Bungie has announced a major delay for their upcoming extraction shooter Marathon, which was previously scheduled to launch on September 23. The studio has not provided a new release date, with industry insiders suggesting the game could be pushed back to late 2025 or even 2026.
The delay comes in the wake of two significant issues that have plagued the project. First, an art theft scandal forced the team to replace and remove numerous in-game assets that had been plagiarized. Second, alpha testers delivered overwhelmingly negative feedback about the gameplay experience and its disconnect from the original Marathon trilogy’s themes and narrative depth.
“We need more time to craft Marathon into the game that truly reflects your passion,” Bungie stated in their official announcement, acknowledging the challenges the project has faced. The studio plans to use this extended development period to make substantial improvements to nearly every aspect of the game.
These improvements include doubling down on elements from the Marathon universe, enhancing visual fidelity, creating more challenging AI encounters, and making combat “more tense and strategic.” Bungie also plans to add more narrative and environmental storytelling elements, while improving social features like proximity chat and better support for solo and duo players.
The original Marathon trilogy (1994–1996) holds a special place in gaming history as a pioneering series of first-person shooters, known for their complex narratives, innovative mechanics, and dark science fiction themes. These Macintosh-exclusive classics were precursors to Bungie’s later success with the Halo franchise and were re-released for free on Steam in 2023.
Compared to those story-driven beginnings, the new Marathon was revealed in 2023 as a PvPvE extraction shooter similar to games like Escape from Tarkov and Hunt: Showdown. This shift away from the series’ roots has been a point of contention among longtime fans, many of whom expressed disappointment at the multiplayer focus.
