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Bungie’s Marathon is out now, which means players can finally see how its microtransactions actually work and, crucially, how much everything costs.
The $40 extraction shooter is monetized in a number of ways, including via a premium battle pass and direct microtransactions for cosmetic items, such as playable character skins. As Bungie had signalled before Marathon went live, gameplay-affecting items are not available to buy, only cosmetics.
Still, some players have responded negatively to Marathon’s monetization, criticizing the price of the skins and the digital sales tactics Bungie has in place.
Straight off the bat, on launch day, Marathon has $15 cosmetic packs (they cost 1,500 Lux, Marathon’s premium virtual currency). These packs include a runner skin, a weapon skin, a cosmetic trinket of some type, and a player banner and profile pic. Runner skins are sold separately for around $12’s worth of Lux.
This alone has irked some who believe that Marathon, as a $40 game, should not be monetized in a similar fashion to free-to-play shooters like Fortnite or Apex Legends. Others, however, are unsurprised by these cosmetic packs, and have pointed out that they’re more expensive in other premium games, such as the more expensive mainline Call of Duty games.
But what has caused more of a stink is the denominations of Lux available in the store. A runner skin costs 1,120 Lux, but of course you can’t buy 1,120 Lux exactly from the store. Instead, you have to spend $10 to get 1,100 Lux (just 20 Lux shy of what you need), and then another $5 to get 500 Lux on top, which in total dollar terms matches the same price as the $15 bundle.
This is a common tactic in video games that not only forces you to spend more money than you want to get a particular item, but leaves you with virtual currency spare that may encourage you to buy some more so you can get another item. Call of Duty does this. FIFA does this. And now Marathon does this.
“I’m tired of these Bungie scummy tactics,” one fan said. “Even if I love the game, this store and season pass in 2026 is a shame.”
“Dude I look at the shop to find that if you spend 10 you’ll get 1,100 coins or LUX but these people set every character price to 1,120, so you’ll have to spend another five dollars,” said another player. “I hate this type of greed. I love the game but this is shallow.”
“Yea that’s dumb af,” said another. “And after spending $15 you’ll have 1,600 Lux so might as well get the entire bundle for 1,500. (Is what Bungie probably wants you to do) at that point why even sell the skin separately.”
Within the debate are a significant number of people who believe Marathon isn’t doing anything particularly outlandish here when it comes to monetization. They point to the fact that only cosmetics are for sale and that no-one is forced to buy anything extra to compete out on the battlefield as evidence that Bungie is doing things well enough for its new shooter. Others say that anyone who played Destiny 2, Bungie’s previous release, will find nothing here surprising.
And it doesn’t look like Marathon’s monetization has impacted the sentiment around the game at launch, either. At the time of this article’s publication, Marathon had a ‘very positive’ user review rating on Steam.
It’s also worth noting that Marathon Reward Passes do not expire, so you can buy a previous season’s Reward Passes if you miss out. You unlock rewards in your Rewards Passes using Silk, which is earned by playing the game. You can also earn cosmetics via the Codex, with others available for purchase.
We’ve got plenty more on Marathon, including one Bungie developer’s commitment to “fontslop,” and Bungie’s words of reassurance on Marathon’s difficulty curve. Check out IGN’s Marathon review so far to find out what we think.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
