After a long and troubled development, Bungie's Marathon has finally arrived. There's no shortage of style in the new extraction shooter, and loot is certainly plentiful on Tau Ceti IV, but players aren't happy with its monetization systems. Like other recent live service hits Helldivers 2 and ARC Raiders, Marathon shipped with a price tag of $40, but still includes premium currency and a battle pass to unlock cosmetics.
In the wake of Marathon's release, players have flocked to various forums to express their disdain over the battle pass's structure. Reddit user Economy-Meat-9506 calls Marathon's microtransactions "predatory," laying out how the premium currency and battle pass are designed to coerce extra purchases from players. They point out that Marathon's premium currency, called Lux, comes in a quantity of 1,100 for $10, but a skin might run you 1,120.
Another player, u/Lemouni, breaks down the battle pass (Marathon calls it a Reward Pass) and compares its format to how such monetization strategies work in other games, like Apex Legends. Marathon's Reward Pass does not give you back Lux, contains only a single character skin, and includes duplicate items because weapon charms and stickers can only be applied to a...
