In today’s episode of “We saw it coming miles away,” Bungie has officially delayed Marathon. Okay, we might’ve been on the fence about it because Sony usually doesn’t delay the games it is backing, so it is definitely a surprise on that end. However, after some of the recent controversies and playtests that didn’t hit the mark, we’re glad that Bungie is taking its time to polish this extraction shooter, especially when the genre has garnered a lot more competition, which means Marathon really needs to bring its A game if it wants to stay afload.
[Update: Added information showing how the Bungie developers had no idea about the delay.]
Bungie Delays Marathon and Promises More Updates This Fall
The full article is on Bungie’s website, so here’s the link if you want to read the reasons behind the Marathon delay. However, we all saw this coming, though we don’t mean it in a bad or demeaning way. After all, everyone wants Marathon to succeed. It has the style, the iconic Bungie gunplay, and many new things that freshen up the extraction shooter genre. However, it also lacks many things that would make Marathon an extraction shooter worth sticking around with, such as a solo mode.
According to the above article, Bungie is focusing on these things before launching Marathon:
- Upping the Survival Game
- More challenging and engaging AI encounters.
- More rewarding runs, with new types of loot and dynamic events.
- Making combat more tense and strategic.
- Doubling down on the Marathon Universe
- Increased visual fidelity.
- More narrative and environmental storytelling to discover and interact with.
- A darker tone that delivers on the themes of the original trilogy.
- Adding more social experiences
- A better player experience for solo/duos.
- Prox chat, so social stories can come to life.
All the above are necessary additions, and we hope that Bungie can take its time to deliver them and even add more things to make Marathon stand out.
Fortunately, many fans agree with Bungie’s decision, as a September 23 release would’ve felt rushed, and with ARC Raiders so close, Marathon would be jumping into dangerous waters.
Update: Bungie developers also confirmed that they didn’t know about the delay. It seems that they found out thanks to the X (formerly known as Twitter) post, and no one told them beforehand.
At the moment, people speculate that the delay was a move from Sony and not from Bungie, hence why the development team didn’t know about the delay. However, this is a strange move, especially since the team should be the first one to know about it.
For now, all we can do is wait, but the developers promise an update during the fall of this year. When will that be? It is currently uncertain, but we know Bungie will use this time to cook something great.
