A Disappointing Release Forces Sony to Bet Big on Two Other Games

After Sony’s first big release of 2026 didn’t move the needle as much as the company had hoped, PlayStation is banking on two other titles to help make up some of the losses.

Marathon’s Slow Start

Although the Bungie shooter has been making frequent updates and finding unique ways to try and keep casual players engaged, Marathon sales haven’t quite hit the mark that Sony had hoped for.

Sony Chief Financial Officer Lin Tao discussed the financial performance of Marathon during a recent Q4 earnings call:

“In our studio business, earnings from Bungie’s title portfolio did not reach our expectations, so we downwardly revised our business plan and impaired the full amount of the fixed assets related to Bungie except for goodwill. Player receptions to Marathon is strong, with the game receiving a Metacritic score of 82 and more than 90% of the player reviews on Steam being positive. Engagement metrics such as retention also remain at a high level.â€

Although it’s clear that the company had hoped for a stronger start, Tao did go on to talk about the focus on improving the game and retaining engaged core users and expanding the user base going forward:

“Going forward, we aim to improve the performance of the game by working to retain highly engaged core users through the introduction of additional content, further improvements in the gameplay experience, and expansion of the user base.â€

Marathon has been live for a little more than a month now and it has some major competition to fight against in the extraction shooter marketplace. ARC Raiders is also still going strong and competing for player attention, as well.

Saros and Wolverine Can Help Make Up The Difference

Beyond just continuing to improve Marathon and grow the player base going forward, Sony also has other plans to help bring in some serious money throughout the rest of the fiscal year.

During the same call, Tao went on to talk about other areas for growth in this fiscal year:

“We have many appealing first-party titles scheduled in FY 2026, including sarosreleased in April, and Marvel’s Wolverineslated for release in September. We expect the contribution to earning of first-party titles to exceed FY 2025.â€

Unlike Marathonwhich seems destined to appeal to a very niche audience due to its competitive nature and difficulty, these other two projects have potential for wider appeal. Saros does also have the challenging difficulty which may hold back some gamers, but both that game and Wolverine are likely to bring in a ton of gamers based on the style and narrative strength of their stories.

Insomniac’s Wolverine in particular is highly likely to be a huge hit as the Marvel IP combined with Insomniac’s pedigree are sure to make it a hugely popular game during the fall. The title will have to compete with Grand Theft Auto 6 for the attention of gamers, but every late 2026 title is going to struggle with that particular challenge.

It will be very interesting to continue following the sales numbers throughout the rest of the year and see how Sony’s portfolio of titles performs once all the big titles have been released.

saros is available now exclusively on PS5. Marvel’s Wolverine releases September 15, 2026 as another PS5 exclusive.