{"id":1811527,"date":"2026-03-06T17:34:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T14:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1811527"},"modified":"2026-03-06T17:34:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T14:34:29","slug":"slay-the-spire-2s-launch-has-been-so-incredibly-successful-the-studio-had-to-apologise-for-a-joke-about-marathon-that-now-seems-a-bit-meaner-than-it-was-intended","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1811527","title":{"rendered":"Slay the Spire 2&#8217;s launch has been so incredibly successful, the studio had to apologise for a joke about Marathon that now &#8220;seems a bit meaner than it was intended&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/slay-the-spire-2\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Slay the Spire 2<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">Slay the Spire 2&#8217;s launch has been so incredibly successful, the studio had to apologise for a joke about Marathon that now &#8220;seems a bit meaner than it was intended&#8221;<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">No shade.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/slay-the-spire-2-combat-image.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Slay the Spire 2 combat image\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"slay-the-spire-2-combat-image.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Mega Crit.<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Connor Makar avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/tAtwiaBo_400x400.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"374\" height=\"374\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Connor Makar avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"tAtwiaBo_400x400.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"374\" height=\"374\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/connor-makar\">Connor Makar<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Staff Writer<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-03-06T17:34:29+00:00\">March 6, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/slay-the-spire-2-launch-so-successful-studio-had-to-apologise-for-joke-marathon?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          9 comments<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"0a5d514b-57bb-4725-937e-b7a20aff703a\" data-name=\"Slay the Spire 2\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Slay the Spire 2\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Slay the Spire 2\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Slay the Spire 2\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Slay the Spire 2\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Slay the Spire 2\" title=\"Follow Slay the Spire 2\"><br \/>\n  Follow Slay the Spire 2<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Mega Crit co-founder and developer behind hit indie release <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/slay-the-spire\">Slay the Spire<\/a> 2 Casey Yano has admitted a congratulations post to the Marathon development team &#8220;seems a bit meaner than it was intended&#8221;, as they never thought Slay the Spire 2 would pass Bungie&#8217;s new extraction shooter in Steam concurrent users.<\/p>\n<p>Both Slay the Spire 2 and Marathon launched on Steam at the same time, leading to an unavoidable bit of friendly competition between the two releases. In a bit of tongue-in-cheek support, the Mega Crit X <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MegaCrit\/status\/2029625181950595240\">account posted<\/a>: &#8220;Congratulations to the Marathon team on their launch! Don&#8217;t let small indie passion projects like this pass you by just because Slay the Spire 2 is out&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It turns out the power of small indie projects is nothing to sneeze at. During the launch day for both games, Marathon brought in a respectable peak of 88,337 concurrent players. Meanwhile, Slay the Spire 2 dropped an absurd 430,456 concurrent players. It is obviously worth noting that Slay the Spire 2 is only launching on PC, while Marathon has both the PS5 and Xbox Series X\/S audience to appeal to, but nonetheless it&#8217;s a funny side-by-side.<\/p>\n<p>With this context in mind, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/caseyyano\/status\/2029770759997116773\">Yano shared their thoughts on the friendly jab on their personal social media account<\/a>: &#8220;This seems a bit meaner than it was intended&#8230;. To be fair I didn&#8217;t think we&#8217;d actually pass Marathon in concurrent users&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>It is a stunning success story for Mega Crit and Slay the Spire. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/slay-the-spire-review-a-gorgeous-blend-of-dungeon-crawler-and-card-battler\">The original game is a fantastic experience<\/a> that won over a die-hard crowd of fans and enthusiasts over the years, which appears to have generated enough word of mouth to result in an absolutely scorcher of a release in an already packed month of big launches. It remains enormously tough out there for developers these days &#8211; but when they hit, indies in particular do seem to keep hitting incredibly hard.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Mega Crit co-founder and developer behind hit indie release <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/slay-the-spire\">Slay the Spire<\/a> 2 Casey Yano has admitted a congratulations post to the Marathon development team &#8220;seems a bit meaner than it was intended&#8221;, as they never thought Slay the Spire 2 would pass Bungie&#8217;s new extraction shooter in Steam concurrent users.<\/p>\n<p>Both Slay the Spire 2 and Marathon launched on Steam at the same time, leading to an unavoidable bit of friendly competition between the two releases. In a bit of tongue-in-cheek support, the Mega Crit X <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MegaCrit\/status\/2029625181950595240\">account posted<\/a>: &#8220;Congratulations to the Marathon team on their launch! Don&#8217;t let small indie passion projects like this pass you by just because Slay the Spire 2 is out&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It turns out the power of small indie projects is nothing to sneeze at. During the launch day for both games, Marathon brought in a respectable peak of 88,337 concurrent players. Meanwhile, Slay the Spire 2 dropped an absurd 430,456 concurrent players. It is obviously worth noting that Slay the Spire 2 is only launching on PC, while Marathon has both the PS5 and Xbox Series X\/S audience to appeal to, but nonetheless it&#8217;s a funny side-by-side.<\/p>\n<p>With this context in mind, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/caseyyano\/status\/2029770759997116773\">Yano shared their thoughts on the friendly jab on their personal social media account<\/a>: &#8220;This seems a bit meaner than it was intended&#8230;. To be fair I didn&#8217;t think we&#8217;d actually pass Marathon in concurrent users&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>It is a stunning success story for Mega Crit and Slay the Spire. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/slay-the-spire-review-a-gorgeous-blend-of-dungeon-crawler-and-card-battler\">The original game is a fantastic experience<\/a> that won over a die-hard crowd of fans and enthusiasts over the years, which appears to have generated enough word of mouth to result in an absolutely scorcher of a release in an already packed month of big launches. It remains enormously tough out there for developers these days &#8211; but when they hit, indies in particular do seem to keep hitting incredibly hard.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Slay the Spire 2 Slay the Spire 2&#8217;s launch has been so incredibly successful, the studio had to apologise for a joke about Marathon that now &#8220;seems a bit meaner than it was intended&#8221; No shade. Image credit: Mega Crit. News by Connor Makar Staff Writer Published on March 6, 2026 9 comments [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1811527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1811527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1811527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1811527\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1811527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1811527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1811527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}