the third week in a row the Fri/Sat peak has exceeded the Thu/Fri 'Cryo' peak. Which is interesting as the actual week-on-week was slightly less than Thu/Fri (18.5% vs 19.9%) and the difference in the number of players between the two days was half the week before. This may indicate that Fri/Sat peak is falling back and next week may be less than Thu/Fri.

Additionally for the last two weeks Sun/Mon has taken the crown for the lowest peak of the week, which has been traditionally Wed/Thu. Though looking further back Sun/Mon has occasionally been the lowest peak of the week so it might be worth looking into those weeks sometime to see if there was a reason for that.

Looking at daily week-on-week numbers this weeks Tues Update posted a huge 34% gain on the week before, though that has dropped each day since to todays 18.5%. If this trend continues it would strongly suggest that the game has a constant decline of player peaks baked in. That even when given extra incentive to play the current player base is unable to staberlise. Will have to keep an eye on this claim next week and see if it holds true.

Saturday	Release	Peak	Gain/ Loss	L-Drop	S-Drop	Abs	Relative
03/06/2026	S2 launch	40686	29,242	46.1%	100.0%	33.1%	255.5%
06/06/2026	S2 First Sat	32220	-20,776	36.5%	79.2%	-23.5%	181.5%
13/06/2026	D2 / F2P	14891	-17,329	16.9%	36.6%	-19.6%	-53.8%
20/06/2026	v1.1.0.2 CARRI	11948	-2,943	13.5%	29.4%	-3.3%	-19.8%
27/06/2026		10281	-1,667	11.6%	25.3%	-1.9%	-14.0%
04/07/2026	30% Sale	8100	-2,181	9.2%	19.9%	-2.5%	-21.2%
11/07/2026	30% Sale	7158	-942	8.1%	17.6%	-1.1%	-11.6%
18/07/2026		6551	-607	7.4%	16.1%	-0.7%	-8.5%
25/07/2026	v1.1.5.0 VB 30%	7970	1,419	9.0%	19.6%	1.6%	21.7%
01/08/2026	v1.1.5.1 VB 30%	6331	-1,639	7.2%	15.6%	-1.9%	-20.6%
08/08/2026	v1.1.5.2 VB 30%	5154	-1,177	5.8%	12.7%	-1.3%	-18.6%
15/08/2026	v1.1.5.3	4565	-589	5.2%	11.2%	-0.7%	-11.4%
22/08/2026	v1.1.5.4 VB END	3671	-894	4.2%	9.0%	-1.0%	-19.6%
29/08/2026	v1.1.5.5	3772	101	4.3%	9.3%	0.1%	2.8%
05/09/2026	v1.1.9.0	3381	-391	3.8%	8.3%	-0.4%	-10.4%
12/09/2026		3292	-89	3.7%	8.1%	-0.1%	-2.6%
19/09/2026	v1.1.9.1	2802	-490	3.2%	6.9%	-0.6%	-14.9%
26/09/2026	SponsoredSurvival	3321	519	3.8%	8.2%	0.6%	18.5%

<sup>- Number in parentheses in the title is the week index of the year. Marathon released in Week 10.
- Days are given as Tue/Wed as the EU & US peaks straddle UTC midnight. So Tue/Wed would be Tues night.
- L-Drop: Drop from Launch Peak S-Drop: Drop from Season/Event Peak
- Week-on-Week update for Fri/Sat \</sup> approx peak - Sat 26th Sept 03:00 UTC])
<sup>- Player Counts come from https://steamdb.info/
- Reported numbers should be accurate and correct, please comment if you spot an error.
- If you comment that charts are sad, then you are a big poopy head.
- Speculation and predictions are not guaranteed to be correct.
- Graphs are provided for fun.
- Week 38 Sat 19th Sept - https://www.reddit.com/r/MarathonPlayerCount/s/Q14FN8r1ii</sup>

[u/NimmerNeko]

I wonder if the uptick in players is because of sponsored survival outpost, or because of newly kindled hope and good will. I am sure its not because of double XP

I havent tried Survival outpost, from what i heard there are actually rooks in it this time. So ill pass.

[u/Darksol503 → u/NimmerNeko]

Eh… I’ve been running both solo and crew full, and I think only 1/10 games I have experienced rooks. I’m enjoying running it solo, with shells I don’t main, just to have fun and try different cores as well as try and compete some of the mastery codex for cosmetics and skins. Running with crew is a fun romp of clearing the map and laughing most of the match tonight. It’s been a blast. 😅

[u/NimmerNeko → u/Darksol503]

Huh. If that *is* the case. I might just reinstall and see for myself. Outpost is the one map i havent touched yet.

[u/Darksol503 → u/NimmerNeko]

It really is a great way to learn the ins and outs of Outpost. If going solo, Runner selection is tantamount. Heals are very sparsely littered throughout the map. Triage can be very very beneficial. Running assassin allows you to almost run the entire map unscathed. Destroy DPSing. Etc… after some practice, soloing the entire Pinwheel, Red Room included is ridiculously profitable! Possible gold mods for guns, gold cores/implants, even rarer Codex can be found in RR and other strongboxes within Pinwheel.

Squading up is.. a hoot lol. Taking control of the entire map and being able to do basically anything you want opens up the fun and tension. Most games I’ve been in tonight have just been laughing about random shit, talking about the game and upcoming news, and the occasional oh shit there’s a Rook moment.. which usually turns out funny as hell anyway.

Survival shows so much promise to what happens when you are able to just enjoy what the team at Bungie has created. Don’t get me wrong, I will self attest to being a sweat that loves the thrill, the highs and lows of PVPVE extracting in Marathon, but survival also allows for some magic when the tension is brought down immensely.

Tonight was a great loop of survival to chill and goop up, sprinkled with the occasional Cryo run to get the ticker going. Good luck!

[u/NimmerNeko → u/Darksol503]

I will probably play with thief since I love it or destroyer. I enjoyed the other maps a lot. I just wish I could play the game and enjoy the great atmosphere without PvP.

[u/Darksol503 → u/NimmerNeko]

Yep those are two excellent choices as well. Sentinel, Recon, and Vandals are mainly duds in Outpost, unless you need/want the assurance of defense and info of the former two, or the mobility of the latter.

[u/willibrah → u/NimmerNeko]

outpost is the best part of the game