Marathon's Cryo Archive is locked to weekends partly because you're going to "lose a lot of gear" and you need time to grind during the week, director says

The Marathon Cryo Archive release time is now, at least for the time being. The endgame activity, alongside ranked mode, only opens to players on the weekends, a move that’s garnered some criticism from those whose lives don’t fit Bungie’s schedule. Marathon game director Joe Ziegler is open to some changes, but says there are three key motivations behind keeping the mode time-gated.

“We acknowledge that players will lose a lot of gear on Cryo and Ranked because it is intended to challenge you to your limits,” Ziegler says in a lengthy tweet (via Rock Paper Shotgun). “As a result of that, it’s important that Cryo and Ranked feel like an event you can schedule towards, grind gear up to do, etc. The loop of spend time grinding gear to spend it in Cryo or Ranked is reflected in this choice as a weekly cycle.”