During its recent live-stream for Marathon where developers answered questions from the community, Bungie has revealed why it decided to add aim assist for players that use mouse and keyboard, rather than restricting it for controller users. In the video, when asked about the decision to have aim assist only be a toggle regardless of the input device, the developers said that it was a new thing the studio was trying in order to give itself more ways to tinker with the game’s balance. The decision was also made to keep parity between keyboard and mouse players and controller players in terms of skill ceiling. Typically speaking, aim assistance is disabled for mouse and keyboard users, while controller users tend to get a slider that allows them to decide what level of assistance they would like with their aim. “This is like something we’re trying out as a lever to keep the parity close between mouse and keyboard and controller,” answered a developer. “We want to get it out and get a feeling for it. Right now we don’t think it’s in the most perfect spot or anything. We’re definitely trying to get folks’ reactions to this as a lever for getting parity without losing the skill ceiling and skill expression that you get with the input of your choosing, whether it be mouse and keyboard or controller.” “That’s why it’s a setting to go on and off. We definitely know that there’s players that definitely don’t want any kind of assistance at all with their aim, and they want that raw input feel. So that’s why it’s a toggle in the menu, We’re not trying to have it be must-pick kind of thing. Folks kind of feel differently when they play, and we’re looking to get that feedback and then tune aggressively accordingly with what it falls in line with their expectations.” “This is us getting this thing out there to get some thoughts on, and then iterate from there.” Marathon‘s take on aim assist has been getting quite a bit of criticism from players that have been taking part in the game’s current alpha. Some have taken to Reddit to voice their displeasure with the feature, with one example being Reddit user Carmelo_v talking about how heavy-handed the aim assist feels even on mouse and keyboard. Twitch streamer Shroud, known for playing competitive first-person shooters, has also criticised the aim assistance in the game, saying that the feature is making the PC version worse in its attempts to have more parity in terms of gameplay between keyboard and mouse users and controller users. “I get that they’re trying to balance between console and PC for crossplay, but it’s only going to ruin the PC part of the game,” said Shroud during a stream. “You’re basically trying to help PC be balanced against console, but you’re just watering down PC.” Marathon is slated for release on September 23, and will be coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. While Bungie hasn’t yet confirmed the title’s pricing, the studio has said that it is “definitely going to be a conversation.” Rumours, in the meantime, have indicated that Marathon will launch with a $40 price tag.