Bungie's Marathon: A Mysterious Tease Revealed

Remember Marathon? It's the next game from Destiny developer Bungie, and it looks like we're finally about to see more of it.

Marathon is a PvP-focused extraction shooter set on the mysterious planet of Tau Ceti IV. Players take on the roles of Runners, cybernetic mercenaries designed to withstand the planet's harsh conditions, as they explore a lost colony that once thrived on Tau Ceti's surface.

It's been a while since we last heard about Marathon. In October, Bungie released an extensive development update video that provided insights into the game's mechanics, although it emphasized that the game was still in its early stages. At that time, player character models were still being refined, and enemy models were in a preliminary state.

Now, half a year later, it appears that Bungie is ready to unveil more of what they've been working on. A tweet from the official Marathon account shared a cryptic image accompanied by garbled signal noise. Fans have noticed ASCII art resembling footage from the debut Marathon trailer. Given Bungie's reputation for mysterious teasers, hidden clues, and Easter eggs, there's likely much more to uncover, and the community is already diving in to decipher the message.

Despite the excitement, Marathon's development has faced challenges. The game was first revealed in May 2023 as a reboot of the classic Bungie franchise, emphasizing themes of mystery, eeriness, and psychological creepiness. However, Bungie has encountered several controversies in recent years, notably the layoffs of 220 staff members in July 2024, representing 17% of its workforce—a move criticized by industry peers. This followed another round of 100 layoffs less than a year prior, with staff describing the atmosphere at the studio as "soul-crushing."

Further complicating matters, a report surfaced weeks after the 220 job cuts, alleging that former Marathon director Chris Barrett was fired following an internal misconduct investigation. Barrett subsequently sued Sony Interactive Entertainment and Bungie for over $200 million.

These developments coincide with Sony rethinking its focus on live-service games. Sony president Hiroki Totoki announced in November 2023 that the company would launch only six of the twelve live service games it was developing by March 2026, marking a strategic shift that led to the cancellation of The Last of Us multiplayer game.

While Arrowhead's Helldivers 2 was a massive success, becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game ever with 12 million copies sold in just 12 weeks, other Sony live service games faced cancellations or disastrous launches. Notably, Sony's Concord became one of the biggest video game flops in PlayStation history, lasting only a few weeks before being taken offline due to low player numbers. Sony eventually decided to terminate the game and shut down its developer.

Additionally, earlier this year, Sony reportedly canceled two unannounced live service games: one a God of War title being developed by Bluepoint, and another by Days Gone developer Bend.

Are you excited for Marathon? [ttpp]