ARC Raiders will test an October option to turn off PvP, letting players fight ARCs alongside other teams; Bungie delayed Marathon’s third season by three months to add a permanent standalone PvE mode. Both games face flagging playerbases.
The article says ARC Raiders has lost 95% of its playerbase since release by some metrics. Its October trial is experimental, and the writer says PvP-free play would likely become a feature or expand if the test succeeds.
Bungie says it wants Marathon to become a multiplayer “hub” with combined player-versus-player and environment combat, a separate player-versus-environment mode, and player-versus-player play; it has also announced Team Deathmatch. Players in both communities have complained that the PvE shift departs from the games’ original intent and caters too much to casual players.
