Marathon boss says extraction shooters are like The Lord of the Rings and that's why they need PvP

Marathon and Arc Raiders have spearheaded a wave of extraction shooters which, through their own extremes, have kindled debate about the balance of PvP and PvE in this mixed-experience genre. Marathon leans more into PvP, while Arc Raiders is famous for its friendly, PvE-focused lobbies and just rolled out a brutal PvE map event. Joe Ziegler, game director on Marathon at Bungie, says that balance of PvPvE is the whole point.

Speaking with GamesRadar+, Ziegler focuses on the secret to “a lot of great game experiences.” In his view, it boils down to “the empowering feeling that you are in control to make a lot of decisions and deal with those consequences, learn from them, grow better as you encounter new decisions to make.” This obviously isn’t exclusive to extraction shooters or PvP games, but they can provide especially tense and unpredictable moments.

In this vein, extraction shooters wield a rare and potent mix of gameplay elements, Ziegler says. “This space between PVP and PVE is sort of the golden line that drives experiences like that. PVE provides a baseline of challenge that allows you to ground yourself in a predictable world with rules and behaviors you can understand, but the PVP layer pushes you to adapt to the whim and unexpected thoughts of other players,” he continues.

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Here, Ziegler expands on the vision he shared with us before Marathon was even released: a story generator with the recipe for “infinite” memorable experiences. On this point, he looks beyond video games and to classic literature – namely, The Lord of the Rings, which famously benefited immensely from PvPvE.