Following a lukewarm response to its reveal and Alpha playtest, Marathon has now been delayed indefinitely. Bungie confirmed it has decided to delay the September 23 release and instead will focus on several areas of the game. It appears Marathon’s Alpha test did its job, providing the developer with feedback on the game so it knows where it needs to focus for improvement. As a result, Bungie will host closed testing over the next few months, which will include participants from the Alpha.
The team is focused on upping the survival game with more challenging and engaging AI encounters, more rewarding runs through new types of loot and dynamic events, and making combat more tense and strategic. It will also double down on the Marathon universe by increasing visual fidelity, adding more narrative and environmental storytelling, and bringing in a darker tone that delivers on the themes of the original trilogy. The third focus area is going to be on adding more social experiences, which includes delivering a better player experience for solos and duos, as well as proximity chat. Bungie confirmed we’ll hear more from them this fall, and we can also expect a new release date then.
Marathon made its debut in May 2023 during a PlayStation Showcase and is Bungie’s first completely new project in over a decade. Known for creating the Halo and Destiny franchises, Bungie has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, with layoffs in 2024. Gameplay for Marathon debuted in April 2025, followed by the aforementioned Alpha test that clearly didn’t go as well as Bungie wanted it to. It was evident that plans were changing with Marathon when it didn’t make an appearance at the State of Play earlier this month.
