Hours before its open preview weekend, Marathon is suddenly very close to the top of Steam's top sellers list

There's a lot riding on Marathon, potentially even the fate of legendary developer Bungie given the current state of Destiny, which has been carrying the studio's baton for years. Now it's time to pass the burden onto Marathon, I guess, while the studio figures out what it's doing with Destiny going forward.

After divisive playtests last year, and looking not great while going head-to-head with Arc Raiders, Bungie returned to the drawing board. Naturally, this has led to a lot of scepticism over how successful the studio's next big project will be. It's too early to say for certain, but potentially quite well looking at Steam's top 100 sellers chart.

While it's been rising steadily over the past two weeks, just hours before the Marathon Server Slam, the game has skyrocketed 58 places in the top 100. As of writing, it's in third place in the US, behind Resident Evil Requiem and Counter-Strike 2, beating out Warframe and Arc Raiders, which have consistently held high spots.

Evidently, Bungie's efforts in reworking the game and a fresh marketing push have helped turn the narrative more in its favour ahead of the big day, March 5, especially as players don't need to pre-order to gain access to the preview weekend—unlike, say, a new Call of Duty.

Of course, the verdict is still out on whether Bungie can actually deliver with Marathon. Pre-orders may continue to rise, but they can always be cancelled, too. The Server Slam will be the first real sign of which way the wind's blowing, giving Destiny fans, Arc Raiders lovers, and everyone else a feel for whether Marathon's more PvP-focused extraction gameplay is for them.

With how controversial PvP is in Arc Raiders, Bungie's chief competitor, this is by far the element I'm most intrigued in seeing unfold as time goes on. While there is PvE, and the new proximity chat feature encourages more friendly player interactions, my guess is that you'll be blasting other Runners more than buddying up.