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Update []:
After making a bit of a mess of Marathon’s Deluxe Edition upgrade, Bungie has responded by granting everyone who took advantage of the misleading “offer” full access to the base game.
To cut a long story short, players who downloaded this week’s free trial for the first-person shooter discovered they could purchase the Deluxe Edition upgrade for $14.99 on the PS Store. The language implied this would unlock access to the full game, which isn’t actually the case.
Bungie later edited the bungled text to clarify, but it never felt right for those who took advantage of the “deal” to be denied access to the full game, considering the text wasn’t clear.
The dev’s now said that it will honour any purchases prior to editing the PS Store description, meaning those who picked up the Deluxe Edition upgrade will now get access to the full game for just $14.99.
In my opinion, this is the right thing to do, considering the original description was unclear. Marathon hasn’t been selling particularly well, so giving out a few extra copies seems like a net positive for the game from where I’m sitting – especially if those receiving it add to the release’s positive word of mouth.
Original Story: Bungie is never far away from a blunder, but I’m not entirely sure where the buck stops with this latest oversight.
To cut a long story short, the dev is currently running a free trial week for first-person shooter Marathon, designed to coincide with its Season 2 update.
Those who downloaded the trial noticed they could upgrade to the Deluxe Edition on PS5 for $14.99. That’s because, in the PS Store’s eyes, they “own” the game via the trial.
Now what’s particularly pertinent here is that the product page mentions that the Deluxe Edition includes the full Marathon game, alongside various cosmetic items et al.
But the reality is that fans were actually buying the Deluxe Edition Upgrade, which doesn’t include the full game. (Because the PS Store thinks they already own it, via the free trial. Are you keeping up?)
That page has since been updated to clarify anyone who buys it will not receive the full game at all.
The disclaimer reads:
Please note that if you have already downloaded Marathon during the Open Play Week but have not purchased Marathon:
* Purchasing this product will grant access to the Deluxe Edition content only for the duration of the Open Play Week, after which accessing this content will require purchase of the Marathon Standard Edition.
*The price displayed reflects only the Deluxe Edition content add-ons, not the Standard Edition price.
I think this is pretty messy because the original description was misleading, and while it’s good this has been clarified, I think Sony should honour those original purchases.
At the end of the day, Marathon needs as many players as it can muster, so I’m not sure why it’s not just giving anyone who bought this access to the full game.
At the very least, I hope anyone who spent money gets a refund.