Bungie’s been having a rough time following the release ofDestiny 2‘sLightfallDLC. Amidst layoffs, the problematic in-house atmosphere, and its final season being perfectly average in most regardscomes a new set of corroborated rumours claiming that the upcomingMarathongame has been retrofitted into a hero shooter.
According to a report fromIGN, Bungie’s shakeup goes further into more than justDestiny. In a leadership change,Marathon‘s creative leadership, specifically game director Christopher Barret, is being replaced by formerValorantdirector Joe Ziegler. This has been corroborated further byZiegler’s subsequent Twitterannouncement, where he confirmed that he has been the head ofMarathonfor the past nine months.
The really curious bit, though, is that the nature ofMarathonappears to have changed since Ziegler’s taken the reigns. According to IGN’s report, the new approach for Marathon includes a departure from player-created characters “in favor of a selectable cast of heroes.”
Up until recently,audiences expectedMarathonto be an extraction shooterwith custom-built player characters — Runners — not unlikeDestiny 2‘s Guardians. This makes the latest revelations potentially problematic in the grand scheme of things.
Marathon may be a hero-based extraction shooter in the end
Notably, there’s been a slew of negative comments on the matter left on both the biggestDestiny 2subreddit and the more general gaming subreddits. It doesn’t seem that people are thrilled with this information, generally speaking, andMarathon‘s shift from being an extremely narrative-heavyDOOM-alike to a hyper-stylized PvPvETarkovcompetitor was already driving a wedge in the community.
It is still, of course, early days forMarathon, with nary a playable beta in sight. Drawing any concrete conclusions about the quality or, indeed, the core gameplay loop of the upcomingMarathongame is useless at this time, and Bungie may wow the audiences in the end.
The problem in the interim, though, is that IGN’s sources claim that Bungie is facing issues internally as well. Notably, Bungie staff harbors a “growing expectation” that the senior company leadership will leave “in droves” in 2026 when Sony’s final acquisition payouts come in. There’s concern about who will step in and take over after and the push to finish Marathon before that timeframe.
A whole load of unknowns, then, and it’s currently impossible to say what may happen withMarathonin the end. For the old franchise veterans, it is a bit of a shame that Bungie’s decided not to revive the IP in a more sensible form that’s true to theMarathonlegacy, but it’s not all totally grim.
For one, the team behind Aleph One is about to releaseMarathon Classicon Steam, which is sure to get more eyes on the franchise in short order. And, of course, Bungie could deliver something truly phenomenal under Ziegler’s leadership in due time.Destinyfans, at least, havean honest-to-goodness horde modeto look forward to, which is coming as part of theInto the Lightcontent drop.
