Did You Try Turning It MarathOn and Off Again?

 

Good afternoon and Happy New Year,

Get the eye rolling over with. Yes, this is yet another Marathon blogpost, I have nothing else I want to talk about. I’m very excited about this game and I have word vomit to expel regarding it in lieu of its newly announced release date in 6 weeks, March 5th 2026. This one is a followup to a post I wrote out a few months ago regarding what I thought, at the time, Bungie needed to accomplish leading up to the title’s release. I want to go over what changes Bungie has made with respect to what I suggested, what I didn’t suggest, and what new advice I have for them for Day 0 and post-launch content.

We’re going to split this into sections: Changes I wanted to see months ago, changes I did not consider but have been made by Bungie, and things that Bungie should consider for post-launch support.

Disclaimer: I have been involved in a number of NDA protected playtests and therefore will avoid topics that could infringe on that confidentiality in their entirety, I will also not be discussing leaks (confirmed or alleged) in any way shape or form.

Without further ado, let’s get moving.

In May of 2025, I made several recommendations following Bungie’s, now infamous, Alpha access period. Those recommendations were as follows:

• ​​Indefinitely delay Marathon, as soon as possible. Take it off wishlists and store fronts
• Rebuild the entire game and bring on AntiReal as a lead, or co-lead, art director, permanently.
• Pull the game away from being only PvPvE
• Invest more time into Runner customization
• Pick a release window that doesn’t fucking suck and isn’t under pressure from 3 major competitors in Arc Radiers, Tarkov, and Borderlands 4
• Launch Marathon with next gen systems in 2027.

A couple of these hit directly, some hit in some form or another, and others did not.

Marathon was indefinitely delayed, the AntiReal situation was resolved to the artist’s satisfaction, more time was put into Runner customization (via skins and cosmetic options, more can still be done, we’ll get to that later), its release date was moved away from Arc Raiders and Borderlands 4, but Tarkov still does not have a console release date. Marathon will release in March of 2026, a far cry from 2027, but they are almost certainly contractually bound by agreements made tied to their (or Sony’s) fiscal year.

So, am I satisfied? Sure. I do think the extra development year would’ve helped, but everything else has been reasonably addressed. You’ll still find people levying the 4nt1r34l controversy in comment sections, but it’s hard to determine whether or not those people are actually disgruntled or just fueling a witch hunting pyre; The artist has said the situation has been resolved to her satisfaction, so that’s enough on that topic. Outside of that, larger consensus has seemingly been on the turnaround for Marathon, with many people openly expressing that they’ve enjoyed more recent looks at the game and hearing that people have come out of the NDA playtest with good feedback. The recent ViDocs for Marathon have also seen overwhelmingly positive reactions, with people appreciating how the game looks, Day 0 content reveals, and the fact that Bungie is moving away from “heroes”, more on that later. The only suggestion that was truly unaddressed was Bungie moving away from only PvPvE, a topic I will revisit and sort of double down on shortly.

So, outside of that, what has Bungie done with their Hail Mary since April?

After the open test, bungie went dark for quite a few months, taking away the September 23rd release date and hosting closed, NDA protected playtests month by month, no single player was guaranteed access to all, but many got into a couple of them (myself included). The game was re-revealed on December 15th through a 20+ minute, curated ViDoc wherein Bungie described changes to the following:

• The world: including the graphical overhaul, the environments, events, lore, factions, and the overarching setting, including audio and visual enhancements, and yes, Proximity Chat.
• The runners: which redefined the shells as inhabitable, disposable bodies to be inhabited by the player instead of traditional “heroes”. Bungie also confirmed 6 launch shells including the previously unrevealed “Rook”.
• Gameplay: which has been overhauled into being more punishing and hardcore, zeroing in on the real extraction playerbase at the expense of a casual approachability
•  The Maps: Marathon will launch with 3 maps in Perimeter, Dire Marsh, and the newly publicized Outpost, and will receive a 4th end-game level map, Cryo Archive, in Season 1.
• Loot: They detailed what loot and the breadth of options for loot customizability in both function and fashion players could expect on launch (400 odd things, a lot of which I’m sure they’re really excited to bloat seasonal passes with [I fucking hate weapon charms]).
• Contracts: There will be 6 launch factions that offer markedly different contracts, some will ask you to collect research, some will ask for samples, one of them is a terrorist group that just wants you to blow shit up, and one of them is a PvP focused deathcult. You are a mercenary, interact with these factions as you please.

The ViDoc was received very well, people involved in closed playtests were excited to finally be able to talk about changes they’d experienced as well as learn about new details that were kept from them. People whose last exposure to the game was April were pleasantly surprised and eager to learn more. For the last month, we’ve had a steady trickle of information disseminated directly from Bungie regarding features and changes, which led us to yesterday, when we got the Pre-Order trailer for Marathon, which also confirmed the March 5th release date. We also got a couple more confirmed changes through a previously released trailer based around the shells which confirmed their renaming. Whereas the runnershells were previously hinted at as being individual people with backstories and lore, they are now nothing more than lifeless metal husks that you, the player, transfer your consciousness into to plunder and scavenge Tau Ceti IV. Moreover, the shells have dropped their names in favor of what I’ll call “function labels”. “Locus” has been renamed “Destroyer”, on account of its battlefield functionality, “Blackbird” is now “Recon”, “Void” to “Assassin”, et al. I do think “Glitch” to “Vandal” is a disgusting, vile, and unnecessary change (I am biased), but whatever. The collector’s edition has been revealed, as well as Playstation exclusive goodies in the form of a Dualsense and Headset, which has become standard for major PS Studio titles. So, with a runner at 3rd base, expect February to be a mad dash from Bungie, with trailers and various pieces of marketing material on a week to week basis. We’ve already had a pre-launch open preview weekend confirmed which we can now say will probably be around the end of February, though some people have reported (including Forbes’ Paul Tassi) that the preview would be a month out from release, but I would be shocked if the preview weekend was in two weeks.

