Bungie announced the Tau Ceti Cup, Marathon‘s inaugural creator tournament, scheduled for Saturday, March 14 at 11 AM PT. Six teams will compete for custom prizes while viewers earn exclusive Twitch Drops.
The tournament features streamers Shroud, BurntPeanut, Aztecross, Rubius, Bearki, and Jour_du_Grenier leading teams through faction favor objectives, high-value target eliminations, and PvPvE competition across Tau Ceti. IceManIsaac and Activee will provide commentary.
Winning team members receive custom Marathon jackets designed by Australian cosplayer Vamprea alongside community rewards.
It marks a one-of-a-kind tournament, with an otherwise weaker esport genre trying something differently. And I can certainly see why Bungie is trying it out. I’m just not sure it can be taken any further into the esports realm than creator competitions.
Competing Teams for Marathon’s Tau Ceti Cup
Looking at these teams, you’ve got quite a few big names in the extraction space. Here’s the teams heading into the Tau Ceti cup:
Team BurntPeanut: TheBurntPeanut, Gingy, HutchMF
Team Aztecross: Aztecross, Symfuhny, Trey24k
Team Shroud: Shroud, LVNDMARK, Just9n
Team Bearki: Bearki, DeadlySlob, Aspen
Team Jour_du_Grenier: Jour_du_Grenier, Tonto, Shisheyu
Team Rubius: Rubius, IloJuan, TheGrefg
These six teams of three players will offer a highlight of what high-level and competitive Marathon is all about. Shroud, being a former CS:GO pro turned streamer, is huge. TheBurntPeanut has come a long way too as one of the de facto extraction genre creators.
And these guys, among other names, are some of the best to profile the intensity Marathon is trying to offer for the PvP fans of extraction games.
Marathon Goes Esports Route to Compete With ARC Raiders
For those unaware, Marathon is getting a ranked mode, coming in a few weeks into Season 1. And, seeing high-level players, especially passionate extraction shooter streamers, get involved will certainly offer a glimpse into what that is all about.
Marathon is currently in the limelight for its somewhat low player count, especially given its similarities to ARC Raiders’ pricing, season cadence, and structure. So, Marathon going a little esportsy with its creator cup can certainly shed some light on Marathon’s gunplay, which still receives fairly big praise. This will differentiate it from ARC Raiders’ focus on casual play.
Although ARC’s casual focus is what has arguably made it a continuous success. We’ve tried extraction shooter esports in the past and… Yeah. Not much to say there.
Marathon’s USP (unique selling point) is that it offers players some extremely low TTK. Great map knowledge, team comp, strategy, and knowing how to manage fights are incredibly important. It will be like watching a more streamlined F1.
Nothing happens while players get the loot. But when squads inevitably rotate into each other, you know there’s going to be some strong antics as they try to ‘overtake’ each other in the tournament. Whether they get SWRP’d in close quarters, thermal sniped, or some other mid-range weaponry going off, it will be exciting to see how teams build up and take each other out in the blink of an eye.
Getting a glimpse of that hardcore gameplay should give a better feel for what the more intense, high-risk, high-reward maps will be like in Marathon. Even more so when its ranked mode comes out, which is all about extracting with a lot of value in your inventory.
Unfortunately, there has been a bit of backlash to the tournament, which points to the game not being a valid esport. Many fans have responded with frustration that only “big streamers” have been invited to compete, not community members. This shows that the game is seen as a bit more casual and fun for gamers rather than a way to showcase top talent.
Said one fan: “Literally this. Today is the first day since launch that I’m not logging in. Seeing them focus so hard on content creators and not the actual community is disgusting and kills my want to get into the game anymore because I see the route. Especially when so many players are ignored as Bungie fans.”
So… Maybe nobody wants an esport.
Marathon’s Tau Ceti Cup might be a one-off, fun event, but it could be extremely effective marketing for what the game does very well. So, here’s to an esports-lite event, somewhere where it otherwise wouldn’t really fit traditionally.
Twitch Drop rewards
If you are hyped about it, then fans can get rewards for tuning in. Viewers watching any competitor’s stream on March 14 from 11 AM PT to 4 PM PT can unlock three rewards:
- Profile Emblem: Angry Bunny (1 hour)
- Profile Background: Angry Bunny (2 hours)
- Weapon Sticker: Angry Bunny (3 hours)
Players must link Bungie.net accounts to Twitch, watch participating streams with Drops enabled, claim rewards from Twitch Inventory, and then log into Marathon to receive items.
The Tau Ceti Cup streams live on March 14 at 11 AM PT across competitor channels in the Marathon Twitch directory. Get ready to goop.