As a Marathon supporter, I think using the difficulty of the game as one of the main reasons it hasn't been as successful is a copout. The lead up to the release of the game, the server slam (limiting upgrades in the test), D2 EoS (majority of S1 players came from Destiny) were big factors that hurt its success. The game itself has also had plenty of issues up until this point: Season 2 launch, Servers (no regs/desync), onboarding, CHEATING!!, loot economy, progression, Cryo 3 days a week and balancing being the big ones. Compared to other extraction shooters out there Marathon is one of the more casual ones. Sure, lesser skilled players have been struggling but Marathon has struggled more to keep PvP/extraction players on the game.
That being said, I'm looking forward to playing this October wipe and December update. New update is looking good 👍
This clip perfectly sums up why I hate the gaming community so much. My guy is speaking 100% facts here but it still hurts to hear nonetheless.