So, all in all, Bungie’s in a better position than they were in in April of ‘25, is that enough for the masses? Time will tell, and we will certainly have a more tangible idea of Marathon’s long term viability by the end of March… right? The last year of multiplayer games has been very strange. Battlefield 6 opened to a roaring critical and commercial reception but has been hemorrhaging players since launch, whereas Arc Raiders has pulled off one of the most impressive player retention in history. Marvel Rivals keeps its pulse through seasonal hero additions, and No Man's Sky recently won a Game Award after posting a revitalizing rap sheet following their Corvette Update. Call of Duty has brought its numbers back up following a seemingly abysmal launch and the big bad boogeyman of GTA6 is nowhere to be seen. There is, categorically, no way to tell where Marathon will be in March, and there’s no reliable signal for where it’ll be a year from then, either. The only thing we know for sure is that Bungie, the entire studio, is batting for the fences at the bottom of the 9th with two strikes; they will do anything and everything they can to knock this one into the stratosphere. (I promise that’s the last of the baseball references). They’ve revealed an all star voice cast, to much fervor from fans and many questions from onlookers who wonder why such a voice cast would be “wasted” on an extraction shooter. Again, Bungie is going to do anything to win here. Which brings us to our final section, just what else can (or should)  they do?

To revisit the point I made about Bunige not pivoting away from PvPvE, I do think we need to take a look at how other live service games are evolving. A Youtuber by the name of TheSpudHunter made a solid critique about Arc Raiders’ “streamer problem” in that entitled streamers want games to be geared towards them and their preferences rather than attempting to adapt to something new. I agree with the sentiment that art for everyone is art for nobody, and therefore a creator must stick to their guns, however, I do also think that Bungie needs this win desperately and cannot, even for a moment, consider dropping a game that alienates a wider crowd. However, they have doubled down on the game being PvPvE, they will not pivot, and have (and I know this to be true via first hand experience), made it a categorically more difficult experience in order to satiate the demands of the extraction shooter crowd. But launch day  features will only be launch day features for launch day, the same cannot be said about the game’s life cycle. I think it’s imperative for bungie to prioritize a gold master for a complete experience, if that’s a hardcore extraction shooter that gets a solid number of people to fork over $40, then good. However, they may want to look at Netease's Marvel Rivals. When Rivals launched, it had two modes: Quick Match and Competitive. A year later we’re looking at 3 modes, the post-launch “Arcade Mode” has a rotating list of submodes including PvE, 18v18 Annihilation, and seasonal modes. These things keep the game alive, they keep it fresh and introduce the game to players who otherwise may not have touched an PvP exclusive title. If Bungie is going to pride Marathon on having an immersive story, they are going to have to, eventually, allow that story to be accessible to as many people as possible eventually. I do think that Bungie should concern itself with a PvE exclusive mode (which has separate lockers so as to not allow PvE players to get ahead of the standard mode players). I do think that, since Bungie has pivoted away from “heroes” , Bungie should concern itself with a social hub;; their argument against this is more or less that you’d never have coffee with someone you’re about to accept a bounty on, and my counter argument, eloquently, is: yes the absolute fuck I would. Immerse me, Bungie, please. I think Bungie should concern itself with more shell customization, the skins seem to offer quite a variance in runner appearance and they’ve suggested that there should be some form of visual recognition of what teams you’re about to run up against but to be honest, no amount of visual recognition will spare you in a gunfight: it’s you, your 9, and a prayer when you encounter another team.

So, my post launch recommendations, and this can be on as long as roadmap as they want, are:

• PvE exclusive mode
• Social Hub
• More shell customization

I think these are reasonable and would greatly contribute to the lifecycle of the game, as well as its approachability to people who are normally averse to extraction shooters. That said, since it’s my wishlist, I am going to throw something unrealistic and selfish out there:

• Get rid of the menu. You want me to feel like I’m inhabiting a shell on a distant planet? Then turn the menu into something immersive. They’ve done well to clean up the UI since April but with the narrative change putting the immersion on the literal player and not on the player character, the menu should be completely different. I refuse to believe that if I, me, were a mercenary that this is the UI I’d be navigating. It’s incongruous. I do not believe that this will ever be realized, but I do think it would go a long way towards the immersion.

Outside of that, there’s really no telling what will become of Marathon definitively, time will tell. Bungie does have a good track record with building an audience but a bad one with maintaining one over extended time periods (5+ years). One major worry I have is that Marathon is expected to use BattleEye anticheat, which, if you’ve played Destiny in the last few years, you’d know that that’s very worrying. Regardless, Marathon will be out on March 5th 2026, and bar the review embargo lifting to an incorrigibly awful consensus, I will be there on launch day.

Godspeed, Bungie. Do not fuck this up.

ALSO. I FORGOT TO ADD. UHHH. MARATHON SHOW. LIKE ANIMATED SHOW. LIKE GREEN LIGHT ONE. LIKE DO IT.