Marathon Deluxe Edition pricing confusion frustrates players during free trial

Marathon launched its second season on June 2, opening a free trial week allowing players to try the game until June 11 ^[1]. The free week helped the game reach around 40,000 concurrent players on Steam on its launch day ^[2].

A discounted Deluxe Edition of Marathon was offered on PlayStation for about $14 during the free trial, down from its usual $60 price ^{[1, 3, 2]}. This Deluxe Edition includes cosmetics, a premium seasonal pass, and premium currency ^{[1, 2]}.

Many players who purchased the discounted Deluxe Edition expected to receive the full base game along with its deluxe perks ^{[1, 3, 2]}. However, the upgrade sold during the free trial only granted access to deluxe content. Once the trial ended, players lost access to the base game unless they purchased it separately for roughly $40 more ^{[1, 2]}.

The PlayStation Store pricing display caused confusion. Because many players already owned the free trial, the store showed the Deluxe Edition price as the difference from the base game price. This made the $14 cost appear to cover the entire game, misleading customers ^[2].

Players expressed frustration at losing access after the trial unless they paid extra for the base game. Bungie acknowledged the issue and extended the free trial period by a few days to ease dissatisfaction ^{[1, 3, 2]}.

On June 5, Bungie announced it would grant the base edition of Marathon at no additional cost to anyone who bought the Deluxe Edition during the discounted free trial period. The studio said, "For those of you that made this purchase before the messaging was posted on the store page, we’ll be granting you the base edition of Marathon at no additional cost" ^[3].

The difficulties followed early server issues at the season two launch that required emergency maintenance ^{[1, 2]}. Bungie is focusing more on Marathon as it winds down Destiny 2 ^[2].

The free trial was originally slated to end June 11 but has been extended, giving affected players more time to access the game and receive the promised base edition of Marathon at no extra cost ^{[1, 3, 2]}.