The highly anticipated Marathon reboot from Bungie appears to be scaling down significantly, stemming from repeated negative focus test reactions. Originally envisioned as a large-scale PvPvE extraction shooter, it is now being reshaped into a more modest offering. While you might think that Concord — Sony’s other live-service game — lackluster reception highly affected its development, apparently that’s not the case. According to a leak from 4chan, the development shake-ups reportedly began long before the troubles surrounding Concord.
One of the core issues plaguing Marathon has been the constant changes in leadership and creative direction. The project has seen a revolving door of decision-makers, each bringing in a “new vision” that aimed to fix the game. The more publicly known change in management was when game director Christopher Barret was suddenly replaced by Zoe Zigler from Riot Games back in May 2024.
However, this has only led to more confusion and inconsistency, with the game’s identity shifting multiple times throughout development. Feedback from Marathon focus testers who are familiar with Destiny, Escape from Tarkov, and Hunt: Showdown has remained largely negative. In the wake of recent layoffs, a significant portion of the Marathon team reportedly has shifted focus back to Destiny to work on upcoming content.
Owing to the negative test reactions, Marathon is still steadily in development and will ship — but not as the grand product Bungie initially promised. Rather than a full-fledged extraction shooter experience such as Warzone or Tarkov, it now more closely resembles the Survival Mode from The Division. The “persistent and expansive” extraction map described by Barrett is now a single, fixed environment featuring a Fortnite-style “Storm Bubble” mechanic. There are also PvE elements where players will encounter hostile robots, fauna, and rare “nemesis” bots.
Previously, the team considered a hero-shooter approach, with players playing as named characters. However, after negative test reactions, Bungie might be leaning towards customizable “archetypes” for Marathon, similar to what they did with Destiny‘s classes.
One of the currently tested archetypes is internally called “Voltrunner,” a high-mobility character with teleportation ability and EMP grenades. Other archetypes include an engineer with a deployable cover and a character with reduced hearing in exchange for enhanced visual detection. In terms of gameplay, the game seems to be taking notes from Titanfall 2, featuring fast-paced wall running and grappling without supers or ultimate attacks.
Allegedly, the Marathon team has been in talks often with Arrowhead Studios, the developer of Helldivers. From Arrowhead’s feedback, reportedly, Bungie is planning a smaller, “more manageable release” at a price point similar to Concord and Helldivers — around $40. However, early adopter editions with higher price tags, akin to Destiny, are also expected. Additionally, Bungie is designing a launch window crossover event, where playing Marathon will unlock cosmetic content in Destiny.
Despite the setbacks and negative test reactions, one positive aspect of the Marathon project is Bungie’s plan for “agile adaptive design.” The game’s initial release will be smaller in scope, but the team plans to reinforce and support successful elements through future updates. Fortunately, the new engine powering Marathon is designed for flexibility, allowing for quicker changes compared to Destiny’s aging Tiger Engine. This capability is expected to be a major selling point for the game.
While Marathon still has the potential to carve out a niche, it’s clear that the game will be much smaller in scope than originally envisioned. Whether Bungie can turn the tide with post-launch support remains to be seen, but for now, expectations should be tempered. Especially when the market is getting burned out by online-only, live-service games.
