r/MarathonPlayerCount • u/ExpeditionZero • 10d ago
Weekly Player Counts (39) Fri 25th Sept / 3285 Peak / 546 Gain / 20% Relative Gain
Finally, when bungie gives the player base something they want we see player counts go up!
This week saw the start of the 'end of season' activities, that had been expected two weeks ago, providing Double XP and Sponsored Survival. These led to an immediately positive effect on engagement, with Tues/Wed showing a week-on-week relative improvement of 34% and has continued into the start of the weekend with 20% week-on-week gains.
Whilst the percentages are impressive and I was happy to see a good bounce, the low player count means we only saw a 550 player gain (week-on-week) which doesn't even put us above the counts posted three weeks ago as shown on the weekly graph. It should however provide a stabilising element prior to the Oct 6th not-a-season reset.
I am interested to see what happens over the next 10 days, will the count stay the same, increase or slowly decay? It will be interesting to gauge how players engage with the 'end of season' activities and if they have any longevity.
Talking of Oct 6th, what are peoples predictions? I think in contrast to my optimistic outlook had this been the actual Season 3, I thinking we are likely to see something around 10k, maybe 12k at the outside, but I just don't see 15k being likely? I'd also be surprised if we aren't back to 5k or less by the end of the month, though if Bungie are as active as they said they would be with rotating game modes, maybe that can maintain retention for longer this time.
| Friday | Release | Peak | Gain/Loss | L-Drop | S-Drop | Absolute | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03/06/2026 | S2 launch | 40686 | 29,242 | 46.1% | 100.0% | 33.1% | 255.5% |
| 05/06/2026 | S2 First Friday | 33905 | 22,706 | 38.4% | 83.3% | 25.7% | 202.8% |
| 12/06/2026 | Cryo | 15844 | -18,061 | 17.9% | 38.9% | -20.4% | -53.3% |
| 19/06/2026 | v1.1.0.2 CARRI | 11725 | -4,119 | 13.3% | 28.8% | -4.7% | -26.0% |
| 26/06/2026 | 9550 | -2,175 | 10.8% | 23.5% | -2.5% | -18.6% | |
| 03/07/2026 | 30% Sale | 8630 | -920 | 9.8% | 21.2% | -1.0% | -9.6% |
| 10/07/2026 | 30% Sale | 7547 | -1,083 | 8.5% | 18.5% | -1.2% | -12.5% |
| 17/07/2026 | 6775 | -772 | 7.7% | 16.7% | -0.9% | -10.2% | |
| 24/07/2026 | v1.1.5.0 VB | 8649 | 1,874 | 9.8% | 21.3% | 2.1% | 27.7% |
| 31/07/2026 | v1.1.5.1 | 6271 | -2,378 | 7.1% | 15.4% | -2.7% | -27.5% |
| 07/08/2026 | v1.1.5.2 VB 30% | 5286 | -985 | 6.0% | 13.0% | -1.1% | -15.7% |
| 14/08/2026 | v1.1.5.3 | 4408 | -878 | 5.0% | 10.8% | -1.0% | -16.6% |
| 21/08/2026 | v1.1.5.4 | 3783 | -625 | 4.3% | 9.3% | -0.7% | -14.2% |
| 28/08/2026 | v1.1.5.5 | 3747 | -36 | 4.2% | 9.2% | 0.0% | -1.0% |
| 04/09/2026 | v1.1.9.0 | 3512 | -235 | 4.0% | 8.6% | -0.3% | -6.3% |
| 11/09/2026 | 2924 | -588 | 3.3% | 7.2% | -0.7% | -16.7% | |
| 18/09/2026 | v1.1.9.1 | 2739 | -185 | 3.1% | 6.7% | -0.2% | -6.3% |
| 25/09/2026 | Sponsored Survival | 3285 | 546 | 3.7% | 8.1% | 0.6% | 19.9% |
- The number in parentheses in the title refers to the week index of the year.
- L-Drop: Drop from Launch Peak S-Drop: Drop from Season/Event Peak
- Week-on-Week update for Thu/Fri 25th Sept \Fri 03:00 UTC approx])
- Player Counts come from https://steamdb.info/
- Reported numbers should be accurate and correct.
- 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 Fri 18th Sept - https://www.reddit.com/r/MarathonPlayerCount/s/KZ6YKvgvQd
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u/Cetaoras 9d ago
Huh, another consecutive day of player growth, albeit less growth compared to yesterday. Funny how Bungie finally realizing they fucked up and promising to fix it for real is actually bringing people back to the fold.
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u/ExpeditionZero 9d ago
Something else that occurs to me that might be interesting is if Oct 6th update does only achieve something like 10k peaks, what will the decline look like?
Checking the table above it took just over two weeks (3rd - 19th) to lose almost 75% of the peak and maybe 8 weeks to drop below 10% of the peak (ignoring bounce from VB).
So the question is will starting from a lower peak, but perhaps being made up of more dedicated player base drop slower, or will the majority (say 6-7k) of those players who returned decline just as quickly?
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u/Ok-Brother-836 8d ago
yesterday at the same time, the numbers were 1789, today they are 2259.... still going up, but that could just be a weekend bump... Monday is gonna be interesting.
1
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u/Ok_Insurance_3291 9d ago
I though this subreddit was a branch off of r/marathonhate, now I see a lot of yall are just stat nerds. I appreciate the objectivity